Menu Planning System
January 4, 2010
Planning is the key to everything running smoothly. Not only does it save time, but it saves money. I’ve tried many different ways to plan our menus and shopping. This is what I have come up with for the time being.
I used a piece of cardstock; printed 20 of our most common meals along with the needed ingredients. They are a little smaller than business card size. This way when I choose what we will have for the week I can look at the ingredients and see what I need for my shopping list.
Using another piece of cardstock, I printed the days of the week and cut them in two strips and laminated them with packing tape. I taped them to another piece of cardstock to make two pockets.
Now I just pull out which I meals I want for which day, make my shopping list and then I’m done. Because we have 4 cooks in our house, this helps a lot to help everyone be on the same page. This system is also good if I want to swap meals midweek because I am in the mood for something planned on a different day, I can just swap cards. In the bottom, right hand corner I keep the extra menu cards. This is clipped to the refrigerator.
The important thing is to
PLAN YOUR WORK,
and then
WORK YOUR PLAN!
Topics: Cooking | 5 Comments »
Comments (5)
I love the idea of the cards…the biggest reason I don’t do real specific planning is I like flexibility to change on a whim… I am really a “fly by the seat of my pants” personality and THIS may finally be the method that allows me to plan and be free! Thanks!
Dawn, I am a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person too, so I NEED flexibility! With most families they have the same dishes over and over each month, so why not have them printed with ingredients? No more saying, “I can’t think of anything…”
) It’s kind of like going to a restaurant and making your choices. 
)
Thanks for the comment.
This just might work for our family. I am a planner/ schedule gal, but my husband often calls just before he gets off of work and is in the mood for something other than what I had planned. This would allow me to still make my menu and shopping list, but easily switch out for him without having to toss the kiddos in the van and quick visit the store, again, at the last minute! Thanks for the idea!
This is a great idea! This would help me for sure! I work sometimes at night but don’t know my new schedule for the week until Sundays…..well I shop on Friday or Saturday….so this would allow me to be able to move things around because of my work schedule. I usually have a couple of things that are easy to fix for DH or my Mom or even our oldest son.
LOVE this! I do a menu for two weeks but there are so many times when I have to swap meals. It drives me crazy then to have to remember where things go. I love that you can just swap the cards. Will definitely be making one of these!! Thanks for sharing!