Meal Planning / Menu Planning

I've been wanting to do a post on here for quite some time about menu planning. I've been asked through the years how to do menu planning and tips for menu planning. I'll try to give you a simple list of options (and there are more I know so feel free to comment and share your ideas as well). This post is going to cover "types of menu planning", "tips for menu planning", and "why menu planning works."

TYPES OF MENU PLANNING:

I've done menu planning by the week, by the 2 weeks, and by the month. All of which served me well at certain times. It just depends on what fits for you. Currently, I'm planning by the week to two weeks. There isn't a right or wrong way to do menu planning as long as it's working well for you. Some people like to do two weeks at a time because it fits with their pay days and hence their grocery shopping. I used to plan by the month just because I hated planning and so that way the whole month was done and I didn't have to think about it for another month! Other times I can't seem to think past one week at a time.

I've done menu planning that consisted of breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. I've also done just breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my current favorite-planning just the dinners. I seem to have breakfast and lunch down to a routine without really needing to plan them out. I know several women (and other bloggers) that do breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu planning for their families and it works really well for them. Heavenly Homemaker and Life as Mom post their weekly menus for your viewing convenience if you'd like to see some in action.

TIPS FOR MENU PLANNING:

~probably the best tip of all is to make a list of the things you like to cook...or that your family likes to eat. I keep this typed list of meal ideas printed and taped to the inside of my pantry door. When I'm making my menu, I can quickly reference this list of ideas for dinner. And it even comes in handy when I get behind on menu planning and need a quick idea for dinner. I categorize this list by Poultry, Meat, and Vegetarian dishes. You can categorize your list any way you want to though...another great way would be Soups, Casseroles, Meat and Potatoes, Mexican, Italian, etc.....do what works for you. You can see my list to the right. You are welcome to print it and use it as a rough draft for your own meal ideas.

~if you tend to cook enough for leftovers, work a "leftovers" night into your menu. This is a night (towards the end of your cooking week) where you pull out all your leftovers from the week and have a buffet. This saves money and assures that leftovers get eaten.

~make double when you cook and freeze one. Making freezer meals gives you a night off of cooking from time to time. Be sure to put these freezer meals into your menu planning calendar. Remember that potatoes and carrots do not freeze well and be sure to pull that freezer meal out in the morning so it's defrosted in time to cook it according to the recipe instructions. Another tip is to write the recipe cooking instructions on the foil you cover it with making it easy to remember what temp to set the oven and for how long.

~include one breakfast dinner a week to save money on the food budget. What's breakfast dinner? It's having pancakes or the like for dinner. It's cheaper and saves money.

~when making your menu for the week start with looking through your pantry and freezer. Try to use items you've already got on hand and incorporate ingredients you need to use up.

~consult your home calendar/schedule to account for other dinners out of the house whether that's family get-togethers, church potlucks, or going out with friends. Another reason to consult your schedule is to account for busy days where the crock-pot meal may be the best option and schedule accordingly. For example...Friday is crock-pot day for us because it's always a long busy day.

~once you've planned your meals, make your grocery list off of your menu plan. This helps save time and money in the grocery store because you are shopping for what you actually need that week.

~if only planning dinners, then add some basic breakfast, lunch, and snack items to your grocery list.


~make your own menu calendar and stick it to your fridge for daily reference. This way you know where it is all the time. I've made them in excel before but now I use a magnetic paper calendar like this one pictured.


WHY MENU PLANNING WORKS:

First of all, you don't have to stick to the menu plan as law. I do plenty of scribbling out, switching, rearranging, and abandoning as needed for unexpected circumstances in my day. The menu plan is only a guide and a plan. Sticking to it is of course to your benefit and should actually help alleviate stress and busy schedules but there are times when you need to make changes.

Menu planning works because:
*it takes the stress out of figuring out dinner at the last minute.
*it allows you more time (because you planned) to make healthier, more balanced, and all around better meals rather than last minute ones. You can plan a more well rounded and balanced diet throughout the week/month.
*it saves money at the grocery store because you are buying what you need. Instead of buying a bunch of food and actually only using a percentage of it that week and throwing out what goes bad, you are going to use just about all of it because you plan to.
*it frees you up in the mornings and afternoons from figuring out what to make for dinner and from having to run to the store for that one ingredient you thought you had on hand and don't.
*menu planning may seem like it takes a lot of time if you haven't done it before but in reality it saves time. Just taking those 15-20 min (you get better and faster at it the more you do it) at the beginning of the month or week will save you tons of time in the grocery store and in the afternoons trying to figure out what to make.