The Nesting Continues!

Since this baby doesn't seem interested in coming early, I am forced to find things to keep myself occupied.  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  Otherwise, what on earth would I do with myself?

Today's project - a DIY weekly meal planner.

Despite being a super organized person, I formally plan meals and go weekly grocery shopping only about five times per year.  Usually our dinners are last-minute decisions and I'm constantly running to Target for ingredients.  Seriously, I bet the cashiers recognize me, as often as I'm there.

Anyway, I figured that wasn't going to fly with a baby.

So, a fun, weekly meal planner is my solution.  The meal planner will help me to plan meals, in advance, and go grocery shopping for all the ingredients for the entire week at once.  And do so on a consistent basis, rather than five times per year.  That is my hope anyway.

Here was my inspiration.

Source

 Only mine turned out way cooler.

I can't take credit for anything here.  I copied this chic's instructions to a tee.  I have not laminated my meal cards yet, but plan to.

I'm also going to laminate a few blank cards because, frankly, I will get bored with the same 35 meals over and over.  I'm always searching for and trying new recipes.  Hence, once laminated, I can use a dry-erase marker to write in other {new} recipes.

By the way, the pre-printed meal cards have ingredients on the back to make grocery shopping even easier!  So great for the hubs! :)

Speaking of grocery shopping, I also created this today.

A grocery list template with many of our typical purchases.  Again, I saw the idea on Pinterest and stole it from another blogger. 

I printed multiple copies of the grocery list template, clipped them to a clipboard, glued magnets to the clipboard, and stuck the clipboard to our fridge.  Even better, it's within arm's reach of the menu planner!

So anytime we run out of something, or plan our weekly meals, making a grocery list should be a breeze.  Simply check the items we need or add them to the 'other' category!

I'm so excited to start using these things!  Oh, nesting...