Orange Circle Studio

For those of us with families, “what’s for dinner?” is a question that looms over us almost every day as we frantically look for answers in the supermarket, in the fridge and freezer, or worse, at the nearest fast food joint.

One way to eat healthier, save money, and get home cooked meals on the table more often is to plan ahead each week. Consider using a menu planner! This way, you can streamline your grocery shopping and meal preparations.  It only takes a few minutes to create a meal plan once a week and ultimately, you’ll save a load of time (and stress) during the week.

Tips for Creating a Meal Plan

Get Inspired. Comb through your cookbooks, take out the recipes you’ve torn from magazines, and check websites to print out recipes you’d like to try.  This Week of Menus blog has some great recipe options that look delicious! After a bit of research, pick your favorites and use them to help create your menu for the week (remember to consider which recipes will have leftovers!)

Use what you have. When doing your planning, think of meals that can be made with