Productivity for Mums – Part 5, Menu Planning

Generally I plan the weekday dinners, lunch and dinner for the weekends as well as a couple of baking items. You could do whatever suits you best – all meals, leave off the weekends or other combinations.

I find the best time to do my menu plan is the day before I go grocery shopping. So how do I go about making a menu plan? I have some tools to help me:

1. A collection of recipes
   I use both recipe books and online recipes. It’s not necessary to make something from a recipe every night, but there’s nothing like the lovely pictures in a recipe book to get me inspired.
   
2. A blank shopping list
   This can be paper or computer based, it doesn’t matter.
   
3. My calendar/diary for the following week.
4. About 30 minutes to sort it all out.

I don’t use grocery catalogues to check for specials, although some people do. The first reason I don’t use them is we have a “No Junk Mail” sign on our letterbox, so we don’t get them. The second reason is I find it confuses me trying to find recipes that fit all the ingredients that are on special! What should be a quick simple operation ended up taking much longer with catalogues and sheets of paper and books all over the place

Firstly, I open out my diary for the following week and check what I have on. Depending on what’s scheduled I get a bit of an idea what we can eat. For instance, Monday nights we have swimming lessons and don’t get home till late, so I plan a crockpot meal for Monday. Thursdays I’m home most of the day, so I plan some baking. If I have appointments that mean I’ll be out for most of the day and exhausted when I get home, I plan leftovers.

Next, I fill in the blanks trying to vary things a little. It might be chicken on Monday, vegetarian on Wednesday, pasta or soup another day and so on.

Then it’s time to choose the recipes. I don’t use a recipe every night. At least once a week we have something simple like sausages and veg. Other things are ones I’ve made that often that they’re imprinted on my brain. I like to try something new maybe once or twice a week though.

As I decide on the specific meal for each day I write out the ingredients required on my shopping list. If I’m planning on paper from my recipe books (instead of using Macgourmet on the computer) I also write which book and page number the recipe is on. I divide my paper list into three columns headed: Aldi, Safeway, Fruit & Veg and Butcher (in the same column). Then I take my grocery list and have a quick look in the pantry and fridge to see what I already have on hand. These items get crossed off the list or amended to the correct quantity.

I check my list of staple groceries – things that I keep on hand all the time. These include cereals, milk, bread, butter. These get added to the list if I need them.

Next day I head off to the shops armed with my list, comforted in the knowledge that I (usually) won’t have to return for another week Here’s a what I have planned for this week:

• Saturday lunch: Belgian Potato Soup (Macgourmet)
  Saturday dinner: Chicken pie (CWA book)
• Sunday lunch: Fettucine bosciala (Macgourmet)
  Sunday dinner: Roast
• Monday dinner: Cowboy casserole (Macgourmet)
• Tuesday dineer: Tuna mornay (CWA book)
• Wednesday dinner: Shepherd’s pie
• Thursday dinner: Serious bean stew (SCC book)
• Friday dinner: Fish & Chips
• Baking: Peanut butter slice (Macgourmet), Apple Cake (Macgourmet)

If you’re having trouble coming up with some ideas, I posted 10 links that will help you save money on groceries last week. It includes a few menu planning and recipe sites to help you along.

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