What's for Dinner? Meal Planning Made Easy

Do you ever have the blank state when someone in your family asks you "what's for dinner?" Or are you spending an insane amount of money on Pizza, Fast Food or Restaurants?

This is one area where I have struggled in the past.  I then came up with a great system to make meal planning so much easier for me and my family.  I wanted to share it with you and hopefully you might be able to gleam some helpful tips!  If you could save just a few dollars on your food category that is is something that you can add towards your goal of early retirement, plus improve your health in the process.

Meal planning is personal to each individual and family, whether you are on a restricted diet, or receive special foods through a program like NutraSystem or Blue Apron. This system can work for you no matter what your preferences. My meal plan has changed over the years, and continues to change as my son's taste change.  I was diagnosed with Cancer in 2013 and while on chemotherapy found that my taste change drastically.  They are slowly getting back to normal now, but I have continued to adjust what I eat.

In order to plan meals for my family, I took the time to write out approximately 20-30 meals that we like to eat (and yes, this even included a few of the restaurants where we like to eat).  I wrote each meal on a little Post-It note that fits on my calendar.  I like to color code things, so I used different colored post-its.  For fish I used Blue post-its, for chicken Yellow, Red Meat is Pink, Other meats like Pork or Turkey is Orange, Green for Vegetarian, and Purple for eating out.  This color coding allows me to glance at my calendar to see if we are eating too much red meat, or not enough fish in our diets.

Next I placed the meals on each day of the month, this would allow me to look at what is happening each day on the calendar and make adjustments.  Plans change and that is OK because I can easily move the post-it notes around.  For example, if I find a sale at the store, or have some vegetables in the fridge that I need to use up, I can look for meals that cover those items and move them into the current weeks rotation.

Now here is the HUGE timer saver that I discovered; are you ready for it?  Once you finish the meal, skip ahead a few weeks and find a new date to place the post-it!  each time you finish a meal you do this, and you will NEVER have to do meal planning again.  Sure you might add a new dish from time to time, or remove something your family doesn't like, but over 80% of our meals we eat over and over.

So are you ready to NEVER have to spend hours agonizing over what's for dinner?

Here it is broken down into simple steps:

STEP 1: Brainstorm 20-30 meals that you and your family like to eat (this can include eating out)
STEP 2: Write them down on post-its that fit on your calendar (you can color code this is you want)
STEP 3: Move the meals around as necessary
STEP 4: When you finish a meal, move the post-it ahead a few weeks to a new date!

There you have it, you can do this and benefits: LESS money spent on wasted food and eating out, NO more agonizing over what is for dinner, and LESS processed food and junk food so LESS inches around your waistline!

What about Healthcare?

In making the decision to retire early, one of our primary concerns was the area of healthcare.  Both Mr. Breeze and I have Pre-existing conditions.  I am curious to see how health care reform starts to change over the course of  5 years.

In fact I have added a new section titled Health.  This is an area where I will post about healthcare, what we find, and changing to living a healthier lifestyle (recipes, activities, who knows I might even track our weight goals on line.).

So we decided to buy through the exchange but unfortunately with leaving our jobs and income it was confusing to fill out the paperwork.  We tried to make phone calls, and had our forms reentered but found out that we were applying for aid (i.e. welfare).  That is not what we wanted.

I ended up panicking, and decided to purchase directly from the insurance company as I was afraid to go without coverage for myself, and my family.  We chose Humana as they were one of the best for the medications we were on and I liked the options.  By going direct to the insurance company we are not on the exchange (although our plan is considered a Bronze plan through the Affordable Care Act); therefore, we are not eligible for the subsidies.

So what is insurance costing us:

Well for our family of 3, we have a monthly premium of about $885 a month.  We are not eligible for the subsidy, however, if our healthcare expenses exceed 10% of our income and this includes the Premiums that we are paying, we can deduct medical expenses from our tax liability.  This may or may not be better for us in the long run, we will see what our income ends up looking like after 2016.  We may try to get on the exchange plan for 2017, but for now we are happy to have insurance.

Oh and because neither of us are "working" we were also eligible for medicaid cards, so we are using that as a secondary insurance - this will only help us to reduce our deductible. Speaking of the deductible, we have a family deductible of $12,500.  While I hope we will never reach that amount, if for some reason we have a large medical event, such as a hospital stay, then I know our cap will be our premiums plus the $12,500.  Long term this is a expensive option, but it is affordable today, as we are learning.

So to have insurance for 2016, we are paying:
$885 x 11 (we were covered in January)
And an out of pocket deductible of up to: $12,500
Total potential healthcare expenses for 2016: $22,235

So if our 2016 income is below $222k we should meet the 10% medical deduction for 2016.

The only thing I wish I had done differently, was read Root of Goods post on the Pitfall and Subsidies of the Affordable care act!  Unfortunately I had to make my decision before he posted this, and didn't have the luxury of time (I was leaving my job, moving across the country, and stepping up a new home!).  Oh well, lessons learned and maybe we will do better next year!

Another year older

Well Mama Breeze is another year old, and a year closer to wanting to retire at 40!  Today is an amazing day for me - I actually get to celebrate my birthday.

Last year at this time, I was losing my hair to cancer and wondering if chemo was going to make a difference on my aggressive cancer.

Today I am completely done with cancer treatments!  Yippee!!  I am 36 years old and happy.  I have my wonderful son, my amazing husband and a loving family.  I have my career, and I am building our net worth and reducing our debt so I have even more time to spend with Baby Breeze while I am still on this earth.

I am excited to celebrate my birthday today, and I am looking forward to a new year - one with A LOT less doctors appointments!  (I had 109 doctors appointments last year!  Whew!).