Meal Planning System, Part One

I recently gave a talk on meal planning at a local ladies' church function. I have to laugh at the irony of it because quite simply, I hate meal planning! But yet, it's one of those things that has to be done - my family needs dinner each night - so over the years I've managed to put into place a system that makes the chore a little bit easier to tackle.

I have three sons, two of whom are teenagers, and a husband. Food is KEY in my home. My boys are passionate about food.. it's their life (ok, so they take after me). My teens arrive home every day around 5:30… dinner is at 6:00. Austin, my oldest, makes a beeline to the kitchen as soon as he’s through that door – doesn’t take off coat... doesn’t even drop his bags… until he’s asked me that most important, all-consuming question - "What's for dinner?" Only THEN can he relax, knowing food is on the way… Seriously, this happens every single day… it’s become a joke (well to everybody but me, I don’t find it particularly funny)

And for whatever reason, even though my boys drive home in the same car each day, Jordan is always about a minute behind entering the house…… so…… he misses the question, and more importantly, he misses the answer….. so you’ve got it… another “What’s for dinner?” Grrr! There's something very annoying about that simple question, but how more annoying would that question be if I didn't have a plan in place?

Because I don’t like to meal plan at all, I have put into place some “helps” to make it flow a little easier for me.

I used to plan by the week. I would sit down each Sunday evening after church with the store’s sales flyer and plan out my meals for that coming week. But I found I really dreaded that chore, so a couple of years ago, I made the decision to plan out my meals by the month. Now I sit down towards the end of each month with a blank calendar form that I print from the internet and I plan out all the meals for the entire month. And then…. I can relax for a whole month without worrying about what's for dinner!

Some things that have helped me along the way….

1. Use pencil – there will always be changes! I don’t think I have EVER followed a month’s plan exactly as I had planned.
2. Leave a few blank days each month for new recipe ideas or special requests.
3. Utilize a meal “schedule” as a foundation to get ideas flowing… (I'll get this hosted online next blog)
4. Flexibility is key! Someone might have a special craving; busy schedule might interfere with what you originally had planned; etc. Don't feel tied to your calendar.

Any recipe cards that I might need for the month get tucked inside my zippered pouch so they're right at my fingertips when the day comes to make that particular meal. Any recipes that are out of a Taste of Home magazine, I just note the page number right on the calendar day and then tuck the entire magazine into my binder.

That's my system in a nutshell. I encourage you to give it a try and see how it works in your home. April is almost upon us! Time to get planning! Arg, that means me too....

My Binder - Food Planning

Well, I'm lying here sick in bed, ugh. Food is the last thing on my mind, LOL. But it's the next section that I keep in my binder, so here goes...

My food planner section is a key section to my binder. Included in this section is a monthy calendar that I write my meal plans on, a weekly meal schedule, a zippered pouch to hold coupons and recipe cards that I will need for the upcoming week, a master grocery list that I use each week for food shopping, a list of new recipes that I want to try, and various hospitality planning sheets that help me pull together any sort of get-together in my home. I even have a list included in this section where I've made a note of how certain friends & family members drink their coffee/tea so I don't have to ask everytime they visit if they want cream/milk/sugar/sweetener... It's just a little thing, but I'm sure it makes them feel important that I "remembered".. haha...

I'm sure there are many more ideas out there that could be included in this section. These are the "basics" that help me out greatly in the kitchen. Be creative. What do you need the most help with?

Most of us HAVE to provide dinner for our families each night, so that's probably one of the first things you would want to include in your food planning section. Planning meals is probably one of my least favorite chores...I dread it. To make it easier on myself, I've devised a little system which I will share with you in my next blog. Stay tuned.

And now, it's time for a nap. :)