For example, we eat a lot of Italian food. It seems like we eat spaghetti at least twice a week- and that gets old after awhile. So I created "Italian Thursday". I then wrote down all the Italian food that I love, and voila! I have a month's worth of Thursdays all planned! Seriously, menu planning became so much easier after I decided to create menu lists instead!
Here is our week in food: Crock Pot Sunday, Multi-Cultural Monday, Try Something New Tuesday, Wild Card Wednesday, Italian Thursday, Friday's Favorites, Soup and Sandwiches Saturday.
Roast/potatoes, stew, soups, anything made in a crock pot!
There is SO many dinner ideas in this category! Enchiladas, tacos, ham fried rice, orange chicken, burritos, sushi, etc!!!
This is a day that I felt was important for my little family. I get stuck in the routine of making the same things over and over again- and I want my daughter to experience new foods (so she won't be a picky eater like her momma!) This will be the day where I open up the good ole recipe book and try something new! And if we like it- I can add it to our Friday's Favorite list!
I have playgroup Wed- not a lot of cooking time. This will be the day where we might finish off some leftovers, or do something crazy like breakfast for dinner. (I love breakfast for dinner and I can see us doing this a lot- crepes, french toast, waffles, omelets, YUMMY!)
Love this day! I can serve up spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, fettuccine, panini, risotto, ravioli... there is 7 weeks of different Italian foods write there! No more spaghetti twice a week!
This is where I can put down ANYTHING that I know my family loves to eat! Chili and corn bread, hawaiin haystacks, pizza, chicken pot pie, chicken caesar salad, etc
This day will be dedicated to soups and/or sandwiches! Nothing like a bowl of soup on a brisk autumn day!I dare you to try this and see how much easier planning a menu really is!
Happy EATING!!!
What a great idea! I'm terrible at menu planning...and when I plan a menu I tend not to want what I planned on having. :( I'm really going to try doing this! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how much I honestly love this! Thanks
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea. You can find how I menu plan and use my google calendar to do so on my website.
ReplyDeleteDirect links to my menu planning posts can be found:
http://lifedomestic.com/2009/09/using-your-calendar-to-menu-plan/
and
http://lifedomestic.com/2009/09/menu-planning/
I like your idea of themes... I might just mix mine up to do something similar in the future.
Now, i'm off to surf your site some more! Enjoying it.
Your themes for each day are great! I especially love "Try Something New Tuesday". I'm a planner too, and I wouldn't make it through the week without my meals planned in advance!
ReplyDeleteWow! This is a great idea. I just looked at my menu for the week and I have 3 mexican food nights...talk about burn out. I'm going to give it a try this month. I'll let you know how it goes. =) Thanks for sharing this awesome idea.
ReplyDeleteooo I've been planning on starting a monthly menu for a while now! A friend of mine made a cool laminate calendar menu where she has different recipes for the whole month on each day and on all saturdays she has it blank in case they go to inlaws or eat out, etc. And then she attached a dry erase marker to it and gets her husband to circle a meal for each day of the week, so she can do all her groceries. I love how you did themes for yours! I have to get around to making mine :)
ReplyDeleteI love it! I have been in such a slump lately. I hope this will perk up my meal planning!
ReplyDeleteI like your simple idea of having theme nights.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I always cook from scratch, but am terrible about menu planning. I think I will give this a try this week. Thanks!
ReplyDeletewe have one that's similar but not quite at COOL as this! LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm going to re arrange this and I expect a menu up from you too!
How ARE you?!?!?
Good idea!! I always need help with meal planning!
ReplyDeleteWe have a 'set' menu plan too. :) Makes it so much easier to plan the week when certain days are assigned certain things: Monday - chicken, Tuesday - pasta, Wednesday - beef, Thursday - leftovers, Friday - pizza, Saturday - fun night.
ReplyDeleteSunday is popcorn night {sounds crazy, but it's been a family tradition for years}.
I love this idea and can't wait to give something like this a try!
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome idea. I think I will try this out and see how it works out for us.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having theme night. In our house it happens more or less by default - on my husband's nights we get traditional German "meat-veggie-starch" combo, on my nights it's potatoes in some form or crockpot :)
ReplyDeleteI have been menu planning for about a year now, and I love it. It keeps me organized, we eat healthier, and we save money.
ReplyDeleteI love how you have this organized. I am going to give it a try next week.
Thanks for sharing.