Meal Planning - Mount Pleasant,PA

No, because sometimes I just don't want what's on the menu.

Planning a weekly menu but having the flexibility to switch meals around seems to suit us better.

I use the crock pot quite a bit; I'll rotate meats like chicken, ground beef, pork loin or chops and make a meal around them, I find recipes online or on Pinterest; once in a while we'll have breakfast for dinner; and we always plan on homemade pizza for Friday. Since it's just me and my son, it's a lot easier to plan ahead, but I do work full-time so I don't have a ton of time, so the crock pot comes in handy.

I go grocery shopping once a week and before I go I just think of what the meals will be for each day of the week (including leftovers or meals made from meat left from another meal). I vary thing week to week, but our kids do have favorites that we tend to have over and over. If I miss a meal or two in my planning I always have stuff around to whip up quesadillas and a salad...or soup...or pizza...or pancakes...or sandwiches, etc. I don't have the same menu every week. I do often roast a chicken (almost every week) because I like to make homemade stock, chicken noodle soup (which my son likes for lunch), chicken enchilada casserole, chicken wraps, chicken thai curry or chicken salad sandwiches. We often have taco night. We often have spaghetti night. But again...not every week. Almost though. We always have salmon one night a week. With leftovers I like to make a quinoa salad or salmon cakes. It's also good flaked into a creamy pasta sauce. So, every weekend I plan out the weekly meals and then go shopping. I keep my meal list around to help me remember what I had planned.

I use our crock pot a LOT. I plan meals twice a month (basically) and make 10 meals or so each trip. I do use Google some and I use recipe tips from friends as well. We don't necessarily plan a week or two ahead of time, but we know what we have on hand and what we can make. We do try to pla n for the nights when we aren't home until really late ahead of time...so we can utilize the crock pot or we can cook the night ahead of time and reheat.

Here are some of my last menus:

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Rice, Green beans
Tacos in a Pasta Shell (taco’s)
Meatloaf, Potatoes, Peas
Cheesy Chicken (crock pot)
Nacho chicken (crock pot)
Chili Caramelized Pork Medallions/Asparagus/Mashed Potatoes
Red Beans and Rice/Green Beans
BLT’s/Chips/Fresh Vegetables
Chicken Enchlada’s
Pot Roast
Lemon Dill Chicken

Chicken Divan
Lima Bean Casserole
Crunchwrap Supremes
Souvlaki
Chicken Alredo
Red Beans and Rice
Stuffed Peppers (unstuffed)
Sloppy Joes/Fries
Lumpia
Baked Chicken/stuffing/mixed veggies

I have used the crock pot a LOT more often. Last night we actually grilled burgers and dogs because all of our kids activites were cancelled. We NEVER get a night at home like that, but we loved it and took advantage.

So find things your family likes, if they like to try new things do that too. I try new stuff all the time.

Mom,

Meal planning has to work for you and your family...my menu is flexible.

You need to start with WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND....then figure out what you want...you need to have a calendar that has your family schedule on it - sports, dance, school, etc. it will help in planning and WHAT you fix. Really!

Our house is pretty much a routine...my men CRAVE routine...they love knowing what they can expect on any given night...now this does NOT mean I fix the same thing over and over again...nope, nope, nope...but I do offer consistency...

Monday is pasta night in our house - spaghetti, mac & cheese, etc.

Tuesday is Taco (Mexican) night - burritos, tostados,taco, with Spanish Rice and beans...this also includes an AWESOME Mexican dish I got from my girlfriend - my men LOVE IT!!!

Wednesday is family night - so that means Pizza or Popeyes Fried Chicken

Thursday is open - pork, chicken, beef, fish - whatever I have in my freezer

Friday - boys night in - this is my night - I go out with my girlfriends or stay home...but I'm a ghost if I do!! YAHOO!! The boys have Hungry Man TV dinners!! LOL!!

Saturday night varies...we go out sometimes or I fix dinner.

Sunday is leftover night.

If you work outside the home - planning and a slow cooker are your best friends!! Quick meals also work.

Meatloaf can be made up the night before - even in advance and frozen - brought out the night before and thawed...you can even put it in a slow cooker....

There's a Mexican Spaghetti dish I fixed last night that was a HUGE hit. The recipe called for spaghetti - but the next time I make it? I will use elbow macaroni...it's a one pot dish and really good. If you want the recipe - let me know..

One of the rockin' mama's that used to be here - created a Mamapedia Cookbook - she combined recipes from MANY of the moms and dad's on here...

When planning your meals? I cannot stress enough to use what you have on hand first...our freezer was full of stuff we weren't using - so I was spending money to have "stuff" in my freezer - NOT wise...so I started using what was in there - YAHOO!!

