Monthly Meal Planning

Monthly Meal Planning.
  Is there any other combination of words in the English language that conjure more excitement? Yeah, didn't think so. In an effort to scale back and economize (Oh man, did I really just write that? I'm showing my age again) I found that the main expense in our house was food. We love to go to restaurants. (I almost wrote that we love to "dine out" but I don't think Red Robin and Texas Roadhouse count as "dining".) When I realized how much money was going out the door to restaurants I thought cooking didn't sound that bad anymore.

  I don't mean to toot my own horn (yeah right) but I'm a pretty good home cook and I actually enjoy cooking. The problem is, I HATE picking what's for dinner. I'm always the one in the car saying 'I don't care where we eat' and as soon as we get there all I can think about is how I wish we'd gone somewhere else! So the idea of coming up with a month's worth of meals is about the worst homework assignment I can imagine. Throw into the mix that I share custody of my son, and my extended family lives over 100 miles away and we visit at least once a month. Not to mention the fact that my husband and son are picky eaters. (My husband takes great offense to this title, so shhhh!)

  So with this particularly daunting and boring task at hand I got down to business. I drew a table on Microsoft Word and labeled each day. I start my calendar with Monday because of our weekend situation. I figure it's easier to plan if I line up all the weekend days together. It starts out looking like this:

Next I add all the 'meal affecting' events and travel notes for the month.

				dropping off C		picking up C
					Family coming for Backwoods Festival
				BLAKE’S WEDDING WEEKEND ________>	>>>>>>>>>	D OUT OF TOWN >>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>				dropping off C	dinner with the Duffs	picking up C

  Finally I start to plan the actual meals. I set guidelines for myself as far as what we eat and when. Some are based on family favorites and special requests. Others are based on trying to eat as healthy as possible. When I was just a single mom I rarely ever "made dinner". My child was (who am I kidding, is) a very picky eater so it felt pointless to cook food I knew he wouldn't even eat and be stuck with leftovers I wouldn't eat. I'd fix him whatever he would eat, as he ate it I prepared my food while I supervised his eating. Then I'd put him to bed and eat my dinner (usually watching TV on my bed or hunched over the kitchen sink). Now that we live together like a traditional family I make one meal (I understand this is a radical concept in most families) and we actually sit down and, for the most part, enjoy it together.

  Every week we have Taco Tuesday, because Mexican food is my favorite. Thursdays we have pasta because Italian food is my husband's favorite. If my son had a favorite, he'd get his own night too. I also make sure we have fish one night per week, pasta only once, some type of salad at least twice, beef no more than twice and I don't serve the same protein two days in a row. I try to stay flexible though. I sometimes serve mac and cheese even though that's technically having pasta another night of the week. Or I might have something we need to eat before it spoils and wind up breaking another rule.

Here's an example of a finished plan.

September                                      

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
	had KFC at home	salmon, slaw	lasagna, salad	crock pot pork BBQs, slaw dropping off	ate out at Olive Garden	grilled chicken on pretzel buns, chips picking up
salmon, couscous, carrots	İ TACOS!	orange sesame chicken, rice, peas	penne with meat sauce, salad	pizza	french dips, homemade fries Backwoods Festival	crock pot oatmeal
pizza	İ TACOS!	fried fish, homemade fries & onion rings	chicken parmesan, spaghetti, salad	BLAKE’S WEDDING WEEKEND ________>	>>>>>>>>>	D OUT OF TOWN >>>>>>>>
fish sticks, mac & cheese >>>>>>>>	chicken fajitas	ate Dinner at Logan’s	spaghetti w/meat sauce, salad	grilled chicken on pretzel buns,  chips dropping off	dinner with the Duffs	IN HOSPITAL picking up
OCTOBER crock pot BBQ chicken, green beans, cheddar biscuits

  I typically don't delete these calendars because I use them as inspiration for another month. I go back in and delete the meals we didn't eat for whatever reason and record what we did instead. Another reason why saving the calendar is useful is because you can tell at a glance what changes you need to make in your diet. It's kind of like a food journal for the entire family. I was having severe stomach aches last month and looking at this I can tell why. All that fried food was torturing my gall bladder! lol

  You may notice that I added Monday, October 1st to the calendar. This is because I do grocery shopping on Mondays and having something practically effortless planned for that day sure helps.

  Another thing I do to save money is shop once per month for groceries.
I know, I know. "It's ridiculous!" You say. "Can't be done!" You say.
I say, "Oh yes it can!"
If you already know what you're eating for the month why can't you shop for the month? When I first told my family that I do this they had the same reaction I'm sure most of you did when you read it. You think I've lost my mind. Who would want to eat only frozen food, no fresh vegetables or fruit and prepackaged, processed food? Nobody I know. It took about two months to work out all the kinks but it wasn't that hard. I discovered that almost all fresh fruits and vegetables will last a month if you store them properly. If you plan accordingly and, again, store it properly, meat will certainly last a month in the freezer without freezer burn. I'm getting side tracked though. I'll do a whole post later about my monthly shopping trips.

  So, does anyone else out there do monthly meal plans? I'd love to hear any suggestions to make it easier.