Menu Planning Step by Step
Apr 29, 2013 19:12:51 GMT -5
steffanie3, mammaclingman, and 19 more like this
Post by christineg on Apr 29, 2013 19:12:51 GMT -5
I shared in another thread how I do THM menu planning and was asked to share it in its own thread, so here it is.
I'm a homeschooling mom of 8 children from 5mo to 19yo. I have found that disciplining myself to sit down and devote an hour or an hour and a half to planning our menus for the week on an Excel spreadsheet is a huge, huge benefit. In fact, I don't know how I would do the plan without it. In a pinch, I could always just pull out a saved menu, but I normally plan fresh each week. I have the days of the week across the top and down the sides, my categories are: Breakfast, Lunch, Lunch Side, Dinner, Dinner Side, Dessert and Prep for Tomorrow.
When I am menu planning, this is my procedure:
1. I start by filling in all the dinners, since this is likely to be the hardest part. I do mostly S dinners, but make sure to include at least one E dinner, preferably two. I plan with the grocery store flyers in front of me so I can see what meat is on sale that week.* (Because of budget, we are no longer able to buy all of our meat from local farmers, though we still buy some of it from them.) I note the recipe source and page number, if needed next to the item (for example, THM p374) and beside each dinner choice, I put S or E in bold.
2. Next, in the row for dinner sides, I can easily slot in a corresponding vegetable or two and see that there is enough variety. I normally do a buttery cooked vegetable, green fries or a salad with Ranch dressing for S and either creamless creamy vegetables, salad with Trim Honey Mustard dressing or just cut up fresh veggies or mini tomatoes for E. In dinner sides, I will also list which high-quality carb I will include for the kids. It is usually brown rice, quinoa, homemade sourdough or whole wheat noodles with parmesean.
3. I fill in lunches. Often I simply recycle the selections from the week before. I keep in mind what we are having for dinner (S or E) and consider whether we might have adequate leftovers from the dinner before and plan for those if so. I add an S or E in bold beside the lunch selection and note recipe source and page number. I add in a lunch side, which is usually just cut up fresh veggies. (If I don't do this, one of my lunch-makers will try to get away with not putting out any veggies!)
4. I add breakfast selections. Again, this is often a matter of just tweaking the week before and repeating most of the breakfasts. I often eat something different from my children with my dh, so I make sure that if the breakfast isn't going to be adult-friendly, there is something else simple planned for us, such as muffin in a mug or one of the granolas from the book or a greek yogurt swirl. Again, I add in a bold S or E after each selection and note recipe source and page if applicable.
5. Two or three times a week, I will add a dessert in that corresponds to the dinner-type of that night. Usually, we just have dessert on S nights, but sometimes we'll have a pudding on an E night. Again, I note the source and page. If I do this, it just makes it easier for me at the time of preparation.
6. I look at the whole picture to make sure there is a decent balance of S and E with an occasional FP.
7. Once I am satisfied with everything, I note any advanced prep that will be required and jot it down on the day before on the 'Prep for Tomorrow' row of the spreadsheet. This would include things like, "Thaw roast" or "Soak oats" or even optional things like, "Make salad dressing" that would just make my life easier to have them done ahead of time.
8. Finally, I print and post the list on my fridge.
9. Then, from this list, I plan for the grocery shopping for the next week.
I know it sounds like a bit of work, but it has been so worth the effort. I can't imagine how we would stick to the plan with our big family without planning it ahead of time. As well, even though it does take me awhile on the one night that I do it, I get all of that time back in not having to scramble and stress later in the week. It is such a blessing to have this all planned out. Each night, I can easily have a quick look at the prep for the next day and I will then have nice thawed meat in the morning instead of having to fill up yet another sink full of hot water to try to get a 5lb roast to thaw so I can stick it in the crockpot!
