Welcome to Part 3 of my Menu Planning 101 series. This series is designed to get you in the kitchen, start planning, and help feed your family delicious home cooked meals they will enjoy. Part 1 discussed why we should menu plan and part 2 included how to get started.
By now you should have made a list of family favorite meals and side dishes. Believe it or not, by making these two lists you have already begun to menu plan.
You should have 20 meals and a variety of side dishes to help create your menu plan. I would suggest printing out your meals and sides and putting them on your fridge or pantry. This will help you make your grocery list.
The next step is to pick 5 or 6 meals to make for your week. The reason I suggest 5 or 6 meals instead of 7 is because you will probably have leftovers one night, or a night you don’t feel like cooking.
If you plan for 7 meals and only make 5 some people tend to view that as a failure. It is not, and I will let you in on a little secret. When I create my meal plan each week, I guarantee that one of those meals will not make it to the table.
We always have a carry over meal, either due to scheduling, sick kids, work schedules, or an abundance of leftovers. One night I might have planned on making sloppy joes, but we end up having macaroni and cheese with smoothies.
No problem! We will eat the sloppy joes the next night. Plan for 5 meals and you won’t get discouraged.
Your week does not need to run from Sunday to Saturday, make your plan based on what works for your family. I tend to grocery shop on Tuesday or Wednesday, so my weeks usually run from Tuesday to Monday.
You can assign meals to specific days or just assign meals to a specific week. Personally, I come up with several meals for the week, but don’t plan out the days.
I did in the past, but I found that our schedule changed so frequently that we would end up eating out because I wasn’t able to get the roast in the crock pot on time. In my fridge there are usually ingredients for 2 or 3 meals. I decide the night before or that morning what we are having for dinner. I also post it on a board in my kitchen so the family is aware of the meal plan as well.
Once you have created your plan, it is time to shop. Next week I will cover shopping, food storage, and sales, and stockpiling.
Here is a sample of what my menu may look like for a week. Five meals and lots of sides. This helps me create my grocery list!
Meals
- Bee Rocks
- Taco Bake (this looked so good I had to add it to our menu rotation!)
- Baked Ziti
- Tuna Casserole
- Jambalaya
Sides
- Wild Rice
- Rice
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Baked Potatoes
- Sweet Potatoes
- Pierogies
- Salad
- Broccoli
- Green Beans
- Peas
- Corn on the cob
- Pineapple
- Watermelon
- Applesauce
- Macaroni
- Fries
- Squash
- Cantaloupe
Molly says
Question about picky eaters that this prompted – what about when children like the sides, but not the main dish?
Brandie says
You are so organized! I am truly inspired!! Thanks for all your comments.
Allison says
You have a great list! That taco bake does look delicious! I may have to try that one myself!!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I haven’t posted about my homemade lunchables, but that’s a great idea…I should do that soon. I just use regular cheese, lunch meat, and crackers. I then let my daughter cut her meat and cheese with a small cookie cutter (she usually chooses a heart). We put all the pieces on a plate, and she can assemble them how she wants. It’s exactly what a store bought lunchable is made out of, but much cheaper!!
I’ve loved this series! Thanks for hosting!
Sarah says
Okay. I think I’ve been doing better! Every so often I would make my list of 15+ meals, but then I wouldn’t necessarily plan 5 meals for the week.
Sunday I sat down and made a plan; ~2 minutes worth. This week has been pretty smooth because I actually can pull out the meat to defrost the night before. I hope I can keep it up.
Thanks for hosting this series.
Britt says
Gold fish crackers are a really fun way to add some variety to tuna casserole. They fit the fishy theme, and for those of you who like something crunchy and something cheesy, they fill the bill.
Jennifer says
I am late joining in, but I am loving the ideas!
Justine says
Can I ask what Pierogies are? I, too, am always looking for good, easy sides, but I don’t think I’ve heard of this one!
Liz@HoosierHomemade says
I agree with you on being accountable. My blog is pretty new, and since I have been writing and posting, we have eaten better and I have more of a variety now.
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz
Anne-Marie says
Justine, Pierogies are potatoes in a pasta-type shell. They can be found in the frozen foods section of the grocery (mine are by the fries) and they come in a few varieties. You can boil, deep fry or bake them (I prefer mine baked because I loved crunchy things). I also like to dip mine in ranch.
Becky says
I am still struggling with all this meal planning and figuring out what works for me. I work til 6:30 and don’t always want to cook when I get home. The other night I decided I would do chili in the crockpot the next day, which was yummy. I can’t do crockpot everyday as some of the wonderful recipes I find don’t crockpot. Any suggestions? I do have menus planned, most side dishes are veg and bread sometimes. Potatoes are hard to do after I get off work. Rice is ok for me to eat but would have make potatoes separate as my husband is diabetic. Rice sends his blood sugar level high for days. Not good!!!!
http://grandmabeckyl.blogspot.com
lee says
do brown rice it better for his blood sugar and if you know what your going to cook for a week you can per make them on sunday and just cook them that week i find that to work well
Justine says
I bought Pierogies today! I “splurged” as I didn’t have a coupon, but I got the ones that were on sale and figured we’d try them 🙂 Thanks for the idea!