Menu planning is becoming more popular and, for many families, it seems to be the solution for saving money on food. The basic idea is to plan ahead, either by the week or by the month, what you will eat for every meal. This way, you can use the food already in your kitchen, and you will avoid buying a lot of extra food that you don’t need. Hopefully, it will also prevent those last-minute trips to the store because you have discovered halfway through dinner preparations that you are missing the main ingredient!
Menu Planning for a Week or a Month
The most basic menu plan is to think one week at a time. Write down each day of the week and decide what you want to have for dinner each night. This is a great way to start if you feel overwhelmed, because seven days are fairly easy to wrap your head around. Remember to start with foods already in your freezer and pantry. Using what you have not only reduces the cost of your future grocery trips, but it also helps to prevent food waste.
To expand your weekly menu plan into a month-long menu plan is pretty simple–just make four weekly menu plans. If 30 meals sound too intimidating, plan the same or similar meals every other week. Likewise, plan meals around each other. If you want to have grilled chicken breast for Sunday dinner, put the rest of the chicken in the stockpot so that you have chicken soup all ready to go for Monday night. Then, you can use the remainder of the chicken on top of salad for lunch and so on.
Tips for Menu Planning
Create a pattern of eating to help simplify your life.
Make Monday pasta night. Friday night can be pizza night. With this approach, you will always know that you will need the ingredients to make pizza on Friday, and that Monday’s dinner will be quick to throw together. Having a pattern to your week can make menu planning easier, too. Now that you know that you will have pasta every Monday night, you can focus on finding new and unique pasta dishes to try.
Do not forget to plan your breakfast, lunch and side dishes as well.
You need to eat more than just dinner. Having an idea what foods to have on hand for breakfast and lunch can be especially helpful if you are attempting to eat less processed foods. Likewise, serving a hot, well made main dish will always be kind of anticlimactic if there is no side dish to round out the meal, so think about those vegetables. Make sure they are ready to go at the same time as the rest of the meal.
Finally, don’t be tied to your menu plan. Have the flexibility to switch Tuesday and Thursday’s meal plan if you find yourself really craving that roast beef. The idea is not to carve each meal in stone but to have enough food to fix dinner every night of the week.
Jennifer Wagaman - Jennifer is a mother of 2 and has both public, private and administrative experience in the education field.
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