 Thanks to Rebecca I discovered this and I'm in LOVE. It is hosted by the blog I'm An Organizing Junkie. For those that have been with me long enough (and have conversed with me privately) you probably know what a hard time I have of keeping organized. :( One thing I have done for quite some time is planning my menu so this is nothing new. But what a fun thing to get involved with!
In my endevours to keep organized, I met the Fly Lady (I have been with her several years now) and the Slob Sisters with S.H.E (Sidetracked Home Executives). Lately, I've actually been using the S.H.E system more than Fly Lady. It's a bit easier for me because Fly Lady's emails need to be checked every day (and I have a strict computer time that I'm supposed to adhere to) whereas S.H.E has an index card system that's easy to grab out of the cupboard. I'm actually a proud owner of one of their original books. LOL I must admit it has been extremely helpful though. Especially in the menu planning department!
I made three different cards, one each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I then broke each card down by day and wrote what type of meal I wanted that day. So, Wednesday's plan, for example, would look like this:
Breakfast: Yogurt, Fruit, Granola (usually winds up being yogurt parfaits)
Lunch: Something Fun (such as Pigs in a Blanket)
Dinner: Crockpot/Pizza/Casserole etc. (This is a busy night for me)
So having this little schedule at hand makes it easy not only when I'm planning but also when I'm shopping. For instance, we eat poultry and pork only on Tursdays so I only buy enough for one meal and it rotates each week. We had pork last week so we'll have some sort of poultry this week. So for tonight, we're having crockpot apricot chicken. And it's easy to switch around if Carey wants pasta and salad on Tuesday night instead of Friday. The only thing I really stick to is breakfast since some of that coincides with other stuff I'm doing that day. Two days a week (only on my baking days) they get muffins, scones, etc. but I'm usually too busy to plan those for other days and I would rather just include it with my breads.
Where do I get some of my lunch idea's? It can be hard with four little mouths to stuff and I don't always know what to make but these sites and cookbooks have come in very helpful.
   
Healthy Child
Vegetarian Lunchbox
Lap Top Lunches
My Pyramid (with a menu planner)
Recipezaar
Super Cook
Menu Magic for Children
So, you can start looking forward (hopefully) to seeing this posted every Monday with my menus. And this is a good way of me keeping track of what I'm doing too. I seem to always lose past menus, and I have a cupboard full of cookbooks that I'm supposed to be using (although I always seem to gravitate towards Recipezaar).
So get your schedule straight, design your template, grab your cookbooks (or favorite recipe sites online) and set up the menu for the next week. Design the menu templates so you (and your family) can see the whole week at a glance. Print off a blank copy and insert it into a sheet protector so you can reuse it. Make sure there's enough room for each meal for each day of the weak to write in the recipe's name and what you'll be serving it with. Post this on your fridge or some other good vantage point. Print off the recipes for this week and put them in a big binder so they're within easy reach. Using a book and don't need an extra copy of the recipe? Write down what book and page and insert that in your binder instead. The longer you do this, the more recipes you have that you KNOW your family likes and you can start rotating those recipes in your meal plans. For instance, Carey loves stuffed manicotti so I make it once a month. And don't forget to keep notes! Did the family like it? What changes to the recipe did you make? What went wrong? Want to do a menu for a whole month and just get it done? You can find out how here. Don't have time to write your own? Saving Dinner is a big help.
You can find one of my menu plans here (pdf) (from one of the detox routines that I've tried) and several of my blank templates here (pdf). No, I can't post this weeks menu. I've already managed to misplace it. From the evidence, I believe the resident dust bunnies ate it.
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Apr. 4, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Jenny
Wildwood Cottage