Do you menu plan in your house?
Since I am the definition of organized chaos, I cannot honestly say we plan our menus rigidly. However, we do have a simple little system that works well for us.
It all started with this handy-dandy Real Simple magnetic pad. This particular pad is perforated down the center, so you can keep two separate lists. I’m in love with it. I picked it up at Target over a year ago. I also promptly purchased 4 or 5 more on clearance when I saw they were going away. *tear* So, while you cannot find these exact notepads, (unless you break into my house, find my drawer of notepads and take one, which I do not recommend), you can certainly work my very scientific system in a different notepad of choice.
(Although, let’s be honest, I don’t think anyone can do ANYTHING as well as Real Simple. That is a conglomerate that I can get behind. I love their magazines, their cleaning supplies, their books, their organizational materials…. if you put their name on a brand of diapers, I would probably buy them. And, I don’t even have kids. But, I digress.)
Here’s how our system works. (Try to keep up, because it’s very complex. Emphasis on very.)
- We put the pad of paper up on the refrigerator, next to the goofy clips that hold coupons, receipts and photos of our cousin ShelbyLooHoo, who is sweet enough to send a new photo every school year.
- We make sure to have an ink pen clipped TO the pad of paper.
- On the left side, we list any items that we run out of. This becomes law in the house. If my loving husband notices that I am leaving for the store, he will frantically run to the fridge to write down the 16 or 17 items he ate or drank the last of and was waiting to put on the list. (Not that this has ever happened… every single time I go to the grocery store.) The list is easily removable and makes grocery shopping a snap. Before I go shopping, I also go through and list items that I need from recipes I want to try making in the near future.
- On the right side, we make a list of all dinners that we have ALL ingredients for. In other words, when I get home from the grocery store and am putting away groceries, I list the dinners I know I can make. Usually, this will just say Pizza, Pork Chops, Chicken Breast, Chicken Strips, etc. etc. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Although, sometimes I do put the specific recipe I’m going to make. As I make the meal, I cross out the meal on the list. Thus, we ALWAYS know what we have to make.
This is a perfect system for us. I don’t like the rigidity of having a specific meal on a specific night. What if my list says pizza but we are in the mood for stir fry? This system makes it easy to make a decision on a meal because we know exactly what we have on hand. We never say, “there’s nothing to eat.”
How do you plan your meals in your house?
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Megan A. says
I plan my meal out for each day, but we are very flexible. It’s easier for us that way because I usually buy meat when it’s on sale and freeze it, and I can take it out and let it thaw in the fridge before I am going to need it.
LZ says
You are a genius! We need to try this since we’re notorios for buying a boatload of groceries then complaining about how we STILL have nothing to eat! =)
Mrs. 5C says
This is a GREAT idea. We routinely fail at every aspect of dinner. Maybe this will help! 😉
Melissa says
We just started to do this about a month ago and it’s ok so far. We go through the cookbook and see what we like and write that down, then we list all the ingredients we need to buy for those meals. Right now we have them scheduled on of specific days, but we switch them up at times. So far I have spent more on groceries than before… I must be doing something wrong!
Leigh says
I have a pad too, $1 at Micheal’s. On the right there is a space for a shopping list, on the left there is a place to list a meal for each day of the week. I find picking meals, and noting which days we have plans, will be going out or someone won’t be home for dinner, etc., helps with the shopping. But if we don’t feel like eating a meal on it’s assigned night, it isn’t a big deal to switch it.
Stephanie says
That is a great idea. Would of helped me last night while at the store I was trying to remember if we have all the stuff to make chicken pot pies. For some reason every single time I am at the store I try to rememeber the ingredients needed to make the reciepes, instead of doing that BEFORE I leave the house.
Meredith says
This is a great idea–I get frustrated about planning out specific meals each day because our plans DO change frequently, and I HATE shopping for a meal that we never actually make. This sounds like such an easy solution!
Emily Ann says
Great idea!
We are bad about having a meal planned and then accepting an invite to dinner at my parents’ or a friend’s house. This is what we need to do! Thanks for the tip.
Mrs. Dirnberger says
I envy all your crazy organizing!!! Really, if you read my last post you will know I am not that way! I have tried to menu plan..I guess I need to know how ot stick to being organized!
Emily says
We menu plan, but not religiously and I allow some wiggle room. We keep a list in the drawer near the fridge (I don’t do fridge decor, shocked aren’t you?) that we add to as we run out, but usually we end up making a big list before the man goes grocery shopping.
I hate everything about the grocery store process – including the list making. But, list making is my job.
Here’s how our menus work. We eat leftovers with every meal – so every other day we have something new. If I have Pizza for Sunday/Monday and we feel like pasta, we just switch the days. No biggie.
Heather says
I do that too but I have a day by day menu. I have found that helps us not spend over our grocery budget. We are flexiable with it. If I have pizza down for Thursday night and do not want it I can switch out things.
I really think having a plan of some sort helps with the budget.