Sometimes I wish I could just point them at the garden and tell them go to graze, but in reality, children and husbands expect to be fed. Regularly. Every day. Over and over. Even if I don't feel like it! So I have a choice. I can be:
Silly Sally - who has no plan, and at about 4pm every day starts to wonder what's for dinner, struggle to figure it out, and either dashes to the supermarket for some ingredients and is inevitably late getting dinner out, no to mention frazzled and worn out, or decides it's all too hard and ends up buying takeaways. Again. Sally always spends too much as a result of her haphazard lack of organisation. And she never feels peacefully in control of this important area.
Or Wise Wanda - who planned her menus before she went shopping, bought exactly what she needed, has everything on hand, knows what is for dinner, and quite possibly got everything prepared or started early in the day so that later when she's caught up with other things, it takes but a few moment to turn things on or finish up dinner prep. She feels good - she has kept within the family budget, and meals are on time, nutritious, and she is relaxed enough to enjoy this important time with her family, gathered around the meal table.
Or Wise Wanda - who planned her menus before she went shopping, bought exactly what she needed, has everything on hand, knows what is for dinner, and quite possibly got everything prepared or started early in the day so that later when she's caught up with other things, it takes but a few moment to turn things on or finish up dinner prep. She feels good - she has kept within the family budget, and meals are on time, nutritious, and she is relaxed enough to enjoy this important time with her family, gathered around the meal table.
Menu planning isn't hard, but it IS important! Deciding ahead of time what meals you will prepare allows you to properly plan your grocery shopping, control your budget, keep your family happy, organise your time, use what is in season, and ultimately to plan your garden too. Even if you are the only person in your household, having planned meals will be beneficial - freeing time, money, and ensuring you eat a range of nutritious food.
You can plan all meals and snacks, or just plan the main meals for each day, and then also purchase the basic fixings for breakfast and lunch to have on hand. In this article, we're going to focus on planning the main meal, but you can repeat or expand the process to cover the other meals too if you like. If you at least have dinner planned, life will be so much easier!
You can plan all meals and snacks, or just plan the main meals for each day, and then also purchase the basic fixings for breakfast and lunch to have on hand. In this article, we're going to focus on planning the main meal, but you can repeat or expand the process to cover the other meals too if you like. If you at least have dinner planned, life will be so much easier!
Start with what you know....
Begin meal planning by coming up with a list of things you already know how to cook, and that your family likes. Brainstorm on paper, listing every meal you can think of that you often prepare, either currently or in the past. A quick glance through your most used recipe book might refresh your memory, but don’t go hunting for recipes - start with what you know.
Get your family in on the act - have a brainstorming session together, and if you like, make it extra fun by “rewarding” all ideas. For example, buy a large block of chocolate, break it into squares, and “pay” for each meal suggestion with a square of chocolate. You can do the same with M&M’s, or your family’s favourite healthy treat, such as nuts or dried fruit.
Meals or main dishes that are already familiar to you are by far the easiest for basic meal planning! They are easier for you to plan for, buy for and cook, because you KNOW them. See how many you can come up with. The minimum number of main meal dishes you need is 7 - enough for one week. If you can think of 14, then you can use those for a two week rotating menu. And so on. Here’s a list of some of my own personal favourites, just off the top of my head. (Some are linked to recipes.) It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what they are - they may spark your own thoughts. Read through this, then make your own list of family favourites in your journal. (Ed's note: Ok, I got a little carried away - meant to just include 14 ideas as a sample, but most of my old ideas were from before we had to change our diet due to food allergies, so was going to add a few GF etc ideas. I looked over a couple of my websites for ideas and recipes I've already posted, and before I knew it I had a much longer list. This isn't meant to overwhelm you - just give you a starting point and ideas to get going with. Your own list is likely to be much shorter to start with)
Get your family in on the act - have a brainstorming session together, and if you like, make it extra fun by “rewarding” all ideas. For example, buy a large block of chocolate, break it into squares, and “pay” for each meal suggestion with a square of chocolate. You can do the same with M&M’s, or your family’s favourite healthy treat, such as nuts or dried fruit.
