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The View From Up Here

The View of a 30-Something Mom of two

Uncategorized · February 26, 2015

The Five Do’s of Menu Planning


This is an example of what shouldn’t happen after a trip to the grocery store. This is how my week generally went before I started meal planning, except it wasn’t just after a trip to the grocery store…it was every day! When I went grocery shopping I would walk up and down the aisles of the store, looking at everything that looked tasty or I thought I would want to cook that week and buy it. I would set out to cook the next day, but had no idea what I wanted to cook so I wouldn’t. We would end up going to getting take out from Chipotle, Outback, or Pei Wei…just to name a few. I’ve been menu planning now for 4 weeks, and I am so glad that I am. Yes, there are those days that I can’t physically take one more step–fitbit begs to differ–and we eat out, but generally we

1. Plan a Day in Advance


Don’t try and menu plan and go shopping all in one day. You will be tired and you won’t want to make dinner that night! I generally do my planning on Sunday afternoon and go shopping right after stroller strides on Monday morning. If you are a coupon clipper this gives you time to clip coupons too!

2. Go Through Your Pantry and See What You Already Have

I am completely bothered by the fact when I buy something that I already have. I’m not want to buy in surplus, so buying an extra can of cream of mushroom soup, just bothers me. A seasoning list is always helpful in or near your pantry that way you aren’t purchasing garlic salt every time it’s in a recipe! 

3. If You Skip a Meal Add it to the Next Week

You already have the stuff for the recipe, might as well cook it up! There are many times I have to skip because I am busy, adding it to the next week is easy and I already purchased the stuff. 

4. Use PlanToEat 

I get almost all of my recipes from Pinterest or various blogs throughout the week. I have a widget on my browser that allows me to add the recipe directly to Plantoeat instead of saving somewhere in my bookmarks or Food Board only to forget about it in a week. With Plan to Eat the recipe is added there and you can add it to your planner, it then adds it to a grocery list. (I will do a tutorial on this soon!–Hoping to VLOG about it)

5. Plan Out Your Sides

I can’t tell you how many times I have purchased everything I needed for my meals for that week, only to not have any sides to go with my main course. Then Nic ends up stopping on the way home to pick something up, and generally grabs something for us to have for snack on later…definitely not needed! Click on the link below for a Menu Plan print out!


Menu Plan

I hope this helps you with your menu planning next week, and make sure to link up with orgjunkie for Menu Plan Monday! 



Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat
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myviewfromuphere

The view of a play at home mom to three 💙💙💓—who loves family, food, and fun. 🏝 #Tampablog
💌: brittany@theviewfromuphere.com

brittany | mom + life + home
The sweetest mornings are spent with these three. The sweetest mornings are spent with these three. I love to do our together learning in the morning—which includes @masterbooks and @gospelproject_ devotion. My youngest even joins in for our morning breakfast devotion, and then reads and plays while we complete social studies and science. What’s your special moment each day?
Today my sweet baby turns 8. He has taught my so m Today my sweet baby turns 8. He has taught my so much about being a mother, and I love watching him grow every year. He’s a sweet kid, who loves to be silly. He likes his alone time to play, but also loves when his brother plays with him. He surprises me daily with all the things he knows, and I’m so blessed we’re going on our third year of learning together. He loves his baby sister something big, and she puts up with his shenanigans. We all love to watch him play and grow in baseball, and watching his skills develop over the years has been fun! Happy birthday sweet Bennett! 🎂
I went to school to be a teacher—but I’m kinda I went to school to be a teacher—but I’m kinda liking this mom gig. 💁🏼‍♀️ My baby turns 8 on Sunday and is having his birthday party this weekend. I kept thinking about party favors, and after chatting with some friends about ideas—decided on this! I loved that I wouldn’t be handing out candy or other items that may end up just thrown away. Also, ice cream was always served with cake as a kid so what better way to get your ice cream later 😉
Bless all you kindergarten teachers. Or any of tho Bless all you kindergarten teachers. Or any of those who are telling your students to leave their shoes on and eat a snack (not a meal). Also, any other moms out there that their kid missed their siblings more than you? 🤦🏼‍♀️ oh well, he enjoyed it and his teacher is literally the sweetest thing! How is your first week going? Any case of the kids say the craziest thing? I love the first day of school, and it’s such a special moment to watch and see how each child takes the day and runs with it. 💙
I’ve got another after school snack recipe for y I’ve got another after school snack recipe for you! We love making these apple donuts—they are fun for the kids to decorate—add frosting, peanut butter, sprinkles, the list goes on! Kroger now has an amazing new membership that offers FREE next day grocery delivery. They are also giving 2X the fuel points for every dollar spent* on groceries. All of this and much more for $59/Year! We love getting our groceries from Kroger as it saves so much time and money, in more places then just the grocery store.
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