Meal Planning via Cozi

I have noted on other sites that many bloggers share how they menu plan. I have had a lot of fun learning new ways to do this for my family. I would like to share my process with you. As I have stated before, I work nights so when it is time to cook a meal I don't want to worry about how long it is going to take me to prepare a meal from start to finish. Not only does meal planning save me time on a day to day basis but it also saves me money at the grocery store. In an earlier post, "Cozi.com", I told you that I used this site for my menu planning. This is how.

 Step 1

 When I find recipes I like I add the recipe to my recipe box. You can do this one of two ways (1) type the recipe into the form or  (2) use my handy bookmark that works like the pin it button; some times this takes minor modification as all sites do not always work well with Cozi format. Not to fear I can COPY and PASTE. LOL! Okay recipe is now in my recipe box....YAY!

 Step 2

On or after the 5th of every month I make a big monthly shopping trip about 1 week before this trip I plan out meals for the month. In the past I would do this on a weekly calendar print out, now I use Cozi.com Dinner Plan. I scroll through my recipes on the Right and I click and drag them into the appropriate day. I can then click the meal on the calendar and the recipe appears.

Step 3

Within the recipe is an option to add the ingredients to the shopping list (See Below--I have pulled up the recipe for October 10th-"All Day Chili"). Click "Add to shopping list".

Step 4

A box will appear that will allow you to choose a shopping list. Either create a new one or use an existing one. The selected list is the one it will go to when you click "Add to List".

Step 5

When you do this your Shopping list will appear. When this happens you can either go back and add others to the list or you can print the list, send it to your phone, or change the list and add new items. Usually I try to combine like ingredients at this point. The shopping list is by default in categories by meals. If I am doing OAMC I will print this list plus one that is by category (i.e., meat, dairy, produce, etc). Once you print the list or send it to your phone. Now you are ready to go to the store.

• I buy everything I need for the dinner meals for the month, some staple breakfast items (cereal, frozen biscuits, frozen pancakes, etc), and some lunch items (deli meat for sandwiches, fruit, chips, etc).  I use coupons when I can and I buy store brand most of the time. One of our local stores offers a 5% discount for students on Mondays so I try to take advantage of that. I usually spend about $340/month and feed 5 adults at least 1-2 hot meals a day with a light lunch. Usually the only reason to go back to the grocery store is to pick up milk or bread. I would like to add that we do not always stick exactly to our meal plan but having one allows us to have every thing we need to make enough meals for every day of the month. Sometimes we repeat favorites within the month and other times we don't. Leftovers become lunches or I turn them into what I like to call "Unrecognizable Leftovers".
• Unrecognizable Leftover Example: Mashed Potatoes + Hashbrowns + French Fries + Potatoes Au Gratin + Cheese + a can of Cream of Mushroom = Potato Casserole (that actually gets devoured)
• Unrecognizable Leftover Example 2:  Leftover Pork Loin/Baked Chicken/Roast/etc + leftover vegetables + broth = Vegetable Soup/Camp Stew/ etc. 

• I hope this was enlightening and helped anyone interested in the process of learning to meal plan. This was the easiest way I found to meal plan and have everything in one place. I encourage anyone still using pencil and paper methods to try out Cozi.com today.

• I apologize...I tried to include print screens so that you could see what was happening because I tend to make the simplest thing very complicated but Blogger doesn't want to let me do so today.