Meal Planning take two

I mentioned in the last post my love for meal planning that extends beyond dinner. And you should too. So my meal planning tip take two is this:

Plan three square meals and snacks!

Why? Oh my I have so many reasons. How about getting in all those edible rainbow colors each day, or using all the produce you bought, rotating snacks to keep it fresh for the kids, using your food storage, keeping grocery costs down, trying new foods...I could go on but you're catching my energy for this now, right?!

I try and limit cold cereal and sandwiches to two times a week. Having breakfast and lunch planned helps me think beyond the PBJ and Kix. Now my milk and bread gets stretched several days more and my kids are eating more nutritious foods all through the day.

Have you tried this? Comments please!!

Super charged meal planning

snapshot of Microsoft Office meal planner

Meal Planning. You either do it and stick to it, or do it and completely ignore it. Here are two neato software programs that will help you take control of meals and the planning of those tasty dishes:

For Windows users try this Microsoft Office template (FOR FREE!) I love that it has space to males every single meal and a snack!

For Mac people try this MacGourmet program (free temporary download then $9.95). You can print menus, dinner party invites, make shopping lists and upload meals to iCal. Very cool. I'm definitely trying this and just from my peek into the program think the small purchase price is worth it!