Meal Planner 101 Review – Supper Saturday

I told you awhile ago about a meal planning system called “Meal Planner 101“. Well, I’ve been using the system for a good two weeks now and meal time around my house has been great. I really needed something to give me a kick in the pants so that I would start planning meals for my family again, instead of flying by the seat of my pants.

The Meal Planner 101 System

Let me start off by telling you how much I love the Meal Planner 101 system. For $29.95 you get a notebook with a few pre-printed pages on it for menu planning, grocery shopping, family favorite recipes and so on. You get to choose which notebook you want and all the designs are great. As I always say, when something is appealing to the eye, you’ll use it more. I really enjoy using my notebook and making my grocery list and planning my meals with it.

The next thing you get is a DVD and this is the gold mine here. This DVD isn’t just a “plan your meals and life will be easier” type DVD. The creator of Meal Planner 101, Julie Sheldrup, takes you step by step through the whole process of great meal planning. It’s not just about making a list and a menu. There’s a lot more to it then that.

She starts off by showing you how she organizes her kitchen. When it comes to meal planning, an organized kitchen is a must! I have always been an advocate of that. She explains how to best organize your refrigerator and pantry area. This is where meal planning begins – with an organized kitchen.

Read the rest of my review below the cut.

She also explains in depth about how she plans her meals using that week’s grocery flier. She can see what’s on sale, plan her meals around that and save her family some money.She also shows you how to make a menu, do the grocery shopping and bring it all back home to start cooking delicious meals for your family.

If you are a newlywed, new parent, or someone like me who was out of the routine of planning meals, I know you will enjoy her notebook and DVD.

What Meal Planner 101 Has Done for Me

Now, let me tell you how things have been for me the past two weeks. They have been great! I sit down on Sunday afternoons with the newspaper and clip coupons and go through the grocery store ad. I make my grocery list (which she has divided into sections for easier shopping), go shopping on Monday and have at least a week’s worth of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My kids have loved waking up every morning and knowing what they are having for breakfast. I have nothing against cold cereal, but my two oldest do. So I’ve been up early making muffins, waffles, cinnamon rolls,etc and I know they have been sit off to school with a full tummy.

I also know that I have enough food for their lunches for the entire week. That has been a blessing.

As far as dinners, since I know exactly what we are having, I have been able to remember to thaw or marinate the meat, let the rolls rise, and plan our meals around out busy schedule. I have our meals posted on a calendar and everyone can look and see what we’re having.

Surprise Guests

Another great thing about meal planning is that when you have surprise guests, you can just add some more food to the meal you already had planned. This happened to us last weekend. My father-in-law called and said he was stopping by. We saw him at Christmas, but he lives in Albania so we want to see him as much as we can while he’s in the states. I didn’t have to panic and wonder what and the world I was going to feed him or look in my pantry and cringe. I was able to set an extra plate at the table and just enjoy the fact that he was here with us. Now that was a wonderful feeling!!

Give Meal Planner 101 a Try

I highly recommend Meal Planner 101 and know that if you are struggling with meal planning, that this could be your answer. Julie’s personality is great also and you’ll enjoy watching her. Don’t turn the DVD off too soon or you’ll miss her adorable bloopers.

Stop by the Meal Planner 101 website and take a look at the company. I am very glad I stumbled upon their video on You Tube. I hope everyone is having a great Saturday. Oh and guess what..I know what we’re having for dinner tonight…do YOU?

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