Menu planning means creating a menu for 1, 2, or 3 meals each day for however many days.
The benefits of meal planning can include:
- Efficient grocery shopping
- Saving money
- Eating healthier
- Less stress during the week at mealtimes
There are many different types of menu planning. They include:
- Making meals your family will enjoy and you know that they will eat
- Making healthier meals to improve health and/or convert to a healthy lifestyle
- Making meals that save money - ideal for when money is tight, or you just want to save money
- Making meals encourage new adventurous meals - helps picky eaters learn to like new things
- 1 meal per day - probably the most common type of menu planning is for dinner as it is the most stressful meal of the day, but it can be used for other meals if you rather focus on those
- 2 meals per day - sometimes lunch can be difficult, especially when packing lunches for the kids and dinner as it is the most stressful meal of the day
- 3 meals per day - you want to revamp your entire menu for all three meals each day. This can be useful for converting to a healthy lifestyle or just for having less stress at mealtimes.
There are many ways to create a menu that your family enjoys. The first way we are going to talk about is the family friendly version. With this version you are making meals that you know you family will enjoy and eat (even those picky eaters). You can plan all three meals or just start with one or two, it is entirely up to you. We will start with one meal and build up to two and three meals. Our one meal for focus will be dinner as it can be the most stressful meal of the day between working, coming home, helping kids with homework, chauffeuring them to/from after school activities such as sports, bath time for the younger ones, and bedtime.
- Set aside a little bit of time each week to plan out your dinners for the week. It will get quicker as you do it more but at first, I would set aside 30 minutes or so.
- Make your list when you are hungry. It can be very difficult to create a menu when you are not hungry as there is not as much inspiration. When you are hungry everything sounds good, it will get ideas flowing.
- Jot down any ideas that come to mind. Depending upon how long your list is you could have meals ideas for at least a couple of weeks.
- Ask family members for input and incorporate some of their favorite meals and/or ideas.
- Include any recipes that you have been wanting to try.
- Think about those meals you eat most often
- Use your calendar as your guide. For example, if there is an evening you know you will hardly be home you may want to do a slow cooker meal or a quick fix meal meaning you can make it in less than 15 minutes. You can do this by looking through your list of meals and labeling them according to how long they take to make if that is helpful for you. The evenings that you have less activities can be for the meals that take longer to prepare. For example, if you have to take kids to after school activities and have little time you may want to make something simple like spaghetti or tacos. On evenings you have more time you could make a casserole or baked potatoes. If you normally eat out a couple times a week, write down eat out for that day. This will help minimize the number of meals you need to come up with.
- Once your menu is completed you can then move on to making your grocery list. A new article on grocery list making will be coming soon so stay tuned!
For meals that you know your family will eat and enjoy and you do no have much going, here is a sample menu.
Monday - Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, breadstick
Tuesday - tacos, rice, black beans
Wednesday - chicken, baked potatoes, green beans
Thursday - chicken soup, grilled cheese sandwich, tomato & cucumber salad
Friday - eat out or scrounge night
Saturday - homemade pizza, chicken wings, mixed fruit
Sunday - roast beef with potatoes and carrots
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