Simple Menu Planning

I have found great benefit in menu planning. Organizing what our family eats helps save food from going bad, saves money and relieves the daily stress of having to figure it out. Simple menu planning is where it’s at. I’ll share what I do and a free printable too. I love homemade cooking, from scratch meals, and the feeling of cutting fresh produce. This all creates a sense of accomplishment when the meal finally comes together.  Then, reality sets in. Kids asking for a snack, questions on homework and searching for the one seasoning I thought I had. Unfortunately, the all homemade cooking is not a daily reality for my family yet. I’ve slowly added skills over the years; and it takes time to find a rhythm that works best for each family. Here is my (Simple Menu Plan).

You inspire me not only in the kitchen, but in every part of life.
I love to cook, in no small part, because of the excitement and appreciation
you have shown for my home-cooked meals all along the way.
Our time together in the kitchen and the countless hours we have spent
around the table are my favorite memories of all.
-Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Table

Simple Monthly Plan

My preferred method of meal planning is to plan for a month at a time. I print or write out a menu plan like above. I don’t always find meal planning EVERY week very enjoyable. Yet, when I plan for a month at a time, it’s just one big job instead of feeling like I’m doing it frequently. I have been planning this way for several years and have really enjoyed it. Often times, I look at what meals I had planned the last month and repeat meals. Sometimes, I repeat a meal or use it on the next month’s plan because I didn’t get to making it or because our family really liked the recipe.

Planning a month in advance helps me as I often shop at big warehouse stores and buy items in bulk. Since I plan a larger amount of time to menu plan, I’m able to let the creative part of me come out by flipping through cookbooks and looking up special recipes during that time. If I continually had to come up with a menu plan, I would just make the same easy things over and over. That gets boring to me. Simple menu planning is an awesome way to get organized and intentional with meals.

Schedule around meals

• What is already happening?

The first thing I do when menu planning, is to look over for the monthly plans, trips, and activities. These all determine if I will be cooking, what kind of time I have to cook, and, at times, what category of food I’d like to make. Our schedule and meals look something like this: family dinner on Sunday’s (so I’m off the hook), Monday-Thursday is dance, piano, and AWANA so these are quicker meals often times prepped during the day and kept warm in the crockpot. Saturday is my most freeing day as I usually have the time to dive into a fun recipe!

To do: I add my scheduled activities to the right-hand column of my paper. (Simple Menu Plan)

Inventory of meal ingredients

• Know what you have
• What’s in the fridge, freezer, pantry, deep freezer?

The next thing I do is take a quick inventory of my home’s food. I may open the pantry or freezer to choose a meat or jar of spaghetti sauce. Sometimes this can be inspiring in and of itself! This is a tiny jumping off point as I create my menu plan. At times, I will need to go back to the pantry when ordering groceries to check an item.

Some people use inventory lists to keep up on what is in “stock”. I have not had great success in keeping them updated so I just use my eyeballs. I do always try to keep a stocked pantry. That means that I have at least two of the frequently used items in my pantry and freezer. If I pull out the last can of coconut milk or pound of ground beef I add the item to my grocery list. This is to have things on hand at any time.

To do: I write an ingredient to my menu planner either on the side or on a day as I plan to use that item.(Simple Menu Plan)

Fill in with meals

• Inspiration

This is my favorite part of simple menu planning. I set down a period of time, or a few times, to glean over cookbooks, my own recipe box (recipe box here), and Pinterest. Often times, I use Pinterest as a guide and I just look through the photos of different recipes and items that I’ve made before. I have ventured into making more and more from scratch, and I’m learning slowly how to incorporate them into our menu.

I simply write down the meal idea on each day. Looking at each week, I only choose 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches/snacks for the kids, 2 lunches for me along with daily dinners. Since my schedule has already been noted, I can decide which meal will work within that schedule.

For example, my girls have a dance recital this Saturday. I decided to make BBQ grilled chicken, corn and pasta salad. This is a suitable meal since I can marinate the chicken all day while we are gone. The corn is an easy cook while we grill the chicken. And the pasta salad can be made the day or night before.

I usually choose only two breakfasts to make during each week as we usually have on hand oatmeal, granola, waffles, pancake mix, smoothie ingredients and breads.

My kids have two options for lunches and often eat leftovers. This gets us through the week and sometimes in a hurry we just whip up quesadillas or pb&j’s.

As far as my own lunches, I really like variety. So, I often plan a protein each week with salads and vegetables.

