February 13, 2013
Kitchen Month – Weekly Menu Planning – FREE Printables
So far this week I’ve shared a couple tactics that I use to menu plan: keeping a list of family favorites and having quick prep items in the freezer to make it easier to throw a meal together. These two things are my best bets to getting food on the table. Next up I sit down and make a plan. Making a plan is easier knowing that I have some of the work already done and ready to go in the freezer. I think that the thing that holds people back from creating a plan is that it seems so time consuming. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be a big deal and it doesn’t have to be time consuming. Keep it simple, especially if you are just starting out. Here are a few things to consider and ideas to make it work for you:
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theme nights – Monday – crock-pot; Tuesday – soup + sandwich night: Wednesday – vegetarian night; Thursday: re-runs; Friday: pizza/calzones; Saturday: favorite fancy dinner; Sunday: leftovers
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cook once, eat twice – bake two chickens instead of two – the first night make a roast dinner and the next night turn the leftovers into a casserole or salad
- shop sales – make your menu around what’s on sale
- dinner salads – salads are great dinners – easy, healthy and quick!
- busy nights – don’t forget to take your evening schedules into consideration. If Wednesday night is a busy night and everyone is eating at different times, make that your night for a crockpot meal or leftovers.
So I’ve given you a few ideas, now you need to make your plan – here are three versions of a simple weekly menu plan just for you:
{aqua} {black + white} {brights}
Click here to see all the posts in this series.
I also have Menu Planning Kits in my shop, sure to give your menu planning a boost:
{brights} {aqua + lime} {editable menu planning kit}
And NEW in the shop – just in time for menu planning:
die Frau Says
I love your print-outs, and thank you for them! In the meantime, I use Cozi, which I have on both my desktop computer and my phone. The desktop version has a place for “Meals” where you can write out your meals for weeks ahead of time if you’re that organized! It’s quite handy, although it doesn’t show up on my Smartphone. But I like yours–I like to be able to write down the meals and hang them up where we all can easily see them.
Ashley Says
We definitely have at least one night of leftovers too and I always try to make one meal stretch to two. We use rotisserie chickens a lot and one night we might have chicken tortellini soup and the next chicken enchiladas. It saves time and money. 🙂
Diana Pacheco Says
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us. They’re very helpful, I enjoy them very much.