Tasty Tuesday BONUS: Menu Planning and Shopping List for Paleo/Slow Carb w/ Vegetarian Options w/Recipes

Making a Meal Plan for a Variety of Eating Habits

I am very thankful that my children are fairly open to trying new things, and they are all used to eating healthy foods.  I'm proud of the fact that my children (for the most part) have taken control of their health, researched the things that are important to them and made choices that they believe and adhere to.  Because of that, I am more than happy to work with them to encourage and support their nutritional choices, even when they aren't the same as my own.  Even if it takes a little bit more work... its well worth it, to me.

I'm not about scheduled meals or a strict "meal plan", but I like to have the options organized so that everyone knows what there is to eat.  I make a large batch of food so that we have leftovers and all of my kids know how to cook, so if they're hungry, they don't have to wait for someone else to make it for them.  I like to make a two week meal plan, then make a grocery list to go with each plan.  Then I can choose a meal plan whenever it sounds good and have the shopping list to go with it.

Link to Meal Plan A

Grocery List for Meal Plan A

So, that's how it works for me.  I make a list of meals, then go through and make a list of groceries.  Fortunately, we almost always have the staples on hand, so it doesn't dent the budget too much (although this time, our cupboards were pretty bare, so the bill was higher than I'd like!).

How do you organize your meal planning and grocery shopping?  My favorite part about this method is that 2 or 3 months from now when I'm really swamped and busy, I can just reprint this exact plan and go shopping again without having to hunt down recipes and whatnot!

Links to some of the above mentioned recipes (Some I haven't tried yet, but I'll post them on my Tasty Tuesdays or Foodie Fridays for you as soon as I do!):

Mexican Soup (aka Taco Soup)

Chicken Onions & Spinach

Salmon Patties

Enchiladas (although this week, we're buying canned sauce)

Smoothies (and check back later today for my "Tasty Tuesday" Smoothie recipe)

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Let me know if you have any questions!  I've been doing this for so long, I tend to forget that there are things I should explain!