Dinner Menu

This seems old school, everyone knows that...kind of stuff, but it's totally life saving! Sometimes I forget how great it is to have a menu. I get busy and think I don't have time for that when in reality, I don't NOT have time for that. Sometimes I make a menu for a 5 week period and sometimes I just go by the week, planning around what's on sale that week. Either way is perfectly nice for me. When I do the longer term one, I let my kids pick some of their favorite meals and I fill in the rest. I made a list of everything I have ever fixed so I have something to go off of when I'm drawing a blank. It's very helpful.

I try to remember Sunday breakfast and Tuesday is always FFY (fend for yourself) since it's a busy night. I also try to get easy to make "convenience foods" for the weekend when we go out and they cook for themselves.

When I'm diligent at keeping a menu, my shopping is easier, and usually cheaper, then everyday, I just know what I'm fixing and know that I have everything I need to do it. Very few run to the store trips to pick up forgotten items. It's totally great for relieving that stress of "what's for dinner?". It's also helpful to cook the meat ahead of time and freeze it in individual baggies. Dinner comes around and you are making spaghetti, you pull the bag out of the freezer, cook in the microwave for 2 minutes and voila! No frying, greasy mess tonight. Same with chicken you will use in casseroles or mixed with other ingredients. Crock pot the whole bag or whatever.. of it, divide it up into bags and freeze. Comes out shredded and perfect for a casserole or haystacks etc. I just use a blank calendar like this one and fill it in as much or as little as I feel like. It's seems like a little bit of work, but totally worth it!