Night Elf Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Once upon a time, I had a very simple menu plan. It was only a weekly plan because we cooked the same things every single week. As a matter of fact, we still do and we're in a rut. Every day we are asking DH what is for dinner. You see, DH is the cook in our family. He agreed to try a planner again but we're wondering where to start. How do you plan meals in your family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyMommy Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Personally when I got into a complete rut I found that using someone else's meal plan for a short period of time gave me new ideas and helped me out of the rut. For example, on the 100 days of real food blog she has a couple sample ones, and for us it was worth a short time membership to The Fresh 20 because we would cook their meals for a week and then even if they weren't all hits we had at least a couple new ones to work into the rotation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in MA Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 We just commited to trying one new recipe a week to add some new stuff to our regular repetoire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Each week I create a list of "entree" type foods that I have in my freezer. I buy meat/chicken/fish when it's on sale, or we buy in bulk, so I usually have at least a week's worth of those types of things in the freezer. Then I sit down with my menu planner and my recipe folders and sketch out a week's worth of dinners. I'll usually do 1 pork or beef, 1-2 chicken, 1-2 veg, 1 pasta and 1 fish mixing so we don't have the 2 chickens on consecutive nights. I find a recipe I like (I love trying new recipes but you could just pick one from your repertoire) and write it on a weekly meal planner sheet that I downloaded from the net. I consider the season and what veggies/sides would go with the entree, and what are usually on sale at the store or readily available from my garden, and put that on the sheet as well. Every day I look at the list and take out from the freezer what's needed for the next day or two to defrost in the fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Each week I create a list of "entree" type foods that I have in my freezer. I buy meat/chicken/fish when it's on sale, or we buy in bulk, so I usually have at least a week's worth of those types of things in the freezer. Then I sit down with my menu planner and my recipe folders and sketch out a week's worth of dinners. I'll usually do 1 pork or beef, 1-2 chicken, 1-2 veg, 1 pasta and 1 fish mixing so we don't have the 2 chickens on consecutive nights. I find a recipe I like (I love trying new recipes but you could just pick one from your repertoire) and write it on a weekly meal planner sheet that I downloaded from the net. I consider the season and what veggies/sides would go with the entree, and what are usually on sale at the store or readily available from my garden, and put that on the sheet as well. Every day I look at the list and take out from the freezer what's needed for the next day or two to defrost in the fridge. This is sort of how I did it before. We ate the same foods fixed the same way though so it became routine. We really need to branch out and try something new. I think I should add a salad or two per week in there. Before kids, DH and I had soup/sandwich/salad for dinner one night a week. That was so easy. Maybe I'll add that in one night this week. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I wrote our favorite dishes on a bunch of index cards and sorted them by category (main, veg, salad, etc.). Once a month I pick out dinners for the month. Once a week I add in the side dishes before I go grocery shopping. The whole thing probably takes 30 minutes/month. Very quick! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Oh, and breakfast the kids serve themselves from the usual options, and each day of the week has the same lunch (Mondays, tuna/crackers/fruit; Tuesdays, miso soup, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 I wrote our favorite dishes on a bunch of index cards and sorted them by category (main, veg, salad, etc.). Once a month I pick out dinners for the month. Once a week I add in the side dishes before I go grocery shopping. The whole thing probably takes 30 minutes/month. Very quick! :) Oh I like the file index idea. It could be like dial a dinner. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I use plantoeat.com and while you can easily import recipes from popular websites, it does take awhile to import all of your own. But once they're there, it's easy peasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Luke Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 I menu plan based on the following: Mondays: Loaf and Ladle Night (soups, chilis, stews and a bread of some sort) Tuesdays: Taco Tuesdays Wednesdays: Pizza or Pasta Thursdays: Cafeteria Thursdays (we pull every bit of leftover from the fridge as a smorgasbord type meal - even those spoonfuls left!!) And as a treat - its always icecream for dessert.... this helps because its garbage day on Fridays. Whatever doesn't get eaten gets tossed. Friday: Freezer meal Friday. Saturday: Wildcard Saturday. Could be anything. Even takeout. Sunday: Roast or casserole. I find it easier to plan around the sales when I at least know the TYPES of meals that I'm planning.. and my family likes to know what to expect too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 LOL...Well, I'm the complete opposite of you. I hardly ever serve the same thing twice. I love trying new recipes. So I plan with my pile of cookbooks around me (or I go to allrecipes.com and explore) and start browsing. Then I plan two weeks at a time and write down whatever sounds good. I make the grocery list accordingly as well. Here's a sight that I find helpful if you like to have a weekly "theme" to your menus: http://byutv.org/foodnanny/ Her recipes are so good!! I use a lot of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 When we get into a rut, I get the family together and we brainstorm meals we like- it usually turns out there are lots of meals we love but just haven't made in a while. Then we start adding those back in. That master list really helps me make sure there is a well liked meal for everyone every week. I can't please everyone every day but I do try to hit a favorite once a week or so. I recently made pepper steak, which I haven't made in years but everyone loved it. It probably fell off the rotation when we were cutting grocery costs and never remembered to add it back when the budget eased. I bet there are favorites that your dh would make if he only knew you guys wanted them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma4Boys Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 What a fun thread - I would love to hear more ideas :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I menu plan based on the following: Mondays: Loaf and Ladle Night (soups, chilis, stews and a bread of some sort) Tuesdays: Taco Tuesdays Wednesdays: Pizza or Pasta Thursdays: Cafeteria Thursdays (we pull every bit of leftover from the fridge as a smorgasbord type meal - even those spoonfuls left!!) And as a treat - its always icecream for dessert.... this helps because its garbage day on Fridays. Whatever doesn't get eaten gets tossed. Friday: Freezer meal Friday. Saturday: Wildcard Saturday. Could be anything. Even takeout. Sunday: Roast or casserole. I find it easier to plan around the sales when I at least know the TYPES of meals that I'm planning.. and my family likes to know what to expect too... I like this! My menu planning overwhelms, and then I don't end up doing it :glare:. I like having *rules* like this! I'm also :bigear: for more ideas. We're in a big time rut. I made salmon tonight, which I had apparently not made in a century, or more, because everybody was over the moon :lol:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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