I often have other mom's asking me how I meal plan since I do so a month at a time. I do this because my husband only gets paid once a month. I like having all our meals for the month planned out and most of the shopping done to ensure that during the last week before the next payday we are not eating beans and rice! My budget for our family of 5 per month on groceries (includes tp and stuff like that) is $360 a month. That is $70 per person for 28 or so days- 3 meals a day plus snacks. Its tricky- but can be done!!
First choose what meal you want to plan first- I will start with dinner because it is the trickiest.
Next you want to go through all of your families favorite recipes...pick out 8 for the month. I swear you will be eating more then 8 dinners!!
You will eat 4 one week, then 4 more the next week...the 3rd and 4th weeks you will simply repeat the first 2 weeks dinners over again. This way you just buy double when grocery shopping and you don't have to reinvent the wheel 16 times!! And if some of your dinners are casseroles or something that can be made 2 at once, you can make one and stick one in the freezer to eat in 2 weeks!
Our family has a Friday night "pizza night" every week- and a Saturday night "breakfast for dinner" night- so that is 8 more dinners. Sunday night is leftover/sandwich night- so there are 4 more...so there you have it 28 or so meals all planned out!
Here is my example for this months dinner menu:
June 18-24
Monday- Homemade Mac and Cheese, veggies & bread
Tuesday- Enchiladas, beans, rice
Wednesday- BBQ chicken in the crockpot, bread, veggies
Thursday- Sausage in a Garden w/rice
Friday- Pizza & fruit
Saturday- Cheese Omelets, sausage & toast
Sunday- leftovers
June 25-July 1
Monday- Cheesy Pasta, veggies, bread
Tuesday- Tacos, beans, rice
Wednesday- Chicken & rice in the crockpot plus veggies
Thursday- Meatloaf, veggies, bread
Friday- Pizza & fruit
Saturday- French Toast, bacon, fruit
Sunday- grilled cheese & fruit
July 2-8 (this part wont be our true menu because we will be camping for some of it- but if we were home this is how we would do it!!)
Monday- Homemade Mac and Cheese, veggies & bread
Tuesday- Enchiladas, beans, rice
Wednesday- BBQ chicken in the crockpot
Thursday- Sausage in a Garden w/rice
Friday- Pizza & fruit
Saturday- Cheese Omelets, sausage & toast
Sunday- leftovers
July 9-15
Monday- Cheesy Pasta, veggies, bread
Tuesday- Tacos, beans, rice
Wednesday- Chicken & rice in the crockpot plus veggies
Thursday- Meatloaf, veggies, bread
Friday- Pizza & fruit
Saturday- French Toast, bacon, fruit
Sunday - grilled cheese & fruit
And this brings us back to the next payday-where we will do it all over again! Very easy peasy way to do a dinner menu for the month.
Next you will write down the ingredients from your recipes so you will know what you need for those meals. Then you will want to go through your fridge and cupboards and take inventory of what you have and what you will need.
Now for lunches I do 7 different lunches and repeat each week...same for breakfast which I explained a little better here.
An example of a week of lunches:
Monday: Soy butter & jelly sandwiches, chips, fruit
Tuesday: Leftover mac and cheese (from last nights dinner) & fruit
Wednesday: Hot dogs with fruit
Thursday: Cup of Noodles with fruit
Friday: Turkey & Cheese sandwiches, chips, fruit
Saturday: Whatever you can find
Sunday: Hot dogs and pickles
Here are some of our favorite snack ideas:
Granola Bars, yogurt, fruit bars, rice krispie treats, homemade cookies,or these homemade cookies, fruit, string cheese
I also created this menu to keep on the wall so the kids always know what we are having for each meal- it has been SOOO helpful because I was dealing with 3 children constantly saying whats for dinner?? whats for lunch? whats for dinner in 3 days?? (yes they asked me that!) I have a laminator so I laminated the menu and just erase and re-write each week to keep it updated!
3 comments:
This is a wonderful idea. I meal plan weekly, but dread Sunday night sometimes because I know that I have to come up with the meals for the next week. We do our shopping on Mondays for the week. I love the idea of coming up with 2 weeks of meals and then repeating. We do theme nights so I could just keep with that but only come up with 2 weeks and then repeat. My question for you is how often do you shop? Do you budget a certain amount per week? Do you complete one big shopping trip in the begining of the month and then just buy produce and other items (that run out quickly or don't keep well)weekly? I know you do the Bountiful baskets- do you only get that for your produce or do you do addtional shopping for produce? :) Sorry so many questions. I'm just trying to see how you shop for a monthly meal plan!!
Totally love this idea. I've planned before but this is just sooo simple I'm sure I can stick with it and only once a month. Yeah!
Also, love your meal planner printout. Great idea! I don't plan lunches cause they're always so easy and breakfast is almost always porridge-the kids love it! What is sausage in a garden?
Rachel- I am planning another post about how I shop!!
Em- Sausage in a Garden is our own little name for smoked sausage cut up and sauteed with frozen veggies and served with rice!!
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