I recently was viewing another blog and an older post asked the readers to share their menu planning habits or tips. I learned mine from my mother and it works decently well most weeks. Of course, there has to be flexibility for unseen events or circumstances, but this plan does help with our busy schedule. I’ve had a few friends ask me what I do, so I decided to share it.
1. Look at the calendar
Generally I shop for two weeks at a time. Yes, it can be a lot of groceries and a bit of time spent at the store, however I personally enjoy not having to go to the store multiple time a week. When I first got married (8 months ago) it was the first time I had lived outside of my parents home. I hadn’t used my moms system yet and found myself at the store loads of times in one week, and buying WAY more than I needed. A stocked pantry is very helpful, but who wants to waste money on items you know won’t ever get used in a timely fashion.
So, I sit down and look at my two weeks. I have a lovely little menu planner and write in the plans we might have already for the upcoming weeks. We have set commitments each week on certain days, so I write that in. If I know on a certain night we won’t be home for dinner, than I write that in, say for a wedding or other event.
2. Look through recipes
I do like to try new dishes so I spend time pouring over my many cookbooks or looking online for new recipes. I try to find a handful of new ones, and sometimes plan on adapting new recipes to fit our South Beach lifestyle (we are still works in progress, which is why its a lifestyle, and not just a diet). Sometimes I find better versions of something I already made or something I would never have thought of making.
3. Fill in the days on my calendar
Usually I start with the days that we are busiest, although sometimes I just start with the first day on my calendar then just work through each consecutive day. Depends on my mood I guess ha ha. Anyway, on the days where I know I need to prepare dinner and I know I will have limited time, I usually try to plan something fast, like making sandwiches into pannini’s or making a mexican inspired salad with corn, black beans, peppers, cheese, and grilled chicken on top. Fast and easy. Or I do a recipe in my crockpot, so it can cook all day, and when I get home, its done! On the days where I might be home longer or on the weekends, I usually try to plan my more involved meals. But during the week, you can come up with surprisingly nice dinners that don’t take up much time. My husband loves a lot of flavor in his food and lots of variety in the types of food. So I can’t/don’t want to plan just boring meals all week. But it does take some creativity.
Obviously I fill in the rest of the days with favorites and new recipes. Generally I try not to plan on having the same type of dish two nights in a row, like chicken, pasta, rice, etc. When I cook I usually don’t make enough to have leftovers, so I generally try to plan something for every night we would be home.
4. Look at the sales
Most of the time I sit down to do this before the adds in the paper come out. That’s where flexibility comes in. If something is on a great sale, I might change one of the days before I go shopping. Or I might on stocking up on something I wasn’t planning on originally.
5. Shop
We all have the little things we always need to buy, but as far as meal ingredients go, I generally try to stick to my list. I do this because I’m the type of person that loves to shop, and I will end up with a total I wasn’t planning on if I’m not careful, which is why I make a menu in the first place.
All that said, there are weeks where trial and error takes place. For instance, we happen to consume a lot of organic yogurt. Some weeks we will eat all of what I bought (usually 3 or 4 of the big containers 
) and I have to get more, and some weeks we won’t go through it all. So I try to factor that in the next time I go.
Also, we all know two weeks is a long time to plan ahead. So of course date nights, and other plans come along that were not originally scheduled. What I do is the night I didn’t make what I planned,I skip the meal and tack that on to the end of my two weeks. It gives me an extra day before I go shopping again, and then what I bought doesn’t usually go to waste. I don’t like to shift everything over a day, bc of the days I might need fast meals might get mixed up. This works for me.
This year I am going to try to make greater portions of some meals so we can have leftovers. But what I have found with us is that we don’t usually eat leftovers unless I strategically plan them into another meal. So I am planning on giving that a try this year too.
I like this plan, given to me by my mom (thanks MOM!!) so I don’t have to be at the store every few days. It’s less stress for me, and as I may not be super organized in other areas, having my meals planned helps me to focus on other things!
Just my little grocery planning…. what is yours? Was this informative??
