Menu Planning

It is 4:30 pm.  The homework is done.  Things are ready for the next day.  Then it hits.  All of the sudden several short people run to you begging for food, crying out of hunger pains, asking "mom, what is for dinner?!!!!"  Your heart starts beating double time, you begin to accumulate little beads of sweat on your forehead, and you realize that you have no idea.  No idea what to feed these children.  The choices are evident, scrambled eggs or spaghetti red....again.  
If this sounds like something out of your life, a true story, have no fear you are not alone and this situation is completely rectifiable.  

The above illustration used to be me, and admittedly, some days it still is.  However, I have found the days of dinner time panic reducing thanks to a nifty tool, a menu!  I menu plan for dinners only, but eventually would like to plan for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner menus.  Baby steps, right?  

Having a menu makes grocery shopping easier and staying in budget is no longer a hassle.  Grocery shopping takes much less time because I have an exact list of exactly what we will need for the week.  Also, you can do a pantry inventory to see what meals you can make out of the items already in your pantry or freezer.  I never had anyone take me by the hand and tell me how to make a menu, it became trial and error, and creativity, lots of creativity.

Menu Template
I have found that there are a lot of great websites to help with your menu planning.  I got my template for my menu from Modern Mommy Canada (I found the website on Pinterest as a free printable), it is exactly what I was looking for.  I printed it out, laminated it, decorated it a little bit, and use dry erase markers to update the calendar weekly.  I have also made a separate column on the menu for what we have going on that evening, keeping in mind schedules makes it much easier to plan meals that will be in the time frame we have to eat.

Meal Planning
I use a simple google search to look for meal ideas.  A lot of times I choose "simple inexpensive healthy family meals", or if I have a surplus of a certain type of meat in the freezer I may search "easy ground venison recipes" or "inexpensive chicken recipes".  I just tailor the search to my menu needs of the week.  I use my iCloud calendar that my husband and I share and put the recipe name in it at the dinner slot.  I also copy and paste the recipe into a word document and print out the document so I have all the recipes for the week in one location.  This is the most time consuming part of menu planning.  It usually takes me half an hour to an hour depending on interruptions and what the week holds.  However, this is the part that makes my life so much easier.  It is worth the time to sit down and plan.


Display Menu
I have the menu located on a kitchen cabinet that is easy to see and refer to.  Our oldest child can read so if he asks what is for dinner, or if one of the littles ask for dinner he can refer to that to answer the question.  The menu is not set in stone, even when it is displayed, I have had to make little tweaks or change the meal for the night all together.  It is a guide to allow you to have a bit less hectic day.

Taking a little time once a week to organize a menu is worth it.  You will find that dinner time is much less stressful and that your evening may even go more smoothly.  You can do it!

In Menu Making,
Rebecca