Menu Planning Part 2

I'm back with part two of how menu planning is going for me. I actually started planning for meals and cooking at home a couple weeks ago, but with blogging it seems like everything gets posted a little bit later than when it happened. So I just published a post a few days ago about how I really don't like cooking and how we eat out way too much. 

Well...

I'm happy to report that I am cooking at home a lot more now! The planning and organizing everything has helped me tremendously. I will admit we have still ate out a few times. I'm working on trying to break that habit tho!

So I shared with ya'll the printable I made for myself for meal planning and a shopping list. I really like using it a lot. Here's a picture I took of meal planning from last week. 

Today I thought I would share the meal planning system I'm working on.

I bought a really cute and colorful binder for our meal planning. I figured at least the binder would make me happy since cooking and grocery shopping isn't my favorite thing.  :)

I got some sheet protectors from Dollar Tree. I am in the process of printing out our favorite recipes to add to it. I also like the idea of a binder, because now if I see a recipe I like online or browsing Pinterest, I can print it out and stick it in there. I am going to organize the recipes a little better, maybe getting some page dividers, after I get more in there.

I've been keeping our menu plan/shopping list handy in there so I can have it all in one place. I'm keeping the whole binder in the kitchen so when I think of something to add to it I can.

This is the beginning phase of organizing our meal planning. I'm sure I will tweak things to have them work better. But as of right now, it really seems to be helping me! I am a person that needs a little organization to be productive with things. 

So now when 5 o clock rolls around, I don't have to frantically think of where I should go pick up food, I just start the meal I have wrote down. This has really helped make our house feel more like "our castle".

So how do ya'll do your meal planning? Do you have a certain system for it you love?