Meal Planning Tips And A Free Disney-Inspired Meal Planning Printable

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This fun Disney-inspired meal planning printable was created by Carrie of Carrie Elle for Rock-a-Bye Parents. And it’s yours to print and enjoy!

My name is Carrie and I like to meal plan. Okay…technically, I’ve only been meal planning consistently for a little over five weeks now, but it’s a start – and I promise you, if you haven’t meal planned before, you need to start. It makes life SO much easier!

One of my favorite parts of meal planning is making meal planning printables and then using them. It’s much more fun than the cooking, and the grocery shopping, and the picking-out-recipes-the-whole-family-will-eat parts of meal planning!

In honor of Elizabeth’s Disney vacation (lucky duck!), I decided that I’d create a free Disney-inspired meal planning printable for her readers. Because we don’t want her to be the only one having all the fun!

Click to download!

It takes me a few extra minutes to meal plan for the week, but the time I put in is minimal compared to the time, effort, and MONEY we save when we don’t meal plan (when we don’t meal plan, shopping trips are a random free-for-all!).

Here’s what I do: I sit down with my laptop open and scroll through my Pinterest boards (I have an entire board dedicated to EasyMeal Planning – come check it out!). If I feel like pasta, or trying a new crock pot recipe, I might search Pinterest for new recipes (who doesn’t love an excuse to pin more food, right?!). I usually pick 4-5 recipes, knowing that we’ll eat out once and have leftovers once or twice during the week (depending on the dishes we make). I open the websites with the recipes so I can be sure to see what I need, and I add the ingredients to my grocery list.

When I’m planning the meals, I keep our calendar in mind. On the days when we have lots of activities scheduled, we do a crock pot meal. If I know I’ll be home and have some uninterrupted time during the day, I plan a more complex dish, like lasagna (it’s always easier to prep foods when the kids are quiet or at school!).

Meal planning has made our evenings more peaceful, our schedules a little less hectic, and our grocery trips less expensive – annnnd, I have an excuse to make cute meal planning printables!

I hope you enjoy this free Disney-inspired meal planning printable!

So – do you meal plan? What are you tips?

Bio: Carrie is a stay-at-home mom to two children, ages 4 and 2. She loves horses, books, and tea. She blogs about learning to parent, tips for bloggers, and fun   family friendly activities in Dallas on her blog, Carrie Elle.