CHALLENGE: MEAL PLANNING 101-ish

Meal planning has always been so intimidating for me. I look at my planner, then look at the fact I have to plan for 30 days...and just say to hell with it. The issue is; meal planning not only saves me money, but it also keeps my diet balanced.

I've been using Emeals off and on for two years now. Due to the fact I haven't been living my healthiest  life, I didn't renew my subscription for quite a while, which has been probably played a major role in my weight gain. I subscribed to the clean eating & Vegetarian option and I can say it is a great way to begin to eat healthy, without putting any thought into it.

However, with any meal planning service, you will come across things that you don't really have a desire to try..so that's when all the cookbooks and food blogs come in. I have a SUPER diverse palette, and sometimes I want something that isn't mainstream.  My daughter's palette is getting there, but she will even eat some things I refuse to eat (escargot anyone?).

With all that said, here are a few tips to planning your meals, to make it easier:

• To avoid being overwhelmed, plan each week separately and move on to the next week once it is completed. 

• Shop every two weeks to keep from making too many trips to the store. I hate weekly shopping, it consumes too much time, so I normally go every two weeks. I used to go once a month, depending on the veggies I was using. If I have a lot of veggies that will go bad fast, I go every two weeks.

• Shop in bulk for the staple items you know you will have to use to save yourself money. That includes buying spices by weight instead of buying it pre-packaged. You'll save yourself anywhere from $1 to $3 - which is a big savings if you love to use spices to cook ( which I do)..but when you go to that baking aisle or wherever your grocery store keeps their pre-packaged spices, you can spend anywhere from $2  up to $6! Example: Cardamom costs almost $4.00 if I buy it in a jar. I can go to the bulk aisle and pay $0.80 or less an ounce. Those small jars are usually about two ounces. 

• Use the money you save from buying things from the bulk bins, to purchase fresh IN SEASON produce. I usually go to the hispanic market, because all the produce is cheaper. I'm gonna be real, I can't afford to eat everything organic - and some organic foods are genetically modified, but we'll save that for another post.  Use this list to determine which foods are safest to eat 'non organic'. I would love to eat all organic produce. Most of it tastes better, but I can't afford to buy ALL organic...but that is still no excuse to eat bad.

That is all I have for today....and my bed is now covered in recipes, calendars, computer cords and notebooks..and it's halloween!!!! Be safe and don't go on a candy binge!