Meals for the month!

As part of my mission to get organized and save money this year I have been trying to plan out an entire months worth of meals- not always easy, but such a saver in the long run. I am happy to report that in the month of January we have not run for take-out once (something we had grown very prone to) and we have saved so much money in the process, not to mention the nice family dinners we have been able to have gathered around our own kitchen table. My husband has loved knowing what was to come on the menu and it has made my grocery shopping much easier as I can make almost all my lists for the month at one time and combine ingredients so that I am only shopping for them once. Another big help to me has been being able to look at the whole month of what we are having so I am not repeating meals every week (which of course my DH also appreciates)!

With that said, it can be hard to come up with new ideas for meals! However, just the other day a friend tipped me off to an awesome blog with some great, family-friendly suggestions and I just have to share it with you: My Kitchen Cafe. This mama has compiled the best of her recipe adventures into a very clean blog and I love it! Her ideas are great and I think her meals will be too! Check it out!

Another good place I have been using to find new meals is the last half-an-hour of the Rachel Ray show (when she does her cooking). Sometimes a recipe that I may not have necessarily been drawn to on her site actually looks quite scrumptious when I see her prepare it on the show! Plus, it can be helpful to watch her make it once so that I already have a handle on the sequencing when I head into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Well, I just wanted to share one of the helpful tips I have been using this year! I hope your family can be blessed by it as well!