IfIOnly Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I'd like start this up again. I'm thinking a month repeating meal plan with flexibility if I want. I won't though. Ha! Something like (just examples, haven't decided): One night a week is Mexican: tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, ? Another night is pork: chops, baked ham, carnitas, pot. soup Chicken: roast fryer with gravy, bbq, ?, ? Asian night: teriyaki, curry, sushi, Asian salad Italian/pasta: pesto, spaghetti, pizza, ? If you have a repeating meal plan how do you organize it and what's specifically on menu? I need some inspiration and ideas. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I don't right now but have in the past. Most helpful was having theme days. Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, crockpot Wednesday, burger (surprisingly versatile) Thursday, pizza (also versatile or dead easy) Friday... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Here's what I do: Sunday - breakfast for dinner Monday - pasta Tuesday - Asian Wednesday - fish Thursday - takeout (grocery shopping & errand day) Friday - Mexican Saturday - kids make their own dinner and dh and I have a big salad I have a list of 5-10 favorite recipes for each category, which makes it easy to whip up a meal plan and shopping list when I'm in a hurry. When I have more time, I like to look around for a new recipe or two to try each week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeachyDoodle Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 We do, but it's not weekly. I put together a quarterly plan. Each quarter has a six-week rotation, so we rotate through each week of meals twice before moving on to the next quarter. I try to take advantage of seasonal produce, etc. within each quarter (spring/summer/fall/winter). Changing things up helps us keep from getting bored, but also makes it easier on me. I'm a terrible meal planner. This gives us a structure while being easy to swap out meals for special events or just feel like something different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Mine is pretty loose but there are 2 options in each category that most of us like. Breakfast for dinner: skillet with potatoes, peppers, onions, sausage & eggs OR bacon, scrambled eggs w/ pancakes or waffles Pasta: red sauce, pasta, and meatballs OR broccoli and sausage w/pasta Grilled/Broiled Chicken...w/ salad either: Caesar salad OR spinach salad, red onions, apple & candied nuts Tacos: Ground chicken or beef w/toppings OR quesadillas "Big Batch" crockpot: pot roast, BBQ beef or BBQ pork (I usually do this on Thursday, then we have lots of leftovers for weekend) Chili OR Soup in cool weather OR hamburgers/hot dogs/Italian sausage on grill in warmer weather I fill these meals in with veggies and sides as needed. Other nights are random stuff we like but don't eat regularly like steak or meatloaf or stuffed shells or things only a couple of us like. We get take out once a week or so: pizza or Chipotle, for example, and it seems like we always have enough of that leftover for the next day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 I have 16 weeks planned out. One day, I pulled out all my recipes and decided which I wanted to use regularly. Then mixed and matched them based on ingredients or proximity to other recipes. So, the first week, I make black bean burgers with sweet potato fries and the 9th week I make chickpea burgers with roasted potatoes and romesco sauce. Second week, I make red lentil tacos and the 10th week I make pinto bean and vege tacos. Different themes: burgers, Chinese, Mexican, Ethiopian, Indian, Italian, hummus. I make chicken or beef on Saturday. I cook 3-4 nights a week. Dh cooks 1 night a week. We eat out 2 nights a week. Each week, I make a big pot of soup and that provides many a breakfast or lunch. Mostly breakfast/lunch are leftovers or foods that dh is not fond of. I created a document that has my shopping list for the 16 weeks. I just print off one page a week, cross off what I've got in stock, add any additional items I might need, and go shop. I've done this for years. It saves so much time and energy. I used to spend an inordinate amount of time each week figuring out what I was going to cook, what I needed to buy, etc. If you are interested, PM me with your email address, and I'll send you my doc. This is a list that I send guests for them to chose. I take good care of my guests. :laugh: I haven't updated this list in a while... Chicken Chicken & Rice Wraps Chicken in White Wine Sauce Chicken Cacciatore Chicken Fajitas Chicken Tacos Chicken Tortilla Soup Middle Eastern Chicken in a Pita Chicken Stir Fry Chicken with mushrooms and artichokes Beef Meatloaf Tacos Meatball Subs Burgers Beef Fajitas Sloppy Joes Vegetarian Black Bean Burgers Chickpea Burgers Kabuli Chana Dal Unsloppy Joes African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew Potato+Tomato Basil Soup Vegetable Burritos Red Lentil Tacos Veggie Stir Fry Black Lentil Dal Mexican Stuffed Peppers Spinach with Chickpeas Shredded Vegetable Fritters Veggie Chili+Potato Unsloppy Joes Vegetable Fajitas Minestrone Soup Veggie Taco Salad Red Lentil Stew Ethiopian Green Beans & Potatoes Soups Vegetable Bean Soup (fast and