I always spend time over the weekend planning our meals for the upcoming week. I write down most of the specifics from main dish, to fruits and veggies. But I almost never stick with the menu plan completely. In fact, just last week there was a day I fed my family grapes even though I had planned to feed them blueberries. I bet you didn’t know I had that kind of crazy in me. Oh honey, you have no idea.
Once, I forgot to thaw chicken, so we had tuna. I was going to make Fruit Pizza on Monday, but in fact, I didn’t make it happen until…wait for it….
Tuesday.
So hi. Let’s all learn to have some sort of plan so we save money and time. But unless serving Wednesday’s Pasta Salad Bar on Saturday totally messes with you, ditch the idea that you have to follow your menu plan perfectly. It really is okay to pull out leftovers on Thursday if you don’t feel like making the planned Taco Corn Fritters. I have done this and lived to tell about it.
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Are you hitting the restart button with us this fall? If so, you might want to try your hand at planning some simple, real food menus. You’ll find that it will help you stay on track with putting nourishing food on the table more often.
Want some ideas?
I post my menu plan every single week. Look through all my menu planning archives here.
Want menu planning resources in your hands?
Grab our 40 Real Food Menu Plans Downloadable Packet here. You might also like the mix and match approach of our 1-2-3 Menu Planning eBook. (That one is actually still free if you subscribe to our daily newsletter. I wasn’t planning to offer it for free this many weeks, but I haven’t had time to take it down, so hurry, grab it up!)
Additional articles you may find helpful:
- How to Stretch a Meal When Extra Company Comes
- Need a last minute meal idea? Try these Black Bean Chicken Tacos
- Cooking Healthy Meals When the Menu Plan Fails
- Want to Eat Right? Plan Ahead!
Have ingredients you’re not sure how to use?
Use our handy “Search By Ingredient” Tool on the sidebar. You type in the ingredients you want to use, our search box will pull up recipes from our site that might work for you. It’s fun to see what comes up!
Be inspired with our new, free, downloadable Fall Menu Planners:
A piece of scratch paper, a document on the computer, a dry erase board – those all work just fine for writing down your menu plan. But if you want something a little more cheerful and fun, we’re excited to offer you three new printable menu planners that are perfect for this fall!
Take as many as you want, or if you want to just print once and reuse? Print a planner onto cardstock and laminate it. You can attach a magnet, place it on your fridge, then use a dry erase marker so you can clean it off at the end of the week and use it again next week!
Click on the links or images below to download.
And there’s more!
