Thursday, September 24, 2009

Menu Planning

I do the grocery shopping every two weeks. I make my list based on menus for those two weeks,plus our usual stuff.

Most of the time making my menus and grocery list is a big, time consuming chore. I get out a stack of old Quick Cooking and Taste of Home magazines and go through each one,seeing what looks good. I also take into consideration family favorites,but have to be careful not to run them into the ground.

This time around I thought I would try a new approach that I've read or heard about off and on. I took each day of the week and assigned it a main ingredient or theme.

Monday: beef
Tuesday: chicken
Wednesday: pasta
Thursday:Mexican
Friday:fish/seafood
Saturday & Sunday: leftover/sandwiches/soup/out

My list went together so quickly, I was amazed. I managed to stick to my new plan for Mon-Thurs. The weekends are a little off because we will be camping the first weekend and I had to adjust for that. The second weekend,I just did some family favorites.

So here are my menus for the next two weeks starting on Monday.

M:Swedish meatballs,mashed potatoes,corn
T:Chicken,broccoli,rice casserole,salad
W:Spaghetti Red,corn bread
TH:Tacos
F:Hamburgers,Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler
S:Dutch Oven Chicken with Basil Dumplings,s'mores
S:leftovers/sandwiches/out

M:Meatloaf,mashed potatoes,veggie
T:Pecan Crusted Chicken,green beans,salad
W:Spaghetti and meatballs,salad
TH:Bean and rice burritos
F:Potato soup,popcorn
S:Pizza
S:leftovers/sandwiches/out

So there you have it. I'm excited to see how long I can make this work. By being so general with the days assigned food,the options are almost limitless.

Have a great day!
Leat

2 comments:

B said...

You are inspiring! I soooo need to do that. Organization is just not my thing. I want to change that though. Do you plan all 3 meals in advance or just dinners? I think that I need to do all three..... I wish changing bad habits wasn't so hard...... :oP

Leat said...

Hi B! I really enjoy your blog! Thanks for leaving a comment!
I usually just plan the dinners. DH takes dinner leftovers for lunch the next day,and the boys and I just have sandwiches,leftovers,or a meat/cheese/cracker/fruit plate. Breakfast is cereal 1-2 times a week,eggs & toast,pancakes,waffles,etc the other days. Sat mornings we always have breakfast burritos. Sun mornings is either biscuits and gravy or coffee cake and hard boiled eggs with fruit,yogurt etc.
Check out the nourishing heart & home blog on my side bar. She has a great e-book on menu planning with printable sheets to help stay organized. I don't do the 60 day thing she does,but I do use her grocery list template.
I hear you about changing habits! I have a hard time sticking to our home-school schedule. The Lord is teaching us flexibility this year and it has been amazing.
Take care!
Kerri aka Leat