Coming up with a healthy, family-friendly meal EVERY night is just not easy. Scanning your fridge for ideas at five 'o clock makes it much more stressful. Even if you've tried it before and failed, reconsider some variation of meal planning. We're here to help get you started...
Basic menu planning means looking in your fridge to see what you have to use up (thereby wasting less), looking in your recipe book/cookbooks at what you might feel like making the next week or so, considering what is in season, and possibly checking out sales/coupons where you shop. Next comes writing down your list of meals, along with the ingredients you'll need, and heading to the store. We find we usually have to go to the store at least twice for a two week menu: once for basic staples and the items from our menu that will last a while, and again for the items that must be bought within a couple of days of making the meal.
For more on basic menu planning:
• Small Notebook shared a great idea of creating a spreadsheet that basically combines your menu plan for five days with a grocery list template so you can just check off what you need for those meals you've written in for that week. A very clever idea.
• Simple Mom has talked about menu planning quite a bit on her blog and her suggestions are the ones we've integrated into our own system. For example, having a theme for at least a few nights of the week makes things simpler for us. So we know we'll probably have homemade pizza on Friday and pasta on Sunday; we'll have fish one weeknight and a vegetarian meal another. She also suggests planning a menu for two weeks and then repeating that for the last two weeks of the month. Suddenly you've got a whole month's worth of meals planned.
If you're looking for recipes, consider spending some time looking at Cookbooks in Barnes and Noble. We've found Martha's Everyday Foods magazine to be a great resource for appealing recipes with a few fresh ingredients. If you choose things that are simple and sound yummy to you- you're much more likely to make this happen. We also love the recipes we've found in Real Simple.
Freezer or Batch Cooking is another option that works for a lot of families. You can cook a few meals or all of your meals on one day for the whole week, or even month. Or you can just double a recipe and freeze half for a second meal. This is what we tend to do most. Again, we like Everyday Foods and Real Simple for freezer recipes.
• Simple Mom also has a great post on Batch Cooking. She covers "Freezer Meals" and offers recipes. She also covers "Once a Month Cooking" as well as "Cooking and Freezing Staples from Scratch". If you're thinking about planning ahead a little, this is a great resource with more links.
• Frozen Assetsis a blog with freezer recipes by the author of Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month.
Meal Planning Subscriptions are for you if you just don't think you can find the time or meals to do traditional menu planning. For a fee, these websites will send you weekly menus and grocery lists. Yes, you'll still have to go to the store, and cook them!
• The Scramble
• Relish Relish
• Dinner Planner.com
• Meal Mixer
• Dine Without Wine
• Saving Dinner
We'll be honest. Meal planning is still a work in progress for us. We try to leaf through our recipe binder and look in the fridge before shopping. We jot down a list of meals, and sometimes add one spontaneously at the store if we're inspired. The week really does go smoother if we've done even this. The key is to find something you can manage. Don't try to come up with some super system for 365 meals (as we once did). You'll never complete your menu plan. If you just start with two weeks, or even one- and save your list (preferably with necessary ingredients on the back), you'll soon have a stack of menu plans you can use again and again. The key is to just start. If you need a little inspiration, like something cute to write your menu on, check out this Meal Planner download we featured a couple of years back from Future Girl.
How do you menu plan for you family?
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I never stop preaching about meal planning. It's my thing. Honestly, it is SO easy once you get the hang of it. I just keep a pad in the kitchen & every Friday night I jot down what I think we should eat the following week (I try to keep it simple--chicken, pasta, beans, no more than one or two new recipes a week, etc). As I'm coming up with the plan, I'm going through the fridge & pantry to see what we'll need and adding that stuff to the grocery list. Once I'm done, I post the menu on the fridge so everyone know what's on deck each day. Seriously, it's so easy and such a huge help to not have the 5pm "omg what'll we eat" freak-out every day. OK, I'm off my soap box.
Adding one crock pot meal to your menu every week is a lifesaver. Usually there are leftovers and it's so nice to come home two nights in a row to a nice meal without any work.
