Planning menus, preparing dinner, cooking dinner, and cleaning up after dinner take a huge chunk in the pie chart of my days. Oh and sometimes I make my dinner and eat it too! I got majorly side-tracked from organized menu planning last year due to pregnancy and birth and holidays. I saw this clip on the news about a mom who plans her meals out a whole year in advance. It made me wonder why I had forgotten the value in that simple task.
Over the years, my cooking talents have slightly improved and I am now able to plan out meals based on list of ‘acceptable’ and encore dinner selections. I used this list to make my menu, print it out, and stick it on my fridge. I try to keep it balanced between beef and chicken. I don’t always put down what specific sides as this usually a decision based on mood and availability. The weekends I reserve for leftovers.
When it comes time to making my grocery list, I know what to shop for in the month by just looking at my calendar and Main Meals Shopping List that goes with my Main Meals list. This is a great way to moderate my grocery bill and manage my time, which as any mom knows, is priceless.
Dinner time is usually one of the most stressful times for us. So far this has really helped. It’s not perfect but at least I know what I am going to be stressed out about trying to make! For now, I think I’m going to do my menu 2 months at a time. Soon enough, the snow will melt, temps will rise, birds will sing and the Farmers’ Market will reopen, ushering in all sorts of fresh dinner planning ideas!
Thanks for sharing your menu and recipes, I’m always up for new recipes! I do my menu every week right now but I had been thinking about doing it every 2 weeks. I love your organization it does make it so much easier, I can’t imagine not having a menu at all.
No prob! A lot of these recipes came from our recipe swap! I really enjoyed that.