easy) Vegetable Bean Soup (more time consuming) Tortilla Soup Green Velvet Soup Tomato Basil Soup Minestrone Soup Black Bean Soup Eat the Rainbow Black Bean Soup Triple Lentil Soup Stews/Chili Lentil Edamame Stew Very Veggie Chili African Sweet Potato & Peanut Stew Hummus Regular Hummus Roasted Red Pepper Hummus White Bean Hummus Black Bean Hummus Burgers Chickpea Burgers Black Bean Burgers Falafel Unsloppy Joes Mexican Red Lentil Tacos Vegetable/Bean Tacos Sweet Potato, Black Bean, Greens Tacos (Green) Lentil and Cauliflower Rice Tacos Vegetable Fajitas Mexican Stuffed Peppers Ethiopian Ethiopian Berbere Stew (red lentils) Ethiopian Lentils with Berbere Spice (green lentils) Ethiopian Green Beans & Potatoes Ethiopian Chickpea & Sweet Potato Wot Kik Alicha (yellow split peas) Indian Spinach & Chickpea Kabuli Chana Dal (split chickpeas) Black Lentil Dal Bhindi Masala (okra) Chinese Vegetable + Edamame Stir Fry 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamanthaCarter Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 (edited) I did a two week rotation for quite a while with success. I eventually got tired of it and wore out a few things for my family. I picked the ten of my family's most loved dinners/recipes and just stuck with those. Sundays are always homemade pizza for dinner, so that was two more dinners, and the other two (to make 14) seemed to work themselves out (eating out, fridge clean out, etc.) I need to go back to that. Themes don't work for me because they are still too broad to easily choose what I'll cook. Edited April 15, 2017 by SamanthaCarter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenbeanmama Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 Monday: soup (chicken noodle, chicken and gnocchi, Italian wedding, chicken and barley, and chicken and dumplings, with a few others once in a while) Tuesday: meat and potatoes (several different pot roasts, oven roast, steak bites, meat loaf, fried round steak...potatoes mashed, baked, roasted, etc) Wednesday: chicken and rice (curry, orange, and skillet chicken with different seasonings - a few others once in a while) Thursday: something on a bun (hamburgers, turkey burgers, chicken patties, turkey brats...although we've been going bun-less lately, so not sure what to call it now!) Friday: various (taco salads, salmon patties, homemade pizza, biscuits and gravy, chicken a la king...anything that doesn't fit well in another category) Saturday: eggs (scrambled, fried, baked, omletted, eggs-in-a-frame) Sunday: sandwiches (grilled cheese, Reubens, cold lunch meat sandwiches...and sometimes a roast chicken if I'm feeling ambitious...yes, I know it doesn't belong on sandwich night) It gives me a good starting point, but we are flexible too. In warmer weather we have smoothies and toast at least once a week. And I have recipes I make on rare ocasion - sometimes the break from them turns them into a new favorite! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 I just wish I had enough meals to cook that everyone more or less liked to rotate through a month. Realistically I have maybe 5 meals that everyone likes. I switch out the vegetables sometimes to make it seem different. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeking Squirrels Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 (edited) I recently made up a 4-week meal plan to rotate. But we only did it for one week and then we left for vacation two days into the next week and got back a few days ago. I do plan on picking it up for next week. I'm optimistic about it. I picked a rough theme for each day based on how much time we'd have to cook vs a busy day. I also made up a shopping list for each week. I'm still working on the shopping lists, but I'm expanding them from just the dinner menu. I added things we need each week (milk, eggs, fresh snacking produce...) but then I also added things I only get sometimes. For example, my kids love bagels and english muffins and one likes cinnamon raisin bread. But if I get them all we waste a lot and if I get the same thing too often they stop eating it. So I added one thing to each week. So week 1 I'll get bagels, week 2 - raisin bread, week 3 - mini bagels, week 4 - english muffins. I did this with several things that I just want to get sometimes but don't want to end up splurging on all in one week like I tend to do if I shop hungry. I added tea to one week because I need a new box about once a month. I did this with other things evening them out across the weeks. I also decided to make a steady lunch plan for during the week. We tend to rotate through the same few things anyway. So I added what we need for those to each week. Dinners: Monday - I shop after dropping the kids off at tumbling at 4:00 so it has to be something I can make quickly as soon as I get home. Ham (I use the IP so it's fast), spaghetti, salad bar, ravioli Tuesday - meatloaf, chicken crescent ring, Shepherd's pie, hungry jack casserole Wednesday - none of us are home, the kids eat a lunchable for dinner on our 45 min drive home and I eat leftovers or a sandwich later. Thursday - Fajitas, tacos, stir-fry, enchiladas Friday - Home-made pizza, grilled cheese and soup, salsa chicken quesadillas, BLT's (when T in season, not sure what I'll