Before I break down the 'how' of menu planning, I want to direct your attention to "Menu Plan Monday". Laura, from "I'm an Organizing Junkie" started Menu Plan Monday years back, the guidelines can be found here. It is a great resource and an inspiration to see what others are preparing for their families, so be sure to check out the readers' links here. (after reading her post, scroll down to the bottom. . . at the time I was typing this post there was over 200 people that had posted their menu plans and linked up there!)
Okay, now on to the 'how': use a calendar (here is one for October) and just start writing down the typical meals on various dates. We all have our 'regular' meals that we tend to fall back on - simply put them in random dates. Note: I tend not to plan weekend meals AND I tend to leave one day during the weekday open for left overs as well. Also, remember the evening activities that you have going on and plan accordingly! For example, my children and I have AWANA club on Wednesday evenings and I, therefore, have very little time for dinner that evening. My husband had deemed it 'spaghetti night' and we always have spaghetti, bread or garlic bread, and salad. (He is a prince. . . he cooks most week nights because I get home from work around 6:15).
Try to fill up as many dates as you can for the whole month at once, that way you don’t have to meal plan every week. This will save time - and we can all use that. Obviously, you can serve the same meal more than once in a month, and if you do left overs and/or a spaghetti or pizza night for one of the weeknights consistently, it really makes this menu planning a breeze...you'll be suprised at how quickly your calendar fills up!
When you write down the meals on the calendar, write down the ingredients on a separate paper (your shopping list). For this step, I do suggest that your grocery list be for the upcoming week and not for the entire month. Doing this will allow you to grocery shop directly from what is truly needed, as opposed to planning on the go, while in the grocery store aisle! Oh, and now that the weather has cooled down considerably, take a look at your crockpot recipes too! I love crockpot meals!
Why not consider posting your upcoming week's menu on your blog and link it up at Laura's site? (let me know if you do!)
I'll have another organizing tip posted here tomorrow so be sure to check back (and leave a comment!) Be sure to send your friends to my blog as well!
We have 89 days remaining in 2011 - how are you spending those days?
No comments:
Post a Comment