I agree, it's not that hard.
My method is this:
--When I'm at the store I try to buy 3-4 types of fresh veggies (such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, zucchini, colored bell peppers, potatoes, other squash in season, asparagus, artichokes, tomatoes) Buy what's in season if you can.
--I also buy 3-4 types of protein (meats and fish.) Buy fish for the night you will make it, otherwise try boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, pork chops bone-in or out, pork tenderloin, steaks, hamburger meat or ground turkey, pre-cooked shrimp, the frozen kind in a bag.
--And at home I always have various types of pasta, rice and rice mixes, and potatoes for the starch.
--Also look for 2-4 kinds of seasonings in jars. My family likes Jamaican Jerk rub on chicken and pork, a curry based rub on chicken and pork, seasoned salt and garlic powder on fish or any meat. Now that the weather is a bit nicer, we grill everything!!
This is my New Year's Resolution. I have been planning my menu since the beginning of the year. I usually do so Sunday-Saturday and shop either Sunday or Monday. I have been posting my menu on FB to keep me honest. And I have to agree with dashiellislittle that is is helping reduce the stress in my life. At the end of April, I plan to do a year to year analysis of my credit card statements because I think I am saving money (eating out less & buying less food). I have been enjoying cooking more and been a bit more creative in the kitchen. I like the theme weeks idea: I have done sides week, dessert month and focused on particular cook books. I have also enlisted ideas of good meals from friends on FB as well. I try to make a meal at least 1x a week that I can freeze a portion of and then I have that for a day I know I'll be busy.
We've been Relish! subscribers for over a year now. It's changed our lives.
http://babytoolkit.blogspot.com/2009/01/dinner-renaissance-how-relish-changed.html
When I started menu planning I realized it allowed us to save money and waste less food (if any at all). I stopped buying things that wouldn't get used and started buying for the purpose of my menu. I cut our weekly grocery bill by at least $60, sometimes more. That's huge. It also allows us to have a night to eat out so that I don't have to cook every night. I usually plan one meal that is a good "leftover" meal. Like a stew or something large like that.
I agree about the wasting less and saving more money thing. My husband helps a ton with this because I sometimes feel making the menu is a drag but I am always glad when it's done and so much easier when I go to start dinner. I do the same exact plan (with my husband's help, too) as dashiellislittle and it works great. I think the spreadsheet ideas, etc. may work for some but they would discourage me from doing it...just seems like too much work.
I'd be lost without menu planning. I *hate* grocery shopping, so to go more than once a week is painful. I menu plan once a week, using a combination of my husband's suggestions and a set of index cards with meals and ingredients (no recipes) listed on them if we get stuck for inspiration. I try to schedule our meals so the same side can be used two nights in a row, or leftovers from one meal are incorporated in the next night's. If I'm feeling ambitious, I plan one or two bulk freezer meals to make on a weekend.
I drew a little menu planner to help with spaces for each day on one side and a grocery list down the other -- it's available for free download here if anyone wants it:
http://is-five.blogspot.com/p/downloads-and-patterns.html
I must say that meal planning is the one aspect of my life I hate the most... I would pay someone to plan and cook!!!
At the end of the month I come up with 7 different entrees, one for every day of the week and use the menu for the whole month. Then, if tuesday is quiche you can add different vegetables or cheese and a different side dish so it doesn't seem like you're eating exactly the same meal every tuesday. Plus, you know exactly what groceries you need and how much so you don't waste anything.
We keep a master single-page list of our fave recipes for 'sides', 'main-bird', 'main-fish', 'main-beef', 'main-pork', 'main-egg', 'main-veggie' and add to it when we discover something new. It's like selecting menus from the index of our personal fave recipe book.
When looking for something new we'll open up a map of the world and drop a pen. Wherever it 'dots', that's the region we'll borrow from. Luckily we're in a very multi-cultural city (toronto) and can easily find unusual ingredients...