Meals or main dishes that are already familiar to you are by far the easiest for basic meal planning! They are easier for you to plan for, buy for and cook, because you KNOW them. See how many you can come up with. The minimum number of main meal dishes you need is 7 - enough for one week. If you can think of 14, then you can use those for a two week rotating menu. And so on. Here’s a list of some of my own personal favourites, just off the top of my head. (Some are linked to recipes.) It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what they are - they may spark your own thoughts. Read through this, then make your own list of family favourites in your journal. (Ed's note: Ok, I got a little carried away - meant to just include 14 ideas as a sample, but most of my old ideas were from before we had to change our diet due to food allergies, so was going to add a few GF etc ideas. I looked over a couple of my websites for ideas and recipes I've already posted, and before I knew it I had a much longer list. This isn't meant to overwhelm you - just give you a starting point and ideas to get going with. Your own list is likely to be much shorter to start with)
Meal Ideas - general |
Meal Ideas - gluten and/or dairy free (or can be) |
Roast chicken & veges |
|
Lasagne |
Grilled sausages |
Corned silverside & mustard sauce |
|
Curried sausage pie |
Spaghetti Bolognaise (use spaghetti squash or GF pasta) |
Macaroni Cheese |
Lamb roast |
Bacon & Egg pie |
Fishcakes |
Spinach or Silverbeet lasagne |
|
Cream of celery soup |
|
Beef/chicken stir-fry |
|
Homemade burgers |
Cottage/shepherd's pie |
Crumbed Weiner Schnitzel (GF version here) |
|
Steak with mushrooms & onions + salad |
|
Pumpkin soup with cheese |
|
Spaghetti and Meatballs |
Dawn's Chicken & Rice (one pot) |
Meat pie |
|
Beany Sausage Combo |
Making a Menu
The next step is to go back through your list of meals, and divide it into groups of 7 days. Two such groups will make a menu for two weeks; four for a month. It’s fine to allow a blank day here and there for leftovers and impromptu simple meals, or eating out etc. Generally though, I plan for 7 meals for 7 days, and if we don’t use one of them, I simply won’t need to buy the ingredients for that next time, as they are already on hand.
When putting together a list for a week or two weeks, think about spacing out like foods - for example you might not want to eat red meat three nights in a row - I’d be more inclined to alternate with fish, vegetarian or chicken based meals. Think too, about whether any particular nights you need to eat early or later, or have more simple meals due to other commitments in the family. Plan easy or crockpot meals for your busiest days.
It is useful to have your menus written out on a chart - that way you can see at a glance what is planned for when. I recommend posting your chart on the front of the fridge - that way everyone else can see too, and it avoids the endless questions of "what's for dinner?" Also, if you have older children or adults in the house, if you are busy they can see what is for dinner, know all the ingredients are on hand, and get it started for you.
Click HERE to download some sample charts in Word - you can change it to suit yourself, or make your own. The three options I have included are:
1) Boxes to plan out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for each day
2) A daily dinner box, with space to put options for other meals more generically. I also have a "Remember" box - this is to write any main events of the day which will affect meal times/planning. For example, my daughter does an ambulance shift on Tuesday nights, and I need to remember to have dinner ready early on Tuesdays so she can eat before she goes.
3) A chart that focuses on planning the main meal and side dishes, with some space at the bottom to write options for other meals. Again, this has the "Remember Today" section.
In our house, I plan and prepare the main meal, but everyone helps themselves for breakfast and lunch - my job is just to make sure there are plenty of suitable foods/options on hand. This works for us well now that the kids are all old enough to fend for themselves; with them all coming and going I would be hard pressed to know how many to make food for on any given day at lunchtime anyway. When they were all small, I used to prepare all the meals each day.
If you can, plan up to four weeks of menus. But don’t worry if you haven’t enough ideas!! Work with what you know! Two complete charts will mean two weeks of meals, and you can easily just keep rotating these two menu plans indefinitely, until you have fresh ideas later on. Only eating the same thing once every two weeks will be just fine for ensuring variety and balance in your meals, and is a good place to start.
Just one more quick idea - if you still can’t think of any meals, use these charts and write down what you DO eat for a week or two, then use that info to plan.
So, take it one step at a time - I know you can do it!! This is going to make your life so much easier!! Go for it!
When putting together a list for a week or two weeks, think about spacing out like foods - for example you might not want to eat red meat three nights in a row - I’d be more inclined to alternate with fish, vegetarian or chicken based meals. Think too, about whether any particular nights you need to eat early or later, or have more simple meals due to other commitments in the family. Plan easy or crockpot meals for your busiest days.
It is useful to have your menus written out on a chart - that way you can see at a glance what is planned for when. I recommend posting your chart on the front of the fridge - that way everyone else can see too, and it avoids the endless questions of "what's for dinner?" Also, if you have older children or adults in the house, if you are busy they can see what is for dinner, know all the ingredients are on hand, and get it started for you.
Click HERE to download some sample charts in Word - you can change it to suit yourself, or make your own. The three options I have included are:
1) Boxes to plan out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for each day
2) A daily dinner box, with space to put options for other meals more generically. I also have a "Remember" box - this is to write any main events of the day which will affect meal times/planning. For example, my daughter does an ambulance shift on Tuesday nights, and I need to remember to have dinner ready early on Tuesdays so she can eat before she goes.
3) A chart that focuses on planning the main meal and side dishes, with some space at the bottom to write options for other meals. Again, this has the "Remember Today" section.
In our house, I plan and prepare the main meal, but everyone helps themselves for breakfast and lunch - my job is just to make sure there are plenty of suitable foods/options on hand. This works for us well now that the kids are all old enough to fend for themselves; with them all coming and going I would be hard pressed to know how many to make food for on any given day at lunchtime anyway. When they were all small, I used to prepare all the meals each day.
If you can, plan up to four weeks of menus. But don’t worry if you haven’t enough ideas!! Work with what you know! Two complete charts will mean two weeks of meals, and you can easily just keep rotating these two menu plans indefinitely, until you have fresh ideas later on. Only eating the same thing once every two weeks will be just fine for ensuring variety and balance in your meals, and is a good place to start.
