Menu Planning Made Easy

What is the worst part about menu planning?

A. Coming up with meal ideas?

B. Figuring out what to cook when?

C. Keeping on budget?

D. All the above

There is no right or wrong answer. I struggled with all of the above. When planning out what to cook I have made a theme for each day. As well as all of our favorites meal ideas that go under each category/theme for a quick cheat sheet. You can change the themes to work for you, these worked for us.

You will want to keep the themes simple and not broad. Themes like "Chicken Night" will make meal planning much harder. My word for this year is SIMPLIFY, and this does just that.

Slow Cooker Sundays because it's so easy to throw something in and be able to have a quiet day with the family. Meatless to Mondays I chose because we typically eat a lot of meat over the weekend so cooking something without meat is great for us. Of course Taco Tuesday with anything Mexican because who doesn't love a good taco or enchilada? Breakfast Wednesdays is always an easy go to not to mention a favorite in my home. My kids love mini pancakes and could eat them every meal. Noodle Thursday is another favorite from Ramen Noodles to Chicken Alfredo. Friday we chose as Favorite Fridays and we'll switch off letting everyone choose a meal they want. That way everyone gets a meal of their choice. Saturdays are fun because you can never go wrote with good BLT or a juicy hamburger .

I like to plan my menu for the month but go shopping twice a month to keep the veggies fresh. To make it less overwhelming and not wasting too much food I coordinate meals. One day I'll cook hamburger and lightly season with salt and pepper, then put half in a container for another meal. The rest of the meat I'll finish seasoning it for that specific meal. Example. Tacos on Tuesday: cook up the pound of hamburger with onions, garlic and lightly season with salt and pepper then put half aside for dinner the next day which could be pizza. The remainder of the hamburger I'll season with taco seasoning for dinner that night. This helps with not having a fridge full of leftovers but to make dinners the rest of the week easier.

I color coordinated the Meal Ideas with each day so that it's a little easier to pick what to make. You can print off your PDF's by clicking here or the pictures : Meal Ideas and the Calendar

I like to laminate mine so I can reuse it and keep on my fridge. You can find an amazing Laminator on amazon for $20 or less! Here is the one I picked out and have not complaints. It heats up fast and works great!