I really like to plan a dinner meal for 5 days a week. As I leave one day as leftovers and Sunday’s as our family dinner at my parent’s house. If I don’t plan a meal then we often will scramble and go out. This always blows our budget. I have been trying to keep a closer eye on the budget these days. Planning meals can really help. There are SO many resources to find meal inspiration. As you fill in the menu, don’t forget to add date nights, intentional times to go out or ordering in, leftovers.

Cookbooks

So may great cookbooks out there!

Many specific diets, famous chefs and all-around basics.

Some of my favorites are For the Love of Kamut from The Food Nanny, For the Love of Sourdough from The Food Nanny, and Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines.

Recipe box/Memory

I have gathered a set of recipes that are loved or used often. Here is the recipe box I love. I use cards similar to these as well. These are family favorites or recipes that have been passed down for generations.

Online

Google search

Pinterest (what I use most often)

allrecipes

To do: Fill in the menu plan. (Simple Menu Plan)

Grocery list

• What to buy?

There are many ways to create a grocery list. From the basic pen and paper, to fancy grocery pads with common items, to electronic lists like Cozi. I have streamlined down to using Cozi and the three main grocery store’s apps to create my lists. I am ALWAYS adding items to either a cart or list as we finish up an item or I realize we need something. For instance, if my child finishes up the maple syrup at breakfast we typically have one in the pantry. Then I immediately add maple syrup to my Sam’s Club list on the spot-right then and there. I ask my family to let me know when they use something up to then determine if I need to add it to the list or not.

If I need something from a specific store that I don’t have an app for, I put it in a categorized list in my Cozi app. For example, I typically purchase raw organic seeds from Natural Grocers. I have a list in my Cozi app labeled “Natural Grocers” and I will add my needed items. The next errand day, I look at my list and determine if I can wait a week or go ahead a hit the store. Then, at the store, I have my list in hand and I don’t have to remember what I need. Having a list ready to go is a must with simple menu planning.

To do: Use the weekly menu plan to create a grocery list either on paper, a list app, or right into the cart.

Shop

• How often? Where?

This is the time I use my weekly menu plan to order groceries. I typically have a day of the week that I order groceries online and pick up the next day. This gives me the opportunity to look ahead on the next week’s menu plan and adjust meals if needed. I can shuffle them around.

Where I live, I order from King Soopers and Sam’s Club weekly. Our family goes through a lot of produce, and Sam’s Club is often more economical than the grocery store. Over the years, I have figured out what items and what prices are best at which store. I circulate what stores I order from. I do a delivery order from Costco every 2 to 3 months to fill up on my favorite items. Azure Standard is a new option I have been trying out as well. I often order a few items from Amazon and go to a few specialty stores as needed in addition to my regular weekly orders.

To do: Shop! Either in the grocery stores or online.

Cook

• All of your ingredients should be handy
• Be flexible!
• Adjust as you go

Now that there is a plan, groceries are picked up. Now all that is left is to cook and prepare the food. I love having everything I need ready to whip up a meal. This is great! No excuses to not cook. Be flexible as you go along because things come up, the plan may not always work out the way you thought. Simple menu planning is only effective if works for your family. Adjust as you go and tweak as you go along cooking and planning the next month. I also try to pull out the next few night’s meat’s ahead of time.

To do: Cook all the delicious meals you planned. Make notes of any changes for next week or month as you plan.

Spice it Up!

• Create a cute display
• Freezer meals
• Meal preparation days

Once you have a menu plan in place and it’s working well enough you can start trying out some ways to spice it up. I have done each of these off and on. You can create a cute display of the weekly meals. There are tons of ideas on Pinterest and boards you can purchase.

Maybe you would like to dabble in putting together freezer meals. I have done this for each of my baby’s deliveries. I prepped meals ahead of time in my freezer. So when the baby arrived, I just pulled out a delicious meal with little to no prep.

Does a meal preparation day sound like your thing? Take a day to wash and cut all of the weekly vegetables. Or cook chicken for the week. Maybe you create a salad in a jar for the week’s lunches. Again, there are many ways to prep foods whether it’s weekly or for every few days.

Meal Planning is the way to go

Simple menu planning is just amazing. It gets me organized and leaves out the daily stress. I can streamline our purchases with less waste and help save money. It’s all to easy to grab a quick meal out. Yet, those aren’t usually within our goals of eating fresh clean foods and spending our money wisely. Are we perfect? Absolutely not! We do eat most of the food that we purchase. But sometimes a bag of lettuce goes bad before we get to it. And as much as I love planning and cooking; I’m not always the best at executing my plans. So over the years, I have tweaked several aspects to our family’s menu plan. therefore I’m always working on a more efficient and cost-effective way to create nutritious homemade food that is convenient for our family. Use my Simple Menu Plan to create your family’s menu!

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