Monthly Menu Planning & Budget

For the last half of this year, I have been monthly menu planning. When Groupon had their Costco deal earlier in the year, we signed up.  Our Costco is about an hour away so I knew to make it work, I would need to try monthly menu planning.  Well, it has really worked out great for us!  For June - October, we set our grocery budget to $400 and did well staying within that range going over occasionally.  In November, we raised the budget amount to $500 because we have been focusing on eating at home more and eating out less.  So, that budget includes 3 meals a day for the kids and I and at least 2 meals a day for my husband.  He also eats 3 meals a day for at least 4 days a week.

At first, I kept our menus very simple. Pretty much, we had the same thing every week for the 4 weeks.  I've started to branch out a little the past few months and I'm trying to try out all those pinterest recipe pins.  :)

Here is our menu plan for November - I do not assign a meal to a particular meal unless I know for sure that's what I need to do.  I just write out a list of meals in my monthly calendar and then sit down weekly to finalize the menu plan. 

Spaghetti x 4
ham x 2
tacos x 2
taco soup x 2
chicken and rice
rotisserie chicken
chicken pastry
loaded potato and chicken casserole
creamy chicken chili
meatloaf
cowboy casserole
veggie beef soup x 3
beefaroni
buffalo chicken
taco ring
cheesy chicken and broccoli over rice
salisbury steak

This is not a list of 30 meals because I knew Thanksgiving was in this month and I host it but we all pitch in with the food.  I also leave room for leftovers.  You can also see that I don't really make a plan for breakfast, lunch, or side items usually.  There are a list of staple items that I always have on hand for those keeping our menu plan even simpler. 

Weekly Grocery Haul Videos.