I am making a new menu plan. I have gotten really bad about planning breakfasts and lunches so I am getting back to that. As for dinner, I really don't see how anyone gets by without planning that (how do you shop otherwise?), but I am REALLY simplifying my dinner plan.
I'm going to trying having the same plan every WEEK. Yep, you heard me right. Beans on Monday, Taco Tuesday, and so on. It might get boring, but I really don't think the kids will mind. They might even like it! And it will make things easier for me in so many ways.
1. It will me one less thing (or LOTS of less things) for me to think about. My life is crazy full and busy right now. The last thing I have time for is making menus, lists, cooking things that I actually have to think about.
2. I won't have to make the dreaded shopping list every week. Type out one list and it's done.
3. The more I make these same meals week after week, the more I will be able to make them without even thinking. And if I include the kids in making these same meals week after week, they too will learn to make them well, they will be more and more help and eventually be able to even do it themselves.
4. I will save money by having the same inexpensive meals each week--and eating out less. It will also be easier to buy in bulk knowing that the same things will be used over and over.
5. Shopping will be much easier too. I will know exactly what I need and can zoom right through!
I decided to use the menu plan Debi Pearl shares in my old worn out copy of Created to be His Help Meet. If you have the book, it is on pages 149 and 150. There are many more details there. This is one of my favorite menus because it is extremely frugal, healthy, uses the crockpot, takes advantage of leftovers and cooking ahead, and is also delicious.
Monday--pinto beans. We eat "soup beans" with just cornbread and sometimes fried taters (you have to call it "taters"!) She suggests serving the beans with minute steaks and sweet potatoes so we might do that sometimes to mix it up.
Tuesday--taco salad, using the leftover beans for refried beans. We'll also do tacos and burritos some weeks to add variety.
Wednesday--Spaghetti
Thursday--Black beans and rice with smoked sausages. You can load toppings on this--cheeese, onions, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream. I like mine with just cheese. It really is so good.
Friday--Fried rice. I love this meal because you can throw in whatever leftover meats and veggies you have on hand. We order pizza on Fridays a lot and we still will because it gives us a fun night without daddy here. But I'm going to try to cut down. It's so expensive!!
Saturday--Cookout night. Hamburgers or hot dogs or chicken or steaks or whatever. This is hard to do with my husband gone because I really don't like to grill outside. Maybe I can invest in a countertop grill if I can promise myself to cut down on pizza deliveries.....
Sunday--chicken and dumplings. Her recipe is so simple and good, I might be able to give up McDonald's drive-thru on Sunday afternoons. Maybe.
I am excited about doing this, for this season of life anyway. She tells about another meal plan on page 151. Maybe eventually we can branch out to 2 weeks of meals. For now though, the simpler the better. Which is why all these meals will be eaten on paper plates.
ETA: I found the best little menu plan template! You can download it and fill it out yourself! I just made mine. So cute!
7 comments:
Jennifer, I do something similar at my place. Not quite as simplified (I wish!) But we have a Mexican night, an Italian night, a "breakfast for dinner" night, usually a "make something out of the leftovers from the day before" night after each of those (except breakfast for dinner) too, lol!
When I do breakfast for dinner I try to make a ton more than we need if it is pancakes or french toast, then freeze it for quick breakfasts int he morning. Becasue as much as I want the kids to have soemthign other than cereal in the morning, sometimes it is hard to get the motivation to make such a huge mess in a kitchen that I jsut cleaned, and it makes me feel like my whole day has started behind.
We do something similar, too! Monday- spaghetti/Italian meals, Tuesday- breakfast for dinner (omelettes, biscuits, hashbrowns, etc) Wed- family night (ever other week we get together w/ extended family and take turns cooking), Thursday- Mexican night (tacos, burritos, Mexican layer dip, etc) Fri- homemade pizza night. Blessings! Having this basic schedule has made meal planning a breeze for me. I do change up some things, seasonally. Here are my fav. summer meals: http://christine-mary.blogspot.com/2009/04/summer-suppers-with-summer-season-on.html
This is the encouragement I needed to get back to simplified menus- thanks! If you think about it, in "less fortunate" countries, most of their meals look the same & they are still able to thank God for the nourishment =] Good luck on sticking to it!
We have been eating takeout/junk way too much lately. I like your idea of a simplified list that you can just go into autopilot with - sometimes that is just what I need. Cutting down on choices isn't a bad thing anyway - for most of history there haven't been that many choices anyway!
I did two weeks of meals for quite a long time and that seem to work really well. It takes just about 2 weeks for adults to be ready for the same meal again. Kids can eat the same thing every night, though!!
I had three lists that once created were super easy:
List 1 : Week 1 at the grocery store
List 2: Week 2 at the grocery store
List 3: Monthly trip to Sam's Club where I listed everything that I could get for both weeks in bulk
You can go online and choose the stuff from Sam's that you need and they will have it in a cart ready for you when you get there.
Now my kids are all grown and I just eat fruit. Way easier than cooking!
Have you ever made your own pizza? If you have a bread machine, it's a snap! You just throw a few simple ingredients in for the dough, let the bread machine do the kneading work and rising. Then you can top it with pizza sauce (or I just use part of a jar of spaghetti sauce, and then use the rest of the jar for actual spaghetti a different night), pepperoni, and mozzarella. If you like veggies you can add peppers, mushrooms, onions, whatever. It's way cheaper than delivery and not TOO hard. Sometimes I cheat and buy pre-made pizza dough and then it's even easier!
I think my issue is often that I plan for supper, but forget to truly plan out breakfasts and lunches.
I recently learned I'd save myself a lot of money if I would plan those as well!
Have you heard of Saving Dinner? The author has several different books with meal plans for supper- new and fun stuff to try, complete with a grocery list! It's worth the money, even if you just use a recipe here and there, instead of using her weekly menu.
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