I’ve been reading Happy Fit Mama Angela’s weekly meal planning posts and I’ve always wanted to link up but I’ve never had my weekly meal plans done in time to get it up. I usually start the “process” Sunday night around 4:00ish. It is not my favorite part of the day. It usually goes something like this…
- I pace around the kitchen, seeing what groceries I do have.
- Then I sit at the kitchen table with a blank pad of paper waiting for the meal gods to smile down on me with ideas for dinner.
- I pull out all my stand by cookbooks, open blog posts and pinterest and look for new ideas that both my boys will eat.
It usually ends with me picking some of the same things over and over again but I do try at least one new recipe each week. Again, not my favorite activity.
In fact, I used to be a technology consultant and I’d travel every week. Back then, I despised Sunday nights because I had to pack for the week, check in and just make sure I was ready for the week ahead. I would say my work week really started on Sunday evenings.
So last weekend I had sometime in the car so I put some real thought into it and thought…what if I could plan for the month?! How nice would that be? Then I wouldn’t have to go through the anguish of planning weekly. Best part about my little idea..I had this time in the car with my husband so I made him get in on the fun. (Which, as you can imagine, he thoroughly enjoyed. Do you hear the sarcasm?)
So I spent a little while trying to develop an excel meal planning template (because that’s what a program manager does) that I could use to capture all the meal planning genius. Now, it’s not perfect but I do know what I’m making this week and I have a pretty good idea what I’m making next week.
This week’s dinner menu is:
- Pepper Steak
- Turkey Meatballs and Mozzarella
- Sloppy Joe
- Greek Chicken/Cucumber Sauce
- Left Overs
Here’s the meal planning template I used. I have all these ideas about how to make it better but I thought I’d share with you in case you want to use something like this. I haven’t prettied it up or anything but if you want to download it you definitely can.
How do you plan your families food?
Also, make sure you head over to For Two Fitness giveaway page to see if you won the giveaway! If you didn’t there’s more fun to come!
Wow! That is some serious meal planning. Great job!
Fantastic and so efficient! Planning like this will save a lot of time and stressful thoughts each day.
It does through out the week but Sunday nights can be not fun if you the “idea well” is dry.
Haha, I love the line where you sit and wait for the meal gods to smile down on you with ideas, I can definitely relate! Thanks for linking up!
No problem! 🙂
Love the template. I have several planning templates that I’ve used in the past but want to go paperless with my iPad. I’m looking for an app but haven’t found one I like as much as my templates so far. Menu planning makes life so much easier. I can’t imagine starting a week without one.
Welcome to What’s For Dinner! Thanks for linking up!
🙂 Glad to link up. I’ve been meaning to for weeks. I’m just really slow on the up take. I like the idea of using the iPad. Would you take it to the grocery store with you?
Definitely working towards a weekly menu plan. Not there yet, but determined to get that done before our baby comes, because who has time to contemplate every day with a newborn? And without it, I feel you can too easily slip to fast food!
It is nice to have it done. I really got into it when E came around. You’ll get there. 🙂
I am meal planning for two weeks right now! I want to work up to a month and freeze some meals. I need to buy a new freezer too! Thanks for the meal ideas! Printed!
Two weeks is great! I wish I could now grocery shop for two weeks but produce wouldn’t make it I guess.