Monthly menu planning

You have just arrived home from a busy day. It's late and you're tired. But you're also hungry, and so are the kids. After a quick peek in the fridge, you decide that you're just going to order pizza, again.

You hear groans when you tell your kids that you're fixing spaghetti for dinner tonight for the second time this week.

You discover an ingredient for a meal you purchased that has expired before you remembered to make the dish.

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

These problems can all be avoided with a little bit of pre-planning and discipline to stick to your plan.

With monthly menus you will:

• Save money on eating out
  
• Save money by not wasting food
  
• Eat healthier, homecooked meals
  
• Add variety to your menus
  
• Save your sanity

Get pencil and paper. (Or if you prefer, use your computer.) Grab your recipe box. Grab your cookbooks. Now start listing. Write down all the recipes that you find that your family enjoys. In my family, there are only about two things that all six of us like, so we have to be flexible. If everyone likes it, that's a bonus! If, while you're searching, you find some recipes that you have been meaning to try, set those aside or bookmark them for the next step. Don't forget to write down things that you cook without a recipe.

Now, take a look at your list and sort it into types of dinners. You might make a list of chicken dishes, beef dishes, Italian dishes, Mexican dishes, vegetarian dishes, etc. Your categories will be different from mine of course.

While you were going through your recipes, you probably stumbled on a few you've been meaning to try. Now is the time to write those down so that you'll remember them. Group them into categories like your other list of recipes you've made.

Now comes the fun part. Grab your event calendar for next month and both of your lists of recipes. I find it helpful to use a blank calendar solely for my menu planning.

Look at your calendar and mark on your menu calendar the dates where there is something that would interfere with your dinner plans. By this I mean things like, does someone have a practice right at dinner time or do you have a late meeting? Hopefully those days don't cover the whole calendar!

I like to assign a different category of food to a different night per week. It enables me to not have to think as much. For example we usually have fish on Monday nights, Italian on Tuesday nights, breakfast foods on Wednesday night, beans on Thursday night, chicken on Friday night, and macaroni and cheese on Saturday night. (The macaroni and cheese is the only thing that all of us like.That is at least until someone gets sick of it, since we eat it every week!) I have had to shuffle my schedule around lately due to my husband's work schedule. I typically move the breakfast night to the night he's not going to be home. Sometimes on those nights we have soup and sandwiches or something else simple.

One other thing to consider is what food you already have on hand. If you stocked up on ground beef the time it was on sale, you should plan on scheduling more ground beef dishes than you would if you had none on hand.

Now start assigning meals to dates. Try to make sure you're not scheduling similar meals two nights in a row. (That's why I like my category method.) I also do not recommend trying more than 2 or 3 new recipes in one month. (That is assuming that you have come up with at least 10 meals you're planning on making.) Try not to overdo things if you're not used to cooking dinner that much. Look for simple things. If you're going to make sandwiches one night, go ahead and schedule it. If you know you're going to eat out on a certain day, write that down too.

Once you're finished scheduling your meals you're finished. Now the tough part is sticking to your plan. Obviously there are occasional reasons to reschedule meals, but don't let that be the norm. Save your menu to refer to next month. If you found some new dishes that you liked, then add them to your recipe list. Next month be sure to try some new recipes from your list of recipes to try.

I hope this lens is helpful. Our meals have gone much more smoothly since I started planning for a month. In addition, I actually make one monthly shopping trip to acquire all the ingredients, except produce, for our dinners.