Just one more quick idea - if you still can’t think of any meals, use these charts and write down what you DO eat for a week or two, then use that info to plan.
So, take it one step at a time - I know you can do it!! This is going to make your life so much easier!! Go for it!
Consider a weekly outline....
One idea that might help you to plan a balanced menu is this:
Remember back in grandma's day when Monday was washing day, Tuesday was ironing day, Wednesday was baking day, and so on? Well these days we might not take all day to do the laundry, but there is some merit to having a focus for each day of the week. This comes into play in general household planning, which I'll talk about separately, but for our purposes here, how about having a general outline for the week. For example:
Remember back in grandma's day when Monday was washing day, Tuesday was ironing day, Wednesday was baking day, and so on? Well these days we might not take all day to do the laundry, but there is some merit to having a focus for each day of the week. This comes into play in general household planning, which I'll talk about separately, but for our purposes here, how about having a general outline for the week. For example:
Monday - mince
Tuesday - soups
Wednesday - chicken
Thursday - lamb or beef
Friday - pizza
Saturday - crockpot
Sunday - roast
Tuesday - soups
Wednesday - chicken
Thursday - lamb or beef
Friday - pizza
Saturday - crockpot
Sunday - roast
With a theme for each night, all you then have to do is pick suitable meals to match. To come up with a month's worth of meals, you'd need 4 mince based meals, 4 soups, 4 chicken dishes, 4 lamb or beef dishes, and so on. Make sense? Having this concept in mind can save you spending lots of time looking for too many meal ideas - you know you just need to select a certain number of each type.
Create a grocery list to match each menu
Once you have some weekly menus planned, you are going to want to create a grocery list to match each menu, so you'll know just what to shop for. Collect together or write out the recipes for each item on your menu, and then go through them and write a list of ALL the needed ingredients. HERE is a chart you can use to do this, divided by item types to make shopping easier. I like to keep a copy of each menu and it's grocery list together in sheet protectors in a binder, or in a clearfile folder.
In fact, taking this one step further, why not have each menu AND a copy of all of its recipes together in your clearfile? I do this and it makes it so easy to prepare dinner - the recipes are to hand, the ingredients are in the cupboard, and I or any of my family can access them all. Using sheet protectors or a clearfile also means they can be used in the kitchen, and any splatters wiped clean.
If you are using a Master Grocery list (highly recommended), then you might want to create a modified version of it to go with each menu, so you won't forget anything when you shop. Otherwise, just update the individual ingredients on it each time you use it to prepare for shopping.
In fact, taking this one step further, why not have each menu AND a copy of all of its recipes together in your clearfile? I do this and it makes it so easy to prepare dinner - the recipes are to hand, the ingredients are in the cupboard, and I or any of my family can access them all. Using sheet protectors or a clearfile also means they can be used in the kitchen, and any splatters wiped clean.
If you are using a Master Grocery list (highly recommended), then you might want to create a modified version of it to go with each menu, so you won't forget anything when you shop. Otherwise, just update the individual ingredients on it each time you use it to prepare for shopping.
Advanced Menu Planning...
I will write a separate post on this, and for now I don't want you to be overwhelmed, so start with a basic set of menus for 2 weeks or so. But just to give you a vision of what could be possible, consider this.....
Imagine having a folder full of menu plans. Each menu plan is for one month of main menus, and it is seasonal, based around what is in season in the garden at that time of year. So there is a Spring menu plan, a Summer menu plan, an Autumn menu plan and a Winter menu plan. Each menu plan is used three times - so in the course of three months you eat each meal three times. And then the season changes, and so does the menu. You'd be eating a good variety, seasonally.
Imagine having your garden planned so that everything you are able to grow that is needed for the menus will be ready in your garden at the right time. No more wondering what to plant, when, or wondering what to do with it. You'd be saving even more money because you'd be using lots of food you grow yourself. Those things you needed to buy would be in season, and so at their lowest prices.
Imagine having every recipe necessary all together in one place, in a binder. No more hunting for recipe books.
This IS possible! Of course, you'd want to do something different every now and then - no problem; you'd just switch out a planned meal here and there.
But, basically, you'd know just what to plant, what to cook, what to purchase. You'd become such an expert on what your family needs and uses that you'd easily spot a good bargain and be able to stock up on the right things at the right price at the right time.
Imagine having your garden planned so that everything you are able to grow that is needed for the menus will be ready in your garden at the right time. No more wondering what to plant, when, or wondering what to do with it. You'd be saving even more money because you'd be using lots of food you grow yourself. Those things you needed to buy would be in season, and so at their lowest prices.
Imagine having every recipe necessary all together in one place, in a binder. No more hunting for recipe books.
This IS possible! Of course, you'd want to do something different every now and then - no problem; you'd just switch out a planned meal here and there.
But, basically, you'd know just what to plant, what to cook, what to purchase. You'd become such an expert on what your family needs and uses that you'd easily spot a good bargain and be able to stock up on the right things at the right price at the right time.
Good menu planning takes some time to start with, but in the long run it will pay dividends in time and money saved. The effort will pay off - and you will have more time to relax.
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