When my husband and I were planning out our year — not in details per say, but broad strokes — we decided to try the first quarter going back to more or less once a month shopping that just requires the occasional fresh foods top off. I decided it would be the perfect time to try a planned menu. (In the past I always bought ingredients and prepared from what was on hand.) His request was that it be posted so he could see it. He really liked it when I did this for our travels at Christmas.
My menu doesn’t show three meals a day. Breakfasts are usually repeats of various themes. Yogurt, eggs, pancakes, cereal, etc and they are really more ingredient like type things to me. Lunches are planned based around whatever is left over from the evening before with two exceptions, which are my daughter’s school lunches and what we pack for my husband.
I’ve made out our menu based on what our calendar currently shows as far as activity. I will be on campus Thursdays for four hours and that is also my daughter’s longest day on campus. I’ve planned two slow cooker meals and one I can make ahead. Weekends are planned around some items my husband likes and with plans to send leftover meals with him. As always, I will add veggies and fruit from my food storage, where I have a combination of frozen, canned, and dried.
Once I finished this I made a list of what I need to purchase to round out the month. I also have some household items on my list.
I’ll share my purchases and costs when the snow clears and I actually get out to do the shopping.
I've always enjoyed Carol's monthly menu plan too. Yours looks good to me, I like knowing what I'm going to be making for dinner too.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to give it a go. I figure worst case I'll do weekly. I'm used to going through a mental list each night and deciding what is for the next day. Old habits are hard to break.
DeleteThanks for the shout out. Menu planning has saved me both stress, and money over the years. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI’m really hoping it will do all the same for me. Thanks!
DeleteI am always in awe of how organized Carol is with everything! I hope it is successful for you. I am a plan fighter and know I would never follow a monthly plan that was specific. I am getting better at following a weekly plan though.
ReplyDeleteI’m a fly by the seat of my pants cook. I always see things more as guidelines that instructions. However, I am really hoping this will simplify my life. So far knowing what to take out the night before, etc. is streamlining my mornings.
DeleteIt's great to plan menus. I'm on the fence with which way works best for me. Sometimes I plan out a bunch--in fact I did it for years in a composition book. Then, lately, I've gone to cooking a bunch of things on the weekend and just warming them up during the first few days of the week when I'm working. Sometimes, I just go with what I have on hand, or focus on items that I need to use up. The times it helps me the most to formally menu-plan is when I'm super busy. That way I don't have to think--just cook quickly, and everything's thawed if I read the plan in the morning before I got crazy busy. I'm thinking I may need to give that way of doing it another go in a couple of weeks. It looks pretty busy coming up, but this week....not too bad. Ahhh. I'll take it when I can get it!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of cooking up on the weekend and reheating. I do this for my husband to carry with him, but rarely do it for home. I guess because we kind of play it by ear or just eat leftovers for the next day’s lunch. I’ve been checking my menu at night after supper and moving anything I need from the freezer to the refrigerator to start thawing. I even set out the veggies on the counter yesterday so my daughter could just add them to the roast in the slow cooker before I got home.
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