Organize One Thing Wednesdays {Thursday Edition!}

Since yesterday was an official holiday {Happy Birthday America!}, I didn't get to make my "Organize One Thing Wednesday" post yesterday......so let's just pretend, shall we? :) It's Wednesday again!  Time to organize just one thing to make your life easier.  Today, I'm tackling dinner time.  Since I've started my penny-pinching summer, I've been planning our dinners and making menus for the week.  I save money at the grocery because I know exactly what I need to get and I save time at home because I know that I have a meal plan for every night of the week.  As organized and as easy at this has made dinner time, there's still a little bit of tweaking that can be done to the meal time process.  I was making my weekly menu and posting it here on the blog.  So, on Monday night, I would have to get my phone or our iPad and refer back to the post to figure out what exactly I had listed to make that night.  Not only that, I had to go through the ingredient list and the pantry to gather all of the necessary items to make that dish.  Not horrible, but I saw the room for improvement.  And an idea was born.  Put all the ingredients that I needed for that night's dinner together in one place.  For this project, I'm using plastic bins (large sized are $2.50 each at Wal-Mart), index cards and binder rings. 

I got six baskets for each day of the week that I cook (on Sundays we always eat out with Marty's parents or go to my parent's house).  After I had the baskets, I labeled index cards with Monday-Friday. 

Starting with Monday, I wrote the name of the dish (and coordinating side dish) I was making on another index card.

Behind that, I wrote the ingredients that were still needed to complete the recipe (i.e.  making ranch burgers and I need ground beef, which is in the fridge thawing).  That way I would know what still needed to be grabbed out of the fridge, freezer or spice cabinet. 

If the recipe was a complicated one, or I felt like it would be one that I would make later on, I filled out a recipe card with the step by step directions.  Too many times I would have to refer back to the recipe on my Pinterest board or the link that I had provided in one of my "Supper Club" posts.  No more.  All of the directions are with the ingredients and I know exactly what to do. 
Once all of my cards were filled out, I punched a hole through each and put them on a binder ring, which I put around the basket.  Next, I filled each basket with the necessary pantry ingredients to make that recipe.  And voila!  Organized dinner preparation with little effort required.  It makes dinner time easier, quicker and more organized....not to mention how spiffy and neat it make my pantry look. 

Come back next Wednesday for more organizing tips!!