“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies… She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her [family]. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” (Prov 31:10, 14-15, 27).
Today I wanted to share a time saver, money saver, sanity saver. Monthly menu planning.
Ok, I did not invent this. In my family, my mom invented it, though I am pretty sure someone else may have done it before her. 😉 I can remember her hand drawn table/calendar with her pretty, small, swirly cursive writing. She posted it on the fridge and we could see for ourselves what was planned for dinner. And if we didn’t like it, there was always tomorrow. And for me, the most dreaded menu item? Meat loaf! But enough days of spaghetti, homemade fried chicken, tacos and lasagna would wipe away the memory of meatloaf until the next time…
The Inventory Control Model
When I first got married I had a totally different idea for running my kitchen. The idea was to stockpile all the staples for our favorite dinners (I had seen suggestions like this in various magazines). It was what I would call an “inventory control model”. I just kept track of each item: canned tomatoes, canned mushrooms, a variety of pastas, marinara sauce, ground meat, chicken breasts, etc. and made sure that we always had those basic food items on hand for cooking. We would look in the pantry and decide what we felt like eating.
But inventory control model has a few problems. The first problem is not knowing till the last minute what to make…makes for some late dinners! Then, you end up eating the same things over and over. If you want to try to add in a new recipe which has an off-beat ingredient, you might not have that item at home; this is problem number three. Problem number four is space…if your pantry was teensy (like mine was when I got married), then you can not stockpile for you may, or may not, eat. And problem number five is money, money, money (or was that problem five, six, seven?). It is expensive to buy things you aren’t necessarily going to eat, just to “have it on hand”.
Putting Your Pocketbook on a Diet
The next method I had for running my kitchen was very expensive. We just ate out a lot. That makes your pocketbook skinny and the rest of you fat. And that is just not a winning combination! But hubby and I were at work/school most of our waking hours, so that was all we could manage then.
Monthly Menu Planning
Then I was at home, waiting to have my first baby. We had just moved away from my job and we had planned for me to stay at home with the baby. Suddenly I had plenty of time on my hands. I began to make homemaking my job and I remembered my mom’s method! Monthly menu planning: I have done this for the last ten or so years.
Exhale! Now I just take some time at the end of the month to plan the next month’s menu and then post it on the fridge or pantry door. Each time I go to the store I check the menu to put together my grocery list. If I need to defrost something ahead of time I can see it. I don’t waste as much food by buying things we won’t eat right away and I have the ingredients I need for the meals I am making. I plan my cook-ahead meals for our busiest evenings, deciding which days I will just reheat those items. Planning a month of meals helps insure variety which makes us happy and keeps us healthier.
How to:
I have always used Microsoft Word calendars to type up my menus. This is easier than handwriting for lots of reasons. First you have access to the previous months with just a few keystrokes. Then, you can cut and paste from previous months for the regular meals. You can print as many copies as you like. Finally you can change it easily if needed. This month I am trying a new method – using google calendar. I like this even better because it syncs with your regular event calendar and it also already lists holidays, both of which you would have to type into Word. Here’s this month’s menu:
There is a great webpage on menu planning with lots of helpful tips called simplemom.net. She uses del.icio.us for her online recipe book. I am old school and still like to download recipes to have them in my hand while I make my grocery lists and cook, but I can see where this could be great for menu planning! I wonder if Pinterest would work as well?
Anyway! Here’s to menu planning! It can create some peace of mind in a busy schedule. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33). The God who brought chaos into order to create the Earth and sky and sea can provide you with the ability to create a little order in your life too! If you haven’t tried monthly menu planning – are your willing to now? If you have, how do you like it?
I loved today’s topic. In the last several weeks, I have gone back to meal planning after getting off that track about 2-3 years ago. I started meal planning when it was just my husband and I. Then our daughter was born and I saw then how important that I had have this part of my life organized (maybe it was more about control since I had this little baby that was calling the shots ‘“ LOL). After our daughter was born, I returned back to work that first year and meal planning was a saver. It was the one thing I didn’t have to think about because it had been replaced with remembering which breast I had pumped and when?; did I have enough fresh milk for tomorrow’s bottles? and did I put today’s extra milk in the freezer?!!!
On Saturdays, my daughter and I would let Daddy sleep in and we would get up early and head out to go grocery shopping. We were at the store by 7am. We would spend one Saturday shopping for the monthly menu and then the other Saturdays shopping for the next week’s perishable items. This was our time together and I loved it. I so miss it now. She was (and still is) wonderful to shop with, nothing like her little sister is now ? Back then I went through my cooking magazines always keeping meals different ‘“ never the same meal repeated.
We are now two kids down the road. One is a very picky eater and the other eats almost anything. I use to swear I wouldn’t be one of those Mom’s who had to prepare 3 different meals, but I admit now that having kids has taught me to bend in many areas, therefore yes, one night a week I may cook 2 or 3 different meals so that my husband and I can have an “adult” meal that is different from the kid friendly meals I fix. Yes, most nights I cook 2 meals due to my picky eater, but she has her staple foods so it’s no biggie. I still shop weekly, but now that I’m back to planning, I only purchase items for the next weeks meals, school lunches & snacks. Like most families, we have a grocery budget. In order to help the hubby understand that I DO stick to my budget, I break my receipt down into a spreadsheet containing categories such as groceries, household needs, personal care items (which is where I did put diapers and now that my 29 month old is fully potty trained, that item will decrease ‘“ hmmm what can I sneak in there and my hubby not know ‘“ LOL) and miscellaneous items (gifts for parties, clothing, etc). He is actually impressed that my week to week planning has stayed in budget!! I plan week to week and not the whole month because being a SAHM with 2 kids and a husband that is self-employeed and travels (I’m not only is partner domestically, but also in business) only allows me to think that far ahead ‘“ another area I have learned to bend on. We have the same kid friendly meals month to month with every Thursday night being spaghetti night, the occasional breakfast for supper meal and we do grab take out a couple of times a month to keep it different (mainly to give me a break!!) I keep things on hand just in case the hubby wants something different than what I had planned, but he’s only allowed to pick from the convenience foods that I have. An area I see that I need to improve on in my meal planning is getting better at planning those little side dishes!!!! That will have to be my goal for March since it’s only a couple of days away ? I too am old school and like to have those lists in hand. It also makes my husband less nervous when I’m cooking and I don’t have the laptop near by ? And yes, Pinterest works great!!!
Meal Planning – This is definitely one area where I’m glad God has allowed me to get my order back!!!
The times it doesn’t work for us s when my husband, who has had some GI problems, can’t eat what’s on the menu for a week or two…it’s like, ugh, I have all this food bought already… FWM, do you use the computer to keep track?
No I should, but I still do it the old fashion way of writing in my calendar with everything else. I find that easier cause I take my calendar with my in my purse all the time 🙂 In the notes part of the month I have all the meals listed and then I pick from that list week to week. this week didn’t work to well, because my husband was suppose to be traveling this week and that was delayed. I had planned things such as leftovers.
I loved today’s topic. In the last several weeks, I have gone back to meal planning after getting off that track about 2-3 years ago. I started meal planning when it was just my husband and I. Then our daughter was born and I saw then how important that I had have this part of my life organized (maybe it was more about control since I had this little baby that was calling the shots ‘“ LOL). After our daughter was born, I returned back to work that first year and meal planning was a saver.