Monthly Meal Planning: Part 2

This is part two of a three part series on Monthly Meal Planning.

In the previous post, I talked about why I have chosen to do meal planning on a monthly scale for my family, and the ways in which it has helped not only our budget but also routines. The other part of monthly meal planning that has been exciting for me is the flexibility to try new recipes as well as keep staples a consistent part of our meals. 

As Andrew and Owen are both sensitive to gluten, most of our meals and staples are gluten free. When this first transitioned at the beginning of this year I was overwhelmed and thought that we would never be able to eat 'normally' again. I was greatly mistaken! Not only has cooking GF been much easier than anticipated, it's opened me up to trying much more variety in our foods. This being said, many of our staples both in foods we always keep on hand, as well as the dinners we have as our 'go-to' meals are GF. 

Bulk Items

One of the benefits of monthly meal planning is being able to see at a quick glance all that I will need for the entire month (granted, there is definitely still need to be flexible!). To not only be able to stock our cupboard but stay within our food budget, I have started to shop for a lot of bulk items. As with the switch to GF, initially I was not looking forward to how much time I would have to spend cooking with dried beans versus canned. Wonderfully, I have once again been pleasantly surprised with how easy the transition has been. Oh, how I do love my crockpot!

Here are items I buy in bulk:

Black, pinto and kidney beans

Brown rice

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds (for an easy trail mix)

Green and yellow split peas

Red lentils

Cornmeal

Coconut oil

Frozen chicken breasts 

Raisins

Frozen stir-fry veggies

GF rolled oats 

GF all purpose flour 

Chicken broth

Garlic

Salsa

Not all grocery stores have bulk food sections, but some of the best places I've found are Whole Foods, Fred Meyer and Winco. I also buy bulk size at Costco. Whole Foods is actually not too bad for prices in their bulk section, especially given that they are almost all organic and sometimes on great sales (in fact, they just had a 25% all bulk items recently). I reuse glass jars from applesauce, baby food, and other foods to store our bulk items. Goodwill sometimes has great glass containers, and PCC carries extra large containers for $5, which can hold quite a bit of bulk food - I use them for our rolled oats and GF flour.

Staple Meals

Since I buy the above items in bulk, it allows me to maintain some consistency in our meals throughout the month. I typically will try several new meals a month (about once in a week or two), but stick to a lot of our favorites and rotate through them so we don't get sick of any one thing. I also scatter the more expensive meals throughout the month so no one week is overwhelming budget-wise. Here are some of the meals we make sure to plan for, weekly and monthly (click on the highlighted names for the original recipes).

Weekly

Black or pinto beans and rice

GF pasta with (homemade - super easy!) marinara sauce

Stir-fry with quinoa

Monthly

Curry red lentil stew 

Split pea soup

Coconut curry red lentils and rice

Thai fried quinoa

Kale and broccoli quinoa

Crockpot chicken tacos

Balsamic chicken with red potatoes and carrots

Spiced split pea dal with rice

Black bean and pumpkin soup

Corn chili 

Stuffed green peppers 

Cauliflower and bacon soup

I tend to find most of my recipes through Pinterest (follow me on Pinterest: ruth311), and through friends who have shown me great time and money-saving recipes. I keep updating my recipe box quite frequently, and love finding new meals! 

I would love to answer any questions you may have regarding monthly meal planning, bulk items, etc. Feel free to comment below and I will make sure to answer all in the final installment post of this series! 

Look soon for Part 3 of Monthly Meal Planning - time and money-saving recipes, best prices, and meal planning FAQ!