Meal Planning...

[Telephus44]

I was wondering how many of you do meal planning, and if so how you do it. I've tried making out a menu for the week once a week, but it never seems to work for me. Lately I've been trying to just plan the day before (e.g. on Tuesday night I'll plan what we're having on Wednesday) and that seems to be working a lot better for me. I find that I'm better at using up leftovers and being creative when I plan ahead, but that I have a hard time sticking to a real meal plan.

[Dee]

I am right there with you!

I have been trying to make out a monthy meal plan for the last 2 nights, and let's just say it isn't going well. :(

I really need help in this area.

[freerangers]

I don't do a day-by-day menu because something is always changing, whether it's what I want to cook or what somebody else in this house is having a craving for, etc.

But a list of options helps me make a detailed grocery list where I'll have everything I want to make several meals, so I make my grocery list and my loose menu plan at the same time. The menu plan is simply a list of what meals and snacks are available for the week/two weeks. Make sense? I don't decide what we're having on a particular day until that day, or maybe the day before, but I know of 6 or 8 available ideas-- know what I mean?

Your meal plan should work for YOU. What works for others, may not be your thing, gotta find YOUR thing ;)

~~

[Michelle]

I think an easy way to start would be to make a list of the meals that your family enjoys. Sometimes one meal will make another, so that helps too. For example, I make a baked whole chicken. We don't eat the whole thing, so the rest is made into chicken soup (winter) or chicken salad (spring/summer). That covers 2 meals right there. Then I space them out a bit so we're not eating chicken 2 or 3 nights in a row lol

I used to be really good about matching them up to sales and tweaking it that way, but I haven't been doing that as much lately.

Having a well-stocked pantry helps out a lot too (so you don't have to buy all the ingredients of a meal every time you make it).

I'm still working on the whole meal planning thing myself, but I hope this post will help you get started. :)

[AmyMCGS]

I bought a monthly calendar dry-erase board and hung it inside my pantry door. Each Sunday night I plan out the week's menus, and write the entree and maybe the sides in the daily squares. Even though I only plan a week at a time, I like having the month hanging there so I can see when we last had something. Also, I used to try and print up pretty menus on the computer, and wound up wasting lots of time reprinting and messing around with them. With the dry erase board, if our plans change, I can quickly update the menus accordingly.