Menu Planning
January 29, 2009 by Marci
I always say “I hate grocery shopping”. The truth is its not so bad these days. Grocery shopping used to be a huge pain. It would take me an hour and a half criss-crossing the store trying to decide what sounded good to eat for the next week or so. I would get to the check out, pay too much money and realize I had nothing there for dinner that night. What a waste of time and money! No wonder I hated it so much!
Now, I don’t really mind getting the groceries, because I always have a plan going in. Instead of just aimlessly wandering the store, I go in with a list. My list is actually made up of two lists. One list comes off the magnetic list on the fridge. This is where I jot down staple items as I run out or notice I am getting low on them. The other list comes from my menu. I sit down the evening before I go grocery shopping and make a menu of dinners and kids lunches for that week.
When I am planning my menus, I have the following items with me: a note book, pen, the grocery store sale ad, and a couple cookbooks. The notebook is for writing down the menu items and their ingredients that I don’t have on hand. I always check the grocery ads first. There is nothing more frustrating for me that to go to the store looking for a particular cut of meat or produce item only to learn they don’t have that this week or it is 3X what I thought I’d have to pay for it. So, I check to see what meat and produce is on sale and in stock and I base my menu off of that. Cookbooks jog my memory when choosing dishes and helps me to be sure I remember all the ingredients I need. I love to cook, so I am always searching my cookbooks for at least one new dish each week.
My menus are not set in stone. I don’t have each dish assigned to a particular night unless there is a special reason for it. I fix whatever menu item sounds good that day. For a week, I usually plan on 4 big meals, 2 leftover nights and a “throw it together night” or pizza. That works for us.
Making menus assures me that my family will be fed nutritious meals and that I won’t have to stress over what’s for dinner. It also assures me that I won’t overspend at the grocery store! Not each meal has to be spectacular. However, I do feel that they need to be enjoyable, stress-free, and consistent. There is something very calming and uniting about sitting down with the family for a meal. The dinner table is a place and time where families can catch up on the day and learn about each other.
If you have trouble making your own menu, there are websites that can help. www.menus4moms.com has free weekly menus delivered right to your inbox. www.allrecipes.com is a favorite site of mine. It has tons of recipes and advice from other real people.
Comments (5)
and, look at you! Thanks for sharing your grocery routine! I do not like to grocery shop….at all! Esp. when I go and find that I can’t find what I am looking for – ugh, ugh, ugh!
But, I do have the magnetic list on my fridge! And, I do plan for a few meals a week…figuring on leftovers. I really like how you have simplified this down though. Gotta borrow the idea! And….peruse my cookbooks more. I like allrecipes.com too!
AND, I LOVE meal time too! I love hearing all about everyone’s highlights from the day!!!
Geeky me has a similar routine except that I have about 20 or so meals that we just rotate and every once in a while we’ll try something new. I HATE to cook. And paper lists? No thanks. I use a free program called Remember the Milk that syncs my lists on my iphone. I’m always adding things to my list from wherever i am when I think of what I need. Same process – different tools.
This is a great website Marci! Thanks for sharing it. But I will admit, I will have to limit my viewing. I don’t want it to make me more busy!!! But I like reading other people’s thoughts and ideas. I plan for meals almost the same way as you. When Dave was out of work, I learned to plan in order to save money and what a difference. One other tip is to have your calendar too. One reason is I write my meals on my wall calendar so the night before I know if I have to pull anything out of the freezer or not. But like you, just because it’s on the calendar doesn’t mean I don’t change it around. I also like the calendar when I am planning because if I am not going to be home for a meal for whatever reason I know to just plan for my husband and the kids or if we are eating at a friend’s or having a friend over for dinner, I won’t forget what I need for that either. It’s a good system.
Thanks for talking about this. I do not cook, but soon I am going to have a hungry husband to feed, and I’m going to have to address this topic eventually. Honestly, menu planning FREAKS ME OUT. I have never done it. But I like your ideas about looking at the grocery ads for the week and basing your menus off of that. I also love the fact that you have 2 leftover nights a week! I think I can try this…but I might come back to you for advice! =)