Then the next thing - use coupons - shop by what's on sale and what you need and have coupons for. You'll end up saving a lot of money.

Having a designated leftover night helps too - it cuts down on food waste and saves you money.

Make sure you are packing lunches too!! using leftover meat - like chicken, turkey, ham - will save you even more money and time!!

I usually plan out 5-7 meals per week. I've been known to do a calendar for upwards of a month. I use Menu Planner. It has my recipes and a great calendar system.

When i plan out meals, I usually move them around as I see fit, but I have everything needed for the meals on hand. It helps me to construct my shopping list.

i also like to bulk cook once a week so I have "freezer" meals, things I can just take out and be done with on busy days ;-)

in any case, what I have found to be the most helpful is a general "theme" of meals. We do tacos 1-2 nights a week, or Mexican of some sort. We do soup and sandwich night on Judo class night. We do spaghetti and meatballs ,or some variation 1 night,and then another pasta night of a different sort (vodka sauce and sauage, shrimp, clams, etc.) I then might do another sandwich night (hamburgers) or fish and chips. I will then do a "something different" night, be it Indian, meatloaf, Thai, etc. We make pizza about 1-2 times a month, and we tend to do take out about once a week or once every 10 days or so. You get my point. Write down the kinds of foods you eat, then make lists of what you like to eat on those nights, and then just pick for that week.

I find it much easier to stick to the plan if I stick to the themes of food my family likes. I then shop and stock the freezer accordingly.

I tried it once and it just wasn't for us. I never know how much energy I'm going to have, and what I cook is largely based on how busy the day was and how achy I am.

We reserve the right to call one "bits and pieces" dinner a week. You don't even want to know - but really, it means at least one child is eating Cocoa Pebbles at supper.

The other six nights are based around what proteins are set out in the fridge. I always try to have two or three meats thawing, so I can choose between more simple and more complex based on how I feel. Tired? It's a casserole night. Lots of energy? It's steak mole tacos - with the homemade labor intensive sauce and all. We only have maybe 12-15 meals that we ALL like, so we stick with those or variations of them. Maybe once a month I try out something completely new, and maybe it gets added to the list, maybe not. ;)

Having a menu to "stick to", though, is like school lunch. Boooooooo. ;) Perhaps it works for some - and more power to those that can stick with it. I'm very organized when it comes to most aspects of life, but I just can't make a meal plan stick because our moods change and vary, etc. I think as long as your MAKING a meal way more often than picking up fast food, you're doing great.

I pull meat out of the freezer then panic later on what to do with it. lol

However, I was chatting with a lady at church who is married to a picky eater and is guardian of her nephew. She has a word document that lists out 2 weeks at a time of what they are going to eat. Breakfast is always basically the same. Lunch is the same 5-7 things rotated (her and hubby both work from home) and then she has about 15-20 different dinners she knows they all like so she rotates them.

So when she goes to the store, she prints off one of the 2 weeks menus and looks to see what she has already and what she needs to buy. She said it's pretty easy since they all like basic things and they are not hard to make. So although they are eating the same 15-20 dinners, she switches them around enough that they don't really get tired of them. Makes sense to me but I can't seem to get organized enough to do it myself. lol And I don't really LIKE to cook and feel like I'm not really good at it so I'm always on the lookout for quick and easy recipes.

I have tried some of the websites that list the menus, shopping lists and recipes, but they stress me out. It seems like I might like some of the recipes, but not all of them so it's too hard to make adjustments.

I hope you find something that works for you. Good luck!

I like to make a few meals in an afternoon on the weekend. I'll prep 2-3 for during the week and double them so that I put 3-4 into the freezer to pull out as needed. Not a total meal plan but it is a huge timesaver. At least half are dump into the crockpot meals so they only take a few minutes before work.

As an example, take a look at this:

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/70dollarmenu.htm

It has the week planned out and the shopping list of what you need to make it happen.
The prices are out of date but if you're on a tight budget it's still a good way to plan out how much to spend on a weeks worth of meals.

Once per week, I take requests then grocery shop.
What I've been doing lately is making 2 or 3 things on Sunday.
This week? Double batch of chicken cacciatore & 2 lbs of meatballs.
That gets us to midweek & my husband & I make something else Wed. Thurs, depending. The we have pizza or other takeout Friday.
It works great for us.

