Menu Planning

If you were to ask a group of moms what household task they dread the most...

I have a feeling one answer would rise to the top.

"What's for dinner?"

For years, that question followed me around like an annoying little voice that refused to go away.

Every.

Single.

Day.

I'd stand in front of the refrigerator hoping inspiration would magically appear.

It rarely did.

Most weeks, I'd head to the grocery store without much of a plan, buy whatever looked good, and somehow end up with a refrigerator full of food that spoiled before I had a chance to use it.

Then, on the nights I actually knew what I wanted to make...

I never had the ingredients.

So back to the grocery store I'd go.

For two or three items.

And somehow leave with an entire shopping cart.

Can anyone relate?

Eventually, my sister and I decided there had to be a better way.

Together we came up with a menu-planning system that has saved me time, money, and a whole lot of unnecessary stress.

Here's how it works.

Instead of planning every individual meal from scratch each week, I first assigned a theme to each day.

For example:

• Sunday: Hot cereal for breakfast, beef for dinner

• Monday: Blender pancakes, bean dish

• Tuesday: Smoothies, chicken

• Wednesday: Eggs, soup or salad

• Thursday: Cold cereal, pasta

• Friday: Bread for breakfast, pizza for the kids (date night for Mom and Dad!)

• Saturday: Cereal, sandwiches (we usually went out for lunch)

Once I had my weekly themes, I simply came up with five different meal ideas for each category.

Five beef dinners.

Five chicken dinners.

Five soups.

Five pasta meals.

Before long, I had an entire month planned.

The best part?

I no longer had to decide what to make every afternoon.

The decision had already been made.

After creating the menu, I organized everything into a three-ring binder.

Inside were:

• My monthly meal plan.

• Weekly grocery lists.

• Recipes organized by week.

• Dividers to keep everything easy to find.

I also grouped my grocery lists by section of the store:

• Dairy

• Meat

• Canned goods

• Boxed items

• Baking supplies

• Produce

• Bread

• Frozen foods

Shopping became faster.

I bought only what I needed.

Food waste practically disappeared.

And those last-minute trips to the grocery store became much less frequent.

One unexpected blessing was that planning ahead also made it easier to build a food storage supply.

Because I knew exactly what meals we ate regularly, I knew exactly what ingredients to keep on hand.

No guessing.

No overbuying.

Just a pantry stocked with foods we actually used.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by meal planning, don't try to create an entire month's menu in one afternoon.

When I first started, I spent about thirty minutes every Thursday working on it.

Little by little, it all came together.

Sometimes the biggest stress relievers aren't complicated.

They're simply systems that remove one decision from an already busy day.

And if there's one decision I'm grateful I don't have to make every afternoon...

It's answering that little voice that keeps asking,

"So... what's for dinner tonight?"