* One thing I do to save money on meat is to see what is on sale that week for 1/2 price. I purchase two meals worth of meat. One meal I plan for the current week and I put the remaining meat in the freezer to use another week. This way, theoretically, I can plan for one meal from our freezer stash each week.
I'm a homeschooling mom of 8 children from 5mo to 19yo. I have found that disciplining myself to sit down and devote an hour or an hour and a half to planning our menus for the week on an Excel spreadsheet is a huge, huge benefit. In fact, I don't know how I would do the plan without it. In a pinch, I could always just pull out a saved menu, but I normally plan fresh each week. I have the days of the week across the top and down the sides, my categories are: Breakfast, Lunch, Lunch Side, Dinner, Dinner Side, Dessert and Prep for Tomorrow.
When I am menu planning, this is my procedure:
1. I start by filling in all the dinners, since this is likely to be the hardest part. I do mostly S dinners, but make sure to include at least one E dinner, preferably two. I plan with the grocery store flyers in front of me so I can see what meat is on sale that week.* (Because of budget, we are no longer able to buy all of our meat from local farmers, though we still buy some of it from them.) I note the recipe source and page number, if needed next to the item (for example, THM p374) and beside each dinner choice, I put S or E in bold.
2. Next, in the row for dinner sides, I can easily slot in a corresponding vegetable or two and see that there is enough variety. I normally do a buttery cooked vegetable, green fries or a salad with Ranch dressing for S and either creamless creamy vegetables, salad with Trim Honey Mustard dressing or just cut up fresh veggies or mini tomatoes for E. In dinner sides, I will also list which high-quality carb I will include for the kids. It is usually brown rice, quinoa, homemade sourdough or whole wheat noodles with parmesean.
3. I fill in lunches. Often I simply recycle the selections from the week before. I keep in mind what we are having for dinner (S or E) and consider whether we might have adequate leftovers from the dinner before and plan for those if so. I add an S or E in bold beside the lunch selection and note recipe source and page number. I add in a lunch side, which is usually just cut up fresh veggies. (If I don't do this, one of my lunch-makers will try to get away with not putting out any veggies!)
4. I add breakfast selections. Again, this is often a matter of just tweaking the week before and repeating most of the breakfasts. I often eat something different from my children with my dh, so I make sure that if the breakfast isn't going to be adult-friendly, there is something else simple planned for us, such as muffin in a mug or one of the granolas from the book or a greek yogurt swirl. Again, I add in a bold S or E after each selection and note recipe source and page if applicable.
5. Two or three times a week, I will add a dessert in that corresponds to the dinner-type of that night. Usually, we just have dessert on S nights, but sometimes we'll have a pudding on an E night. Again, I note the source and page. If I do this, it just makes it easier for me at the time of preparation.
6. I look at the whole picture to make sure there is a decent balance of S and E with an occasional FP.
7. Once I am satisfied with everything, I note any advanced prep that will be required and jot it down on the day before on the 'Prep for Tomorrow' row of the spreadsheet. This would include things like, "Thaw roast" or "Soak oats" or even optional things like, "Make salad dressing" that would just make my life easier to have them done ahead of time.
8. Finally, I print and post the list on my fridge.
9. Then, from this list, I plan for the grocery shopping for the next week.
I know it sounds like a bit of work, but it has been so worth the effort. I can't imagine how we would stick to the plan with our big family without planning it ahead of time. As well, even though it does take me awhile on the one night that I do it, I get all of that time back in not having to scramble and stress later in the week. It is such a blessing to have this all planned out. Each night, I can easily have a quick look at the prep for the next day and I will then have nice thawed meat in the morning instead of having to fill up yet another sink full of hot water to try to get a 5lb roast to thaw so I can stick it in the crockpot!
* One thing I do to save money on meat is to see what is on sale that week for 1/2 price. I purchase two meals worth of meat. One meal I plan for the current week and I put the remaining meat in the freezer to use another week. This way, theoretically, I can plan for one meal from our freezer stash each week.