Menu Planning 101
Here's a copy of an email I wrote to someone who was requesting some help with learning how to plan menus. I've made a few additional notes/changes to the email for the purposes of posting here.
J-
It was nice to visit with you last week. I hope you had a good Christmas- we certainly did!
Here's the website for Hillbilly Housewife: (website with lots of good recipes, menus, etc.)
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/
I had another thought about menu planning that I didn't think to pass on to you when we were visiting. Something else I do is have "set" meals on certain nights. So, for us, this is what it looks like:
Sunday: Breakfast for dinner- always pancakes or french toast or waffles with bacon, fruit and toast.
Monday: Open
Tuesday: Mario's Pizza (the only REAL Northern pizza in town- we go every Tuesday night)
Wednesday: Open
Thursday: Goulash or Spaghetti and Meatballs with salad, garlic bread and brownies. (My sister and nephew eat with us every Thursday b/c my husband takes my nephew to boyscouts on that night. We alternate between Goulash and Spaghetti every other week because A) My nephew is picky and I know he will eat those things and B) I can feed a crowd for fairly cheap
Friday: Open
Saturday: Open
So that only actually leaves four "open" nights a week. If I go to Let's Dish and prepare 8 meals once a month, then I have two LD meals a week. So now I only have two spots left to fill with either a family favorite, a new recipe or something my husband has specifically requested.
When I'm doing my menu planning session (sitting down with calender, menu and grocery list) I ask my husband if he has anything specific he wants that week. Those will fill the remaining "open" spots first. Then I may choose either a family favorite (stuffed peppers, stuffed shells, chicken tetrazzini, etc.) to fill an "open" spot or I'll choose a new recipe to try from the Simple and Delicious magazine I gave you. Another thing I will sometimes do is give Kip the Simple and Delicious when it comes in and ask him to look through it and pick something that he thinks looks good. Then I make sure that gets on the menu sometime in the following week or two.
http://www.letsdish.com/
BTW: I'm going to Let's Dish sometime soon, if you think you'd like to come along!
I hope that was helpful!
Kelly
PS: I've also attached my menu planner and grocery store list. My menu week starts on Friday since that is the day I do my grocery shopping. You may want to switch the days around to suit your weekly schedule- so, if you do your grocery shopping on Wednesday, you'd want your menu week to start then. Also it helps you with planning so that you can front load the week with recipes that require fresh ingredients and put menus that require boxed or canned items at the end of the week. So, for example, we'd have chicken tetrazzini (which requires fresh mushrooms) at the beginning of my menu week and spaghetti at the end of my menu week. Make sense?
ETA: Here's the link to Simple and Delicious- it's a great cooking magazine. All the recipes come from regular cooks like you and I- they are sent in, tried out in the magazine's test kitchen and then the best ones are chosen to appear in the magazine. They call for regular, everyday ingredients and are simple to make. For those of you who know and love my "salt rolls"- this is the magazine where I got the recipe.
Simple and Delicious Magazine
Planning Your Menu
With the above scheduling in mind, I sit down once a week or once a month (I change this up from time to time depending on what is going on in our lives) with my calender, menu planner and grocery list.
First, I start with the calender. If I see that we are going to be going somewhere and not be home for dinner on a particular night, I cross that night off on my menu. Or, if we are going to be having guests for dinner, I make that notation as well.
Secondly, I fill in the "set" nights as described above.
Thirdly, I fill in the "open" nights as described above.
Last- I consult the menu for the upcoming week to make my grocery list. I go through the required ingredients for each recipe I am making and check the pantry to see if I have it on hand. If not, it goes on the grocery list. Then I check for our weekly breakfast and lunch items to see if we have enough for the upcoming week. Next, I check staples- bread, flour, sugar, butter, salt, eggs, etc. Finally, I check with Kip to see if there is anything particular that he would like me to pick up.
How Much Time Does All This Take?
If I'm planning for the week- maybe a 1/2 hour.
If I'm planning for the whole month- maybe 1 1/2 hours.
The beautiful thing is though- that once I've done the planning, I don't have to think about it again. It's just done for the whole rest of the week/month.
What If I Don't Feel Like Having What's On The Menu?
Then don't. All the menu means to me is that I have all the ingredients for all seven meals for that week. If we're supposed to have stuffed peppers on Tuesday and I don't feel like it/something came up/we have a sick kid/etc.- we just switch it around with another meal later in the week.
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