replace with later) - I tried to make Friday be DD8 friendly because we do family movie night and it's best to keep it smooth. With modification she'll eat all these. Saturday - Ham & veggie soup or chicken noodle soup, grilled chicken, Hamburgers/hot dogs (warm months, chili in winter), baked or fried chicken Sunday - aztec chicken, southwest or beef stew, 15 bean soup or meatballs/rice, pot roast I'm still working on finding some seasonal exchanges and I'll be tweaking things as we try it out. A lot of my spacing/planning has to do with what DD8 will eat. I wanted her to have at least one meal a week she will eat. With some slight modifications to hers, she'll eat 1-2 of each week's plan. Edited April 15, 2017 by Whovian10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 Mine is amazingly boring because there are three picky eaters in the house and the three of us are picky about different things. So we eat the same meals every week, because these are the only things we can all bear to eat: Monday: Spaghetti Tuesday: Tacos Wednesday: Fish Thursday: Homemade pizza Friday: Meatloaf for one picky eater, tortellini soup for the other two picky eaters (Meatloaf, beatloaf, I hate meatloaf! I'm willing to cook the two dinners because they're both fast to cook and I hate meatloaf.) Saturday: Roast beef or stir-fried beef with green peppers Sunday: Roast chicken. And then it starts over again. And again. And again. Sometimes I just can't take it anymore and we head out to the local Chinese buffet. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted April 15, 2017 Author Share Posted April 15, 2017 You ladies are wonderful. Thank you!! Tonight was my night off with dinner and a movie all by my lonesome. It was wonderful and refreshing, but now I'm back and feeling some motivation to put this meal plan together. I'd like to do (well, actually for DH to do most likely) the bulk of my shopping this weekend. Thank you so much for sharing how you do this and for the meal ideas. I'm thinking I'm going to have each weekday be a theme with 10 or so of our favorites to choose from. I'll pencil out a plan month to month. For themes I'm thinking: Beef Chicken Pork Asian Middle Eastern Italian/Pasta Mexican I have a few odd meals out like some soups and will just find a place to squeeze them in here and there. It will be good to be meal planning again. I hate figuring out what's for dinner with a passion. It's exhausting and soul sucking for me. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) We have a rough plan for each day of the week. Monday - "surprise" (or leftovers)Tuesday - soupWednesday - fishThursday - saladFriday - PastaSaturday - stir frySunday - roast dinner or home made pizza (alternates) Edited April 17, 2017 by IsabelC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 You guys are so.......together. Every night I groan as I enter the kitchen. No idea. We have things we just make regularly as "fall back on" meals: Tacos Curry Stir Fry Noodles Baked potatoes Pizza Burgers Skillet Sausage and New Potatoes Salad and grilled chicken Or I will just do a meat, a veggie, and a starch (potatoes, pasta, rice) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 In our family right now (it changes from time to time), the steady things are Friday night pizza (homemade usually) and Tuesday night Tacos (although this has been expanded to anything Tex-Mex.) The following lost their way, but should be reinstated: Wednesday night pasta (anybody remember, "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti day?") Meatless Mondays Then Thursdays was Egyptian/Middle Eastern food (because of DH). Saturday/Sunday I can't remember what we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I had one weekly plan, and played around with it based off of the $5 dollar dinner menu cookbook. Now I plan for the week on Saturdays, using the weekly adds. The one constant in our family is that Friday night is always pizza night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I don't have a set plan but I do have a general template. But I only allow pasta once a week (they would eat it every day), we usually have eggs of some sort on Fridays, once a week I make pizza, once a week I try something new, once a week we have grilled sandwiches, I try to serve something with tofu at least once a week, beans or lentils once a week etc. It is mostly ruled by the ballet schedule. On some days both kids are gone until 7pm so I can make anything as long as dinner is ready as soon as they come home, most days one kid is back at 6 and the other kid is back at 8 so multiple dinner times will happen. Sometimes we have weeks of rehearsals after class so dinner has to be packed up and eaten on the run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTRMom Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 I have a four-week plan. I have two chicken, two pork, two beef and one fish meal every week. Chicken: whole roasted, breaded breasts, casseroles, parmesian, salad Pork: loin roast, breaded chops, grilled chops, sausage pasta Beef: roast, tacos, sloppy joes, meatloaf, burgers, casserole Fish: alternate fried and grilled Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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