Menu Planning Steps
Have each family member list their favourite dinners. Specifically, their favourite chicken, bean, tofu, beef, lamb or pork dish as well as pasta, potato, etc. We recorded these on recipe cards and kept them in a safe place. Put a star beside the ones that take more time to prepare, a check beside the ones that can be cooked in a crock pot and a smiley face beside the ones that are quick and easy. Look at your week's activities to see which ones leave you with the least amount of time in the afternoon to prepare meals. On these days plan a crock pot meal. If you have a day that is more relaxing and provides plenty of time to prepare dinner, why not try a new recipe? On days where there may be only an hour or less to prepare a meal, chose one of the quick and easy recipes. Once this has become more routine, try planning specific main course days. For instance, chicken on Monday, tofu on Friday, fish on Saturday, etc. List the meals on a calendar so you won't have to listen to "What's for Dinner" every few minutes Create a shopping list of all the ingredients you'll need to create the meals and do a once a week grocery shop. Shopping once a week has saved us over $200.00 a month on our grocery bill. Why? I'm not runing out to the store a couple of times a week to get last minute items. We all know what happens when we walk in to the grocery store intent on purchasing one item! We end up walking out with four or five items and a bill ten times higher than we had thought it would be. Making a grocery list and shopping once a week saves you from all those extras you don't really need.Though our children are older now and we no longer need to create our weekly menu plans we did discover how time saving planning ahead was. When 4:00 came around, instead of stressing over what's for dinner, pacing the house looking for inspiration, we could relax. It was all under control!
|
