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.
Love these printables! So fun!!
Our weekly menu looks like this…I make a list of breakfasts for the week, lunches for the week, and list suppers for each individual day. Somehow it works better for me to just have breakfast and lunch ideas there (also helps make grocery list!) & prepare whatever time allows for (or what I’d like to eat). ????
Oh, I also have a place for snacks and treats, & a little corner at the bottom for ideas for next week’s meals!
I so need to get back with menu planning. With homeschooling this is going to be a must. Last two weeks I made supper last minute and somedays it was hot dogs or chicken nuggets. this is on the top of my list of this to do this weekend beside mt. foldmore.
Thank you so much. I’m sure your article, along with others that you’ve posted before, will continue to inspire me in this area of challenge (for me anyway).
We are one of those gluten-free families after receiving directions from my doc a year ago regarding hormone/thyroid problems. I’ve taken this year to explore new and yummy ingredients for cooking gluten free, but now that our home school co-op has started back, I Really need to get my meal planning started to save some time in the food area.
Meal planning has never been a strong point for me, even though I tend to be big on organizing and lists. I guess it’s time to make this happen…on paper and not just in my head.
Thanks again.
I find it easiest to menu plan around seasonal produce. I have a list of my favorite recipes for each season, then I look at what is available from the farmer’s market/grocery store and plan accordingly.
This week at the farmer’s market I bought zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, onions and potatoes, cantaloupe, raspberries, eggs, plus we picked apples last week. So the menu involves, pasta salad, salad nicoise, zucchini frittata & breakfast potatoes, greek salad, tabouli, tacos and whole wheat pancakes topped with warm cinnamon apple compote. Sides include refrigerator dill pickles, homemade applesauce and fruit. since I know many of these produce items won’t be around much longer, I plan to enjoy them while I can!
In a few weeks, when the farmer’s market is mostly selling hearty root veggies, I’ll buy, leeks, shallots, onions, squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, etc and start cooking our favorite fall recipes.
I plan my dinner menus on a wall calendar for the entire month. As the month goes on if I do not use a meal I circle it. When the next month’s planning rolls around I move the circled ones down to the next month and finish up the month. We have a regular breakfast menu that varies very little from week to week so I do not write that down. Lunches get packed for hubby and I am home alone during the day so I eat what needs to go from the fridge. Because we are just two I do a fair amount of freezing of main dishes, soups and pasta sauce so often it is thaw and reheat. I am enjoying this less stressful stage of less cooking now that the kiddos are grown.
I have index cards with meals printed on the front and needed ingredients/ directions on the back. I just pull out the ones I want to use for the week and can change the combinations around with no hassle! I only use them for breakfast and dinner since lunch is almost always leftovers! This has made my menu planning a breeze!!
I plan my meals, but like you, I remain flexible so I generally use it more as a guide (or as my brain when I can’t think!). Thanks for all of the great resources, Laura!
I love these printables. I put mine in plastic sleeve protectors and use vis-a-vis marker which just wipe off with a damp cloth. This way
I can reuse them as ofen as I want.
Breakfast is fruit and a muffin or an egg sandwich, and lunch is leftovers (if I don’t have leftovers, which is rare, I pull some frozen taco corn fritters from the freezer) for me and homemade wraps for hubby (thank you, Laura, for these…he LOVES them). I plan seven dinners for the week and list them, but don’t assign them to a certain day, then I shop from that plan. Each afternoon, I let my husband choose what he feels like having from the “dinner list”. Super easy and cost effective!