Menu Planning and Saturday Errands
My weekends almost always start with menu
planning and sorting out what errands need to be done. I prefer to do all of this first thing
Saturday morning, both to get it out of the way in order to enjoy the rest of my
weekend and because I prefer to do all of my errands when most people have not
gotten out of their houses yet. I don’t
like it when the stores are crowded and I have to fight people and
traffic. This does of course mean that I
have to be out of my house as close to 8 am as possible. Yes, that is early for a Saturday, and yes I
would prefer to sleep in, but it makes for a calmer errand process and
therefore, a calmer me. Plus, the sooner
I return home, the sooner I can nap if need be.
So to me, it’s worth it.
Most Saturdays (if I’m working on a Saturday,
all of this will happen on Friday or my husband will do the errands) the alarm
goes off at 7 am. While I’m enjoying my
first cup of coffee, I will do my meal planning.
First, I gather my supplies.
My supplies consist of my planner, my meal
calendar, my coupon organizer, my shopping list, and my iPad.
The first step in planning out my meals for
the upcoming week (Saturday through Saturday most weeks) is to fill in the
events that will impact our dinners. (My
meal planning pertains only to dinner
since lunch is eaten at work and breakfast usually consists of the same thing
every day.)
For my meal planning, I use a simple monthly
calendar (I believe I picked this one up at Target
for around $2.00) that I keep in the kitchen.
I don’t keep my meal plans in my planner because my husband likes to see
what we’re having, especially on nights that he cooks, which usually happens
when I work late or have yoga and won’t return home until 9:30 or 8:30 at night,
respectively. (By the way, our rule of
thumb is that one person cooks and the other person cleans, so we each take
turns doing both chores.)
So, depending on my schedule for the upcoming
week, I will write down anything that impacts our dinners: which day I work the
evening shift, which day I’ll go to yoga, etc.
Once I see what days are left that need an official meal assigned to
them, I will pick and choose what to make from my recipe book.
Once I’ve chosen which meal to make, I put a Post-it note on
the recipe itself. This helps me to find
the recipe quickly and easily when I’m ready for it. At this point, I’ll write down any
ingredients that I need on my shopping list.
If something needs to be defrosted or
marinated or prepped at odd times during the week, I set an audio reminder on
my iPad. When the bell goes off (usually
in the evening in order to prep something for the next day), I look at the
reminder and take care of the item.
A sample week of meals might look something
like this (FFY means “fend for yourself”):
This isn’t the best example considering we
were gearing up for vacation (we didn’t want to buy anything that wouldn’t be
eaten) and my accountant husband was just finishing up his busy tax season
(which meant he wouldn’t be home for dinner most nights).
After I’ve chosen my meals for the week and
have written down any ingredients I need, I look through the grocery store’s
circular to see if I can stock up on any sale items.
I also look through my coupons to see what
needs to be used soon and if any pertain to anything I’m buying that week.
This coupon
holder is part of Post-its’
Home Collection. (Originally only
available at The Container
Store, some items from the Home Collection are now available at Target.)
At this point, my meal planning is
complete. But because I prefer to do all
of my errands in one shot, I then refer to my list of places that I need to
visit.
During the week, as things come up, I write
down any store that I need to visit sooner rather than later to a small Post-it
stuck to the weekend in my planner. And
during my meal planning I will check this list to see what stores I will
include on my errand run.
Once I’ve decided which store(s) I will
visit, I refer to my shopping list of essential and other items that I keep in
my planner behind my “to buy” tab.
I keep separate sheets of paper here for
separate shopping lists. My “Essentials”
list has all personal items I might need from places like CVS and Target.
Mainly, it consists of personal hygiene items.
Then, I have another list for everything
household related, usually bought from places like Target or Bed Bath and Beyond.
From here, I add whatever I’m going to buy
from either/both of these lists to my errands list in Wunderlist, adding items to whichever
sub-list the item pertains to. (You can
read more about how I use Wunderlist in full here.) Specifically, I’ll add whatever items I need
from each store to that store’s list.
So in this case, I add certain items under
Target, and the other items under Bed Bath and Beyond. Of course, some items may be purchased at
either location, and in that case, I may add the items to both lists.
I use Wunderlist while shopping because it’s
easier for me to pull out and use my phone than it is for me to refer to my
planner throughout my shopping. The
phone is easier for me to hold in one hand (because the other is usually
occupied with Starbucks coffee) and can
easily be tucked into a pocket if need be.
While I can pull out my planner and leave it open in the cart, I find
that switching from list to list isn’t as easy with the planner while holding store
items in my hand. It’s just a personal
preference. However, since my planner is
my lifeline and where I keep everything, I can’t do without keeping my lists
there. The phone and Wunderlist is just
a shortcut to that information while running errands.
Of course, this means a little more work in
the planning stages, but I don’t mind since we all know how much I love to plan.
Once an item has been added to Wunderlist,
the item on my paper list gets a check mark.
This way, I know the item also exists in
Wunderlist.
The last part of my errand planning is to map
out the order in which my errands will be done.
I’m lucky in that most of my errands take
place along one road. Still, I want to
conserve as much time and gas as possible, so I map out the best way to get the
errands done. Usually, I’ll start at the
furthest end and work my way back.
Groceries are always the last to be done so that they don’t spoil in the
car while I’m running into another store.
There’s also opening time to consider.
Target is the earliest to open at 8 am, and thankfully, it’s located at
the far end of my route. So always I
start there, and by the time I’m done, it’s after 9 am, the other stores will
have opened, and I can work my way back towards the grocery store.
It really is the perfect layout for my
shopping needs.
Once all of my lists are established in
Wunderlist, I “star” them so that they are easy to find.
Remember my little list of stores to visit
each week? Once they’re added to my
Wunderlist list, they also get a check mark.
Then, I grab my coupon book and my reusable
bags and head out the door.
While I’m in a particular store, I’ll bring
up the Wunderlist list for that store and check off items as I get them.
As I hit each store, I check those off as
well.
Once I’m home and all items are put away,
I’ll take out my planner and cross off any items that were purchased.
I will also bring up Wunderlist either on my
iPhone, iPad, or Mac and delete those items that I purchased.
In reading through this post, it sounds like
this process takes way more time that it actually does. The entire process, from beginning (starting
with the planning) to the end (crossing items off my planner lists), including
running the errands, takes about 2 hours (depending on the number of errands
that need to be run of course). The
planning part of it takes no more than a half-hour. It does help though that I write down both
any needed items and stores to visit as they come up throughout the week. So I don’t have to think about where I need
to go and what I need to buy during my planning process.
This system keeps me very well organized and
allows me to make the most of my time while running errands. Doing all of my errands in one go once a week
is the way I prefer to do it, and so, being highly organized during that
process helps me to complete the task as efficiently as possible.
Your menu planning process is so much more involves than mine. ��
ReplyDeleteIt does sound involved, though not as involved as writing it down makes it seem. Mostly, the "involvement" comes from moving things from one place to another. As is my tendency, I make it more complicated than it needs to be. But it works because it keeps me organized and gets me and out of the stores faster, which is my goal. :)
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