Meal Planning

Meal planning is a very important tool in both organization and frugality. It allows you to use what you already have, not have to ask yourself the dreaded "what's for dinner" each day, and saves you from buying foods you won't cook. At the end of every month I sit down with my planner and plan out my lunches and dinners for the following month. This doesn't take me very long however I still wait until the girls are either napping or down for the evening before I begin.

An old menu planning session while experimenting with a daily page.

Spiced Apple Cider

Enjoying a cup of cider while meal planning this Christmas.

 A few weeks ago I had some of my friends over for lunch and thought it would be nice to serve a seasonal beverage. I looked up many different recipes online and found I didn't have all the ingredients for a single one. So... I came up with my own using ingredients already found in my kitchen (other than the cider itself). This is also something fairly inexpensive to take to a friend's home during all this cold weather. My crock-pot has a latch system which makes this even easier to take, and if you pair this with those Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider cookies well you will most definitely be the hit of the party!