Making a Menu

Plan out your meals one week at a time, starting on the day when you get groceries.

Plan on having one or two leftover days, and mark those on your menu.

Add variety to your meals. For example, if you have soup one day, try salad, wraps or sandwiches the next to change things up.

Try making meat the main part of the dish only once or twice per week, and make it something special since meat can be expensive, especially if you're getting the good stuff.

Sometimes, you can get creative and use leftovers to make something new with little effort. For example, you could take leftover stir-fry and turn it into a taco or burrito filling. Take leftover rice and add it to chili, make a paella, or fried rice.

Plan seasonally! If it's fall, plan on meals with a lot of squash, apples, brussel sprouts, beets, radishes, rutabaga, etc. Here's a great site for finding seasonal foods to look for:

Don't look at your plan as set in stone. Be prepared to change it based on sales at the store.