I usually jot down a seven day menu while I'm making my grocery list each week. Then I do the same thing the following week...and the week after that....over and over again. Next month I'm going to give a different system a try. I'm going to plan an entire month of meals. Sort of.
The typical monthly menu plan has never worked well for me. I've tried it, but my husband's odd schedule and the grocery store's weekly sales always threw a wrench into my plans. This time I'm going to do it a little differently.
At the beginning of the month, I'll print out two basic monthly calendars. I'll be using the dinner chart that comes with my JDC Monthly subscription, but any blank calendar or chart will do. On the first calendar, I'll use my meal list to fill in five dinners for each week. Normally, my husband is only home for dinner twice a week, so I'll plan easy meals for those five days when he's not here. I hope that by looking at the month as a whole, I'll avoid feeding the kids the exact same things every single week. Sure, some items will show up weekly (like pizza), but I'm sure other foods will show up just once or twice a month if I'm being intentional about mixing it up a little.
For the two empty days in each week of my chart, I'll write down selections that will make for good (and inexpensive) family meals even if there isn't anything much on sale at the grocery store. Those days will remain flexible, so if roasts are suddenly marked down, I can easily replace whatever I've already penciled in. I'll also use those two extra days to schedule new recipes I want to try. I'm awful about fixing the same meals all the time. Maybe writing in some new ideas will force me out of my lazy, comfortable ways.
With each new week of the month, I'll grab my monthly calendar and arrange the planned meals around my husband's work schedule and the other activities we have going on. I'll write this finalized menu plan on the second calendar I printed. This way, nothing is set in stone until a new week (with its irregular schedule) rolls around, but I don't have to come up with a menu from scratch each and every week.
Make sense? I hope so. And I hope it works. This could be a great time saver if it does!
Click to learn more about 31 days to {a better} ordinary and to find links to all the posts in this series.
Branding Company
October 25, 2011 - 1:15 am
One thing I do is plan out meals for the week but they are not set in stone as to what day we have them.