menu planning

Since I can't post any ultra cute pictures of the kids (see yesterday's post) I thought I'd share my little system for menu planning since we've been talking about recipe organization. This is something that has really streamlined my cooking as well as my grocery shopping since I started doing it consistently about 2 years ago.

I start with a blank printout that I made up. It has a space for the week's menu on one side and on the other is room for my shopping list. First I decide what we are going to have for dinner each night of the week (which is going to be a breeze now that my recipes are in order!) Then I check each recipe and start making my shopping list. I have the main sections of the grocery store listed out, and as I make my list of what I need to buy I write the items in the correct section. This helps prevent backtracking while I am at the store, which speeds things up quite a bit. I made the list to reflect the order in which I go through the store, so we just go right down from top to bottom and we're done.

Once we get home, I put the menu up on the refrigerator so I can check it every day- taking meat out of the freezer a day or two ahead or soaking beans overnight, etc. This way dinner doesn't sneak up on me so fast every day! I use the blank space below the menu to jot down anything I notice we are running low on during the week, and then when I sit down to plan a new menu I transfer those things to the shopping side of the new sheet. I don't usually plan specific things for breakfast and lunch- I just try to keep the basics on hand. We use up most of the leftovers at lunchtime, but if there are a lot I will plan a "Leftover Night" instead of cooking. And I usually try to do a bigger breakfast on the weekend when Jason is home, so I make sure we have all the ingredients for Belgian waffles, coffee cake or banana bread.

I promise you, this is one of the most organized things I have done in my entire life. It is very unlike me actually. But once I made it a habit, it has saved me from many extra trips to the store for those forgotten items (not that it never happens, but it just happens less now) and has helped me be on top of cooking dinner like never before. Gone are the days of the 4:30 panic- "What are we going to eat for dinner tonight?!" and walking through the store trying to make up meals as I shop, only to get home and find that I already had 3 bottles of ketchup in the cabinet and I forgot to buy the hamburger buns.

And the kids have all but stopped asking, "Mom, what's for dinner tonight?" They know where to look.