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Snow Day #5, meal planning

January 27th, 2016 at 01:04 pm

Once the sidewalks and bus stops get cleared the kids will be back in school. Our school district is huge so there is a lot of area that needs to be cleared for safety.

Yesterday I created a table of 30 meals that we typically make and laminated it. Out of these meals I create a weekly menu, and then jot down the grocery list next to the menu. After I choose the meal I cross it off the table for the month. The meals look kind of boring, now that I see it on paper, but it is what it is. I am realistic enough to admit that I am not going to be fixing hard core meals during the week. If it has protein and a veggie I am good. The kids both are able to cook, too, so once a week they are responsible for prepping dinner.

I am starting a running list of other meals that we decide we like, and I will add them to the table. This will hopefully make weekly menu creation simpler.

Today I will be picking up groceries for the week so I will find out if this system works...



4 Responses to “Snow Day #5, meal planning”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1453902354

    How many days has school been called off? My daughter missed Friday, since we were getting freezing rain. Clearly we are much further south than you!

    Great plan to have a running list of meals. I meal plan once or twice a month, but just use pencil and a notebook. I need to get a start on February, which I expect to be primarily low cost meals and items from the freezer for our low spend month.

  2. snafu Says:
    1453911827

    I used a similar system for many years. I asked each family member for 5 favorite meals and added 5 'Sunday' meals that are more involved as we almost always invite family, friends, neighbours or colleagues for dinner. Over time I added 'plan-overs' which are basically Sunday's leftovers combined to make a new dish like Pilaf, stroganoff, casserole, pot pie, stew, chowder or soup. It's fast and easy to rotate through several styles of side dish potato like baked, roasted, boiled, mashed, puffs, pancakes etc. Having a meal plan meant I knew walking in the door what I needed to have at hand and what I needed to do to get a meal on the table within the hour.

    There are dozens of different pasta shapes and buying a different shape and some veg type feels like a fresh idea. I like rice so it's a base for ethnic casserole, side dish, soup or dessert. [Fried rice is a terrific way to use up any bits of left-overs] Wednesday is vegetarian as it's the quietest day but I try to have the best dessert of the week. Our teens friend's loved Friday 'buffet' which was all leftovers out on the counter with pitas, buns, tortillas, veggies and condiments for home made pizza, taco, quesadilla, or what you like.

    DH & DKs did Saturday's dinner and I did Sunday dinner and prepped for the week.

  3. alice4now Says:
    1453924578

    Snafu, we do "buffet" nights as well, I call it "appetizer night", since there was a little bit of everything!

    CCF, so far 5 days of school have been called off, and then with the weekend we've been out of school 7 days. I live in the "peak" storm area, what luck!

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1453949075

    That's a great idea for menu planning.

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