Don't forget www.orgjunkie.com! Laura sponsors a meal-plan Monday festival and every week 400 ladies (er, mostly) post their menus and often with links & recipes. It is kind of awesome and what keeps me on track 53 weeks and counting. Now I can't imagine shopping/cooking without it!
i can't imagine life without meal planning. i am far too wiped when i get home from work to figure out what to make for dinner. hubs and i plan a week's worth of dinners every sunday and get the necessary groceries. we do monthly trips to costco to stock up on staples and the rest of our items come from 1-2 local stores (produce, meats, milk, etc). every week includes at least 2 basic repeats like burrito night or pasta and gravy, but we also try to throw in at least 2 new recipes. fave sources are eatingwell.com and foodandwine.com. also, for most recipes, we either 1.5 or double it to be sure there are leftovers that can be eaten for lunches. we pretty much never have to buy lunch food.
also have started making our own foods like bread and granola - saves money, tastes better, and you know what's going into your body!
I used to HATE cooking dinner and finally got the hang of a menu planning strategy that works for me. Nothing very exciting--I break my grocery list down by groups (produce, meat, dry, canned, etc.) in the order I find it in the store, which also makes it faster to find everything. During the week as I run out of something I know I'll want to replace, I put it on the list.
I shop on Fridays, so on Thursday nights I decide on a meal for each night until the next Thursday. I made it pretty easy on myself and follow these themes:
Friday - soup or salad night
Saturday - no-cook night (sometimes means eating out, but usually involves leftovers or something else from the fridge or freezer)
Sunday - easy night (often crockpot)
Monday - ethnic night
Tuesday - pasta, sandwich, or pizza night
Wednesday - leftovers night
Thursday - breakfast night
It might sound obvious or simple but it has been such a relief for me to have a template of what kind of meal to make each night. The stress is completely gone. I end up with a surprising amount of variety--I try out new recipes frequently, Real Simple being one of my favorite sources--and have saved lots of money along the way.
I am a huge planner! I get stressed out trying to come up with ideas every night - so I plan for the month! I hate to go shopping often so I buy everything I'll need for the month save fro fresh fruit & veggies and I'm set. I run to the store for quick veggie/fruit & milk & bread every week. I plan about 15 meals for a month (1st day freshly prepared, 2nd day leftovers) and always have quickie things in case. I spend less money and am overall less stressed.
The planning, I totally get. I can whip out an excel sheet with meals planned on great deals and coupons in no time.
The hard part seems to be getting everyone to actually EAT what I've planned on. I've thrown away good food far too many times because I was the only one willing to eat it. And leftovers? Forget it, in my family once you've eaten something it will be met by "hey, didn't we just have that?" by my husband if I bring it out again within a month.
It's not like I'm a bad cook! I make really good meals. But good-healthy food and what people want to eat on Wednesday night don't seem to overlap very well.
Sigh.
Keep a list of recipes or meals you (and your family) like and make regularly. I have a small notebook with a page for different things (beef, pork, vegies, salads, etc.) The recipes are kept separately. Then, when you are feeling brain dead or just tired and staring into the frig or the cabinet, you can go to your list and get some ideas. This works beautifully for me. Just make sure to add to it when you find other things you like to eat.
Hi Julia,
I'm Josh from Springpad. Our product is useful for people who like to cook and are looking for an easy way to stay organized. Springpad is a free application to save and use just about anything - notes and ideas, wine, books, restaurants, articles, etc. It's particularly useful for saving recipes from any website. With our web clipper, anytime you find a recipe you want to save, you can do so with 1 click so you have all your recipes in 1 place. You can then personalize the recipes with your own notes, photos or videos and then use our free weekly meal planner located in the apps section of our website to drop any of your saved recipes into the app. This generate a complete list of ingredients from your recipes. The recipes or ingredient list can be printed or pulled up on your phone as well. You can check it out at http://springpadit.com. Hope this helps!
God I love the Web! So many good ideas. I'm still stuck in the, "it's 5 o'clock, what's for dinner" phase but I'm inspired by all your suggestions. Thanks for sharing!