Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

Is it weird that I really like meal planning? This might be a boring topic to some, but I am always very interested in people's grocery habits. I go through phases where everything is organized and well prepared. But if I don't plan ahead, well then we end up eating rice and beans and scraps.

I know there are scores of apps that make meal planning and recipe building and grocery shopping easy one-click affair, or something, but I'm not there yet. During my most organized weeks, I use this graph paper notebook to outline days and meals before I go grocery shopping. I tend to plan for two weeks: a detailed plan for week one, and something more sparse for week two.

It's more of a guideline for grocery shopping than anything else- after all, I never know how much leftovers we'll actually have, or if my coworkers will want to go out for lunch or if I'll forget my lunch and end up eating soup from the café at work. I tend to do a rough sketch of what I'd like to eat during the week. Then I use the Out of Milk app on my phone to make a grocery list.

Geoff has the same app, which is great because we can sync our lists, including what's been checked off already when we're at the store. We always go grocery shopping together, because we both dislike it too much.  If I make him go alone one week, I'll have to go alone the next week. Safer to go together. Mutually assured destruction, a perfectly sound foundation for a marriage. Right?

Anyway, with this plan we usually do one big grocery shop every two weeks, and I might do a small trip on my lunch break in the middle if we need something else. Lately I've been trying recipes from some cooking classes I've been attending (I've been trying different French sauces, and made a vegan mushroom risotto last week), and I also really like the Forks Over Knives cookbook, which I got for Christmas.

Do you plan meals in advance? Are there any apps or tips that make it easier? Let me know!

Note: This is not a sponsored post for Out of Milk- I just think it's a helpful app, especially when you've got a grocery buddy and want to sync up! It has other features too, and I encourage anyone to give it a try.
  Follow my blog with Bloglovin