Organized mama gives menu planning a whirl!

A little bit of background: Since having Luke, grocery shopping has sometimes been an excuse for getting out of the house, especially during the dreary winter months.  I don't love or hate it, but I do hate the feeling of being disorganized.  I haven't gone to the grocery store without a list in years, but often, that list is hodge-podge, thrown together at the last minute, and is almost always incomplete.  So while I've made an effort to be organized with a list, I always seemed to come up short.

One of the blogs I follow, a clever mama outlined her menu plan for the month, and I was in awe.  (You can find her menu for March here. (Her blog is great, by the way!  She calls it "I Heart Naptime" and you will see why... she does amazing things while her kids sleep during the day.)  Yes, I have attempted menu planning before, but I never seemed to get it quite right.  She had a good format and some easy tips.  Then, my new favorite woman, the FlyLady, advocated for menu planning, and I realized that I needed to jump on this bandwagon.

My Step-by-Step Process

Step one for me was to put together a list of meals that we like and have made before.  I knew this was not a time to start cooking all new recipes, at least not while I am just starting out.  So, I compiled that list with help from Christopher.   

Next, I downloaded a free calendar template, and added "B, L, D" to each day - standing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, of course.   

Step three involved using my list of meals, and filling in the dinners with meals that seem appropriate for each day.  This involved some thinking, though, as I had to remember to make easy meals on Mondays, when I typically plan a big cleaning session during the day.  I also had to consider our current plans, and days Chris works late.  It is not perfect, and we may change it up by switching days, but for the most part, the dinners are planned.   

My next step was to consider breakfast and lunch.  This was easier than planning dinner, but still required thought.  I wanted to make sure our leftovers would be eaten, and needed to think a bit about making it simple so Luke and I could eat the same things (for the most part) for lunch.   

The fifth and final step, and what I consider to by my own personal addition to the menu planning process, was to create my grocery list.  I started with dinners again, accessed the recipes to see ingredients, and considered what we already had on hand.  Again, the thought here is planning for two weeks ahead.  I obviously can't buy a baguette this weekend to be eaten 10 days from now.  Perhaps I will switch days, or maybe just do an extra run to the market - after all, we will probably need milk or bread by that point anyway.  This is a work in progress!  You can also see that I have highlighted the meals for which I have accounted for ingredients.  For those meals that aren't highlighted, I still need to find my recipes and look at the ingredients I need.

So there you have it!  While it took about an hour in total, I think the convenience of knowing exactly what we will have for our meals over the next couple weeks with certainly save me time in the long run. 

Menu Planning for End-of-March 2011

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
B: big family breakfast! L: chicken salad sandwiches D: stuffed peppers	B: oatmeal L: leftover peppers D: tuna casserole with mixed vegetables	B: eggs & toast L: soup D: sweet & sour chicken with rice and broccoli	B: cereal L: leftovers D: order out	B: oatmeal L: chopped salad D: beef stroganoff with noodles and brussel sprouts	B: cereal L: chopped salad D: spaghetti in clam sauce with salad	B: breakfast sandwiches L: leftovers D: lasagna
27	28	29	30	31	1	2
B: big family breakfast! L: leftovers D: homemade pizza	B: oatmeal L: chopped salad D: grilled cheese and tomato soup	B: cereal L: hummus & cucumber sandwiches D: breakfast for dinner	B: eggs & toast L: chopped salad D: white bean minestrone with baguette	B: oatmeal L: leftover soup D: chicken cheesesteaks with fries	B: cereal L: cheesy tortillas D: order out	B: breakfast sandwiches L: leftovers D: turkey burgers
Shopping list:
Produce	Meats	Dry/canned goods	Frozen	Dairy	Breads	Miscellaneous
4 green peppers 4 cucumbers 3 mushroom boxes Broccoli Brussel sprouts Fennel bulb Swiss chard or cabbage Green onions	Bacon 1 lb gr beef 1 lb sweet sausage Ground turkey Chicken breast	Egg noodles Cream of celery soup WW spaghetti Can clams Clam sauce Tomato soup Pizza sauce Chicken stock	Peas Corn Mixed veggies	Block cheese Mozzarella block 3 ricotta cheese Provolone cheese	Tortillas Pizza crust Baguette Hoagie rolls