Honestly, I've tried it all:
-crock pot when my youngest was an infant
-seeing what looks good on the cooking show the night before
-a schedule Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesday, Weiner Wednesday, Thai
Thursday, Free for all Friday (usually pizza)
-These days, I can't seem to use the crock pot worth a darn so I get ideas from the cooking shows on the weeknd, do my own spin of it, take
meat out from the freezer the night before & do this:
-Porkloin
-sausages on the grill then sliced over pasta
-bbq chicken on the grill
-ground beef or turkey for tacos/spaghetti/shepherd's pie
-steak once in great while

Edit: rotisserie chicken in a pinch, Souffers lasagna & garlic bread

We plan out the week's meals as we're writing out the grocery list. Then as each day begins we decide which meal we want that night.

I love the idea of having a calendar with all of my meals planned out on it, but in practice, it never works out. However, if I fly by the seat of my pants, we end up ordering out too often. So my happy medium is that I go to Dream Dinners (which is a meal assembly place) and make all of the month's dinners ahead of time. (And before I leave Dream Dinners, I place the order for the following month's meals and plan a date to come in and prepare them.) I bring home the month's prepared meals and put most of them in the freezer. I keep the current week's dinners in the refrigerator. That way they are thawed and ready to go. Each Sunday, I take out a new batch of dinners from the freezer and put them in the fridge. This way, all I really have to worry about is throwing together some kind of vegetable (salad or whatever) to go with dinner. This works really well for me. Most of the items from Dream Dinners take half an hour or so to cook, and since the prep work is done already, it's very low-stress. Anyhow, that's what I've been doing for the past 5 years and I don't even know what I would do otherwise!

I love my schedule. There is no decision making whatsoever but my family can eat a creative different meal each night. I can mark my family's activity schedule with our meal planning with no extra space needed on the calendar.

Rotate chicken, pork, beef, fish/seafood, salad, pizza, dinner out (so I can get a break!) each week, and junk food. Then pick 2 or 3 cookbooks from your shelf or websites with basic recipes (I use Betty Crocker, 6 Ingredients or Less, Southern Living and Pioneer Woman). Start with the first recipe for each main dish and go through the book. For example:

Week 1 Mon - chicken, Betty Crocker (BC) page 87, Tue - pork 6 Ingredients or Less (6IoL) pg 154, Wed - beef, Southern Living (SL) pg 35, Thu - fish, Pioneer Woman (PW) pg 91, Fri - taco salad, BC pg 108, Sat - dinner out, Sun - hot dogs.

Week 2 Mon - fish 6IoL pg 8, Tue - hamburgers, Wed - pork, SL pg 233, Thu - greek salad PW pg 24, Fri - pizza, Sat - chicken, BC pg 66, Sun dinner out

Week 3 etc etc

Once you get in this habit, then you can venture out using other cookbooks. I always date and rate my recipes so I'll know the last recipe I used in each meal section and if my family liked it (happy face) or not (frowny face).

I found this online a long time ago and love it. I use the monthly planner.
http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html

It also makes grocery shopping easier. We don't always stick to it. Sometimes we switch them around, depending on our mood. But it's a great start.

get a calendar with big squares on it. then first plug in any times you know for sure you will not be eating at home (we always eat out on friday nights for instance) then after that you know how many days each week your cooking. then start filling in the squares. I like to do things like monday a pot roast which will then be turned into either soup, or tacos or something for later in the week. I always cook extra chicken breasts when I make chicken so I can then make soup, or casserole etc. I get hamburger in 5 lb packages and fry it all up at once and then put it in ziplocks in 1lb incriments. then I can pull it out for spaghetti, tacos, chili, casserole, soup etc. and then just fill out your month or week on the calendar. once you know wh

I have a big calendar on my fridge... towards the end of each month, I write out what's for dinner each night on the next month's calendar, making sure I plan for nights I need a quicker meal due to kids activities, etc. I find we save a LOT of money this way b/c when I'm scrambling at the last minute for "what to cook for dinner" at 4pm, we end up eating out. last day of the month, I shop for all the meats/non-perishables for the next month, as well as perishables for the first week or so. then I just buy milk/produce weekly until the next month. it's a HUGE time/money saver for us. did the april menu/shop yesterday as I needed my husband's help due to an injury I've suffered, but I usually handle it during the week - I hate "wasting" family time doing stuff like shopping :(

You make up a list of foods you like. Then you break it out to days of the week and go from there. This way when you go shopping you buy for the meals you have planned. Make extra and freeze it for later in the month.

I used to make meals up for five weeks. The first four weeks were monthly and the last week was bonus or if grocery specials were on sale I could change of the meals.

My monthly food budget was just that it had to last for a month as we got paid once a month and I cooked from scratch. My kids thought it was a real treat to get grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup for a meal little did they know that was when we were done to the end before payday. McDonalds was a special treat back then as they were not on every street corner or in every town.

I posted the meals on the frig so everyone knew what for dinner. Lunches were leftovers from the night before unless it was chili or spaghetti as they were made in larger quantities.

the other S.