Menu Planning

I love to cook, but sometimes I get very overwhelmed by the responsibility of putting healthy food on the table for my family on a regular basis and within our monthly budget. I found myself going to the grocery store way too often simply because I wasn't organized. I decided it was time to develop a good system for menu planning and kitchen organization. My goal is to alleviate some of the stress of my last minute "what are we having for dinner" moments and I am hoping this will help me control my grocery spending.

In my kitchen I had a stack of recipes that I have been collecting for probably the past year. Every time I saw a great recipe online I printed it or I saw one in a magazine I ripped it out and put it in the stack. I am always looking for easy, healthful recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients. This pile of recipes has simply taken over my kitchen. I knew I had a problem when the pile fell behind my refrigerator. A few years ago I created a recipe binder to help me organize all of these recipes, but I wasn't putting them in the binder I was just throwing them on the pile. I wasn't using the binder for its intended use. Last night after I put the kids to bed I sat on our family room floor with my binder, recipes and a 3 hole punch. I created tabs for categories that reflect my family's diet and interests and filed the recipes accordingly. I found some recipes that I forgot about and I tossed some because we didn't like the dish. It took a couple of hours, but my binder is now organized. I then printed a blank November calendar from my Outlook and I was able to put together a menu for the week. I picked recipes based on ingredients that I already have on hand, so this week my shopping list isn't very long and I should only have to go to the store once.

My goal is to make a weekly menu and grocery list every Sunday, since that is when the grocery store circulars are in the paper. I can then see what is on sale and what is in my freezer and pantry and hopefully create a weekly menu that is healthy and yummy for my family. I will also plan a lunch and breakfast menu.

In a few weeks I will take a look at my grocery budget to see how much money I was able to save. I will also make a commitment to stick to my new system.

Here is my menu for this week:

Monday - I have a pork shoulder in the crockpot with bbq sauce for sandwiches for dinner tonight and the leftovers will be for our lunches for the week. Sweet potato fries, garden salad.

Tuesday - Beef, Cheese & Noodle bake from Cooking Light magazine. We don't eat beef, so I will replace with ground turkey. Garden salad and homemade applesauce that I have in the freezer.

Wednesday - Spinach & sausage Pasta, salad, applesauce

Thursday - Chicken Enchiladas - This recipe is from Oprah's website.

Friday - We usually go out to eat.

Saturday - Roast chicken, potatoes, carrots.

Sunday - Leftovers.