The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Morgan from Morganize with Me.
Menu planning week after week can be tough, am I right?!? Especially when you are trying to menu plan consistently. (The key word in that last sentence was consistently.)
Consistency is always the hardest part.
However consistency IS doable, when you keep things simple.
Simple System
Start by creating a super workable system. (Say that three times fast.)
What will work for you and your family? Do you want to go digital or stick to planning with paper? How will family members communicate certain grocery items that need to be replenished? Who will do the menu planning? How often will menu planning take place – weekly, bi-weekly, monthly?
Try a system and test it out, if it doesn’t work, go back to the drawing board. You have to do what will actually work for you and your family. Keep trying until you get it right!
Simple Schedule
Take the time to schedule each piece of menu planning into your week.
- Time to plan – choose recipes for the menu and also write a grocery list.
- Time to shop – regular days/times to hit the grocery store.
- Time to prep – intentional time to prep foods and meals, ahead of time.
- Time to cook – daily time necessary to prepare and cook meals.
Simple Solutions
Lastly it’s imperative that you search for ways to keep your meals simple! This is because dinner happens every.single.night. If you look for ways to build in more simplicity you’ll have more success! I pinky promise.
- Only try one new recipe a week, stick with your oldies but goodies while saving your new recipes for a night of the week when you have more time to cook. (If you need some new recipes, you can always try mine – they’re simple, of course.)
- Make a list of your family favorites, this can easily give you a week (or more) of “go to” recipes.
- Make one night of the week a theme night, we do “Mexican Mondays.”
- Minimize prep time by following these five steps in your kitchen.
- Have a list of 3-5 dinners that you can make at the drop of a hat. (We usually opt for Breakfast for Dinner, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Homemade Mac & Cheese or Quiche.)
- Use a crock-pot. Crock-pots are lifesavers!
Following these three simple tips will help you to better streamline the whole menu planning process and also keep your menu planning – yes you know – more consistent!
Cheers! And happy planning. See you next time or maybe I should just have you over for dinner? What do you like? Mexican?
Tell Me: Favorite dinner you can make at the drop of a hat – go!
Morgan is the energetic and motivated, but also realistic girl, behind Morganize with Me. Her mission is to encourage others to live more intentional lives. She is passionate about all things surrounding health maintenance and home making. Join one of her Challenges and be sure to check out her Shop full of fabulous organizing printables!
Rachel @ Useful Beautiful Home says
“Consistency IS doable, when you keep things simple.” Love it and so true! The Crockpot is my lifesaver too, especially in the season of having a newborn! 🙂 Love your Mexican Mondays theme night! Great post!
Morgan says
Thanks Rachel! What would we do without Crockpots?!? 🙂
Jessica [Havok] says
I agree 100% – try only one new thing a week, if you can manage it, and always have something on hand that can be whipped up quick! I will admit, this week I tried two new dishes, and will hopefully try another new one tomorrow, the first two were simple (a Mexican rice, ground turkey, and enchilada sauce burrito, then enchilada mac n cheese) and I was able to basically combine the two – left over turkey/enchilada sauce just added to the mac & cheese! But if it was two new large meals in a week? I probably would have said “nevermind, let’s get Taco Bell” and that goes entirely against the point!
Morgan says
That’s the best when you can combine ingredients into two meals, total time saver! And yes! We want to avoid those last minute fast-food runs whenever possible.