Start small! Start with family loved recipes! Start with today and start with the season your in. If you are coming up on a new season start there, but we are starting to plan ONE week at a time, not the whole season. Remember one bite at a time for the elephant, same with this!
Here is the form I use to plan my week menu and shopping list: (simply copy and paste it into a doc to print it out, or save it on your computer for later too)
Complete menu and print your recipes. If you have a few spots left in your 6 weekly menus, that's ok!
I have found that it is VERY helpful to make copies of all my recipes to keep with my menus. No hunting again... ever. Add them all to protective plastic pockets if you like in a notebook. To have your weeks worth of recipes in ONE place is AMAZING! No more brainpower at all trying to figure out where you have the recipe to the food you have purchased to make. Its there, at your fingertips!
Once you have gathered all your recipes for your meals and side dish ideas you are set! You can use that menu over and over each year for a very long time. It is so nice to have, especially when life gets frazzled and it comes time so make a meal plan and its just not going to happen. Pull out your notebook of menus and just pick on. It is like having a notebook of time, its an amazing resource for sure!
- Print the "What's Cookin'" form below 6 times (for the 6 menus you will eventually create in your current season)
- Have a plan of how you will assign meals. For our family we chose to have 2 chicken, 1 beef, 1 pork and 2 no meat meals a week and leave one day for a Left overs or Date night. I have tried to eliminate beef and pork altogether due to their rising costs, but my family didn't like that at all, so I add it in in small amounts and also have 2 not meat days. Take some time to think how you would like yours to go.
- In PENCIL roughly sketch out where you will put your loved family meals in each week for the 6 weeks.
- This is not the place to plan out what day you will eat each on, but generally what recipes you will eat for the week. Keep in mind what a typical week is like. Do you have a nice meal on Sunday? Are Mondays always crazy? Do you need to have crock pots some days because you get home late and are gone all day. Do you need a few 15 minutes or less prep time days?
Here is the form I use to plan my week menu and shopping list: (simply copy and paste it into a doc to print it out, or save it on your computer for later too)
Complete menu and print your recipes. If you have a few spots left in your 6 weekly menus, that's ok!
- Briefly go on the hunt to fill in your FIRST week menu only. I love doing this but it is super easy to get distracted when hunting for yummy recipes.
- When you find a new recipe you want to try, print it out, AND pin it in its brand new Board (if you use pinterest) labeled something like "Winter season recipes" and collect all your new recipes there for that season.
- Once you know what you will be eating for your main dish for your first week menu, start planning your sides for each. Give some thought to side dishes.
I have found that it is VERY helpful to make copies of all my recipes to keep with my menus. No hunting again... ever. Add them all to protective plastic pockets if you like in a notebook. To have your weeks worth of recipes in ONE place is AMAZING! No more brainpower at all trying to figure out where you have the recipe to the food you have purchased to make. Its there, at your fingertips!
Once you have gathered all your recipes for your meals and side dish ideas you are set! You can use that menu over and over each year for a very long time. It is so nice to have, especially when life gets frazzled and it comes time so make a meal plan and its just not going to happen. Pull out your notebook of menus and just pick on. It is like having a notebook of time, its an amazing resource for sure!
7. Creating a supper starter from our family's favorite recipes
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