I’ve been using a monthly dinner menu since June, and it continues to be one of the best organizational things I’ve ever done. I love knowing what we are supposed to have every night for dinner and so does David. He can come home, check the menu, and get dinner started without ever having to call and ask, “what’s for dinner?”
I had two concerns when I started, 1) that I would not stick with it and 2) that it would not be flexible enough to meet the needs of our busy schedule. My first concern was done away with the first month when I saw how much easier it made things. Over the last three months my second concern has been allayed as well. It is so easy to move things around or change up what we need to do because I have everything I need for the entire menu.
Since this has been working so well for me I thought I would start a monthly feature where I share the things that will be on our dinner menu. That way if any of you would like some inspiration it will be here for you! (You should be able to click on it to make it bigger, or you can open it in Google Docs to print it here.)
Recipes Used:
Baked Chicken Parmesan
Honey Spiced Glazed Chicken (crock pot)
Bobby’s Lighter Taste Like Lasagna Soup (I’ve heard this is great, but I haven’t made it yet.)
Lemon and Dill Chicken (Weight Watchers)
Parmesan Tilapia (we buy this at Sam’s)
Arroz con Pollo (Spanish chicken and rice) (This is fantastic but a little bit time consuming.)
Chicken in crock pot (I’ve used this recipe and it is great.)
Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp
Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin
Cube Steak (crock pot)
Pasta Fagioli (This is yummy and easy.)
If you see anything on the menu that does not have a recipe listed it is because I just use a recipe that I know by heart. If you would like to know how I make it let me know and I’ll email you.
Have you tried menu planning? Any new recipes you like? Please, share! I’m always looking for new ideas.
A week or two ago, I took the ingredients from our favorite chicken dish that bakes in the oven, threw them in the Crockpot all day long, and it came out perfect. Better than in the oven. I’m trying the 2nd favorite this month.
I need to fill in my own month template. I bet I find meals in the freezer I don’t know are in there.
I’ve done chickens in the crockpot like that recipe…it went into casseroles and chicken salad, soup and on top of chef salad. It was great.
The only thing I have found with chicken in the crock pot is that sometimes it can be dry. I don’t know if I’m cooking it too long or what, and we use the leftovers the same way you do.
I put a lot of juice in with it…broth, water, white wine. I like it to come up a certain depth on the edge of the cooker for efficiency.
I just started weekly menu planning this week and it’s been nice to know exactly what I need to shop for and what I’m making. I’m going to have to get some dollar store bins to store each day’s food. My son needs a visual to keep him for eating my menu ingredients.
The past three months I’ve also done monthly grocery shopping. I’m off my game a little this month, but I plan to get back on target. It is so nice to go to the store just once and have everything you need. Then we go as needed for milk and bread.
This looks great! I’ve been struggling so much with meal planning. I just can’t find a system that works for me. That pork tenderloin recipe sounds amazing.
I tried weekly menu planning a few times, and even tried using a service, but it never stuck. For some reason having an entire month planned out just works better for me.
I really need to try to menu plan. I suck at that!
I did too until I started doing it for an entire month. I’m not sure why, but that just clicked for me.
I keep meaning to do this! Such a great idea!
Kas
I definitely recommend giving it a try. There are tons of menu planning blogs and link ups that can give you some ideas for starting.
Gah, I always tell myself I’m going to start doing this, but I have yet to start! Thanks for the motivation.
See, I already have September done for you.
This is making me hungry. What time do you usually eat dinner..I would hate to be late
I take it your kids aren’t very picky eaters?
We eat about 5:30/6:00.
I would not say the kids are picky. Cady is the pickier of the two and there are some things she will refuse to eat (rice, corn, anything too spicy), but for the most part they eat what we fix. If for some reason they don’t want it then they can make a peanut butter sandwich.
You are doing such a great job with this. I am so jealous. Jealous that you know what you are having for dinner every night and jealous that you are only grocery shopping once a month.
And you have so much variety in your month. I feel like we eat the same thing over and over.
I need to get organized enough to do this.
Weeellllll, I didn’t do as well with the grocery shopping this month. I just was not as organized what with being out of town and then being sick and I still feel like I’m trying to catch up. I plan to do better with that next month.
One of the reasons I wanted to do this was to add variety. It seemed like we ate the same things ALL the time. This way I can force us to not eat spaghetti twice a week.
This is really smart. And I should totally try to do it one month. And some of those recipes sound REALLY good!!
But you do every two weeks, right? That is still really good.
I’m just really impressed that I didn’t see take out or pizza anywhere on that menu. Nor were there areas for eating out (aside from your birthday).
I’d be embarrassed to share our menu…of course, it’s not planned out like that. I usually buy stuff on the weekend and then make a list of what we have to eat for the week and Jdaddy picks and chooses what to cook.
Now, I’m not saying that we don’t eat take out pizza or go out to dinner… we just don’t plan for it. We PLAN to eat at home more. Things don’t always go according to plan. BUT it does help us to actually have a plan and to not just fall back on “well we can always pick up something.”
A monthly calendar has always worked beautifully, but sometimes I get too distracted/busy/lazy to put out that bit of upfront time for prep and decision. Then I regret it! It works well with cooking double or triple recipes; you schedule them as you put them in the freezer, then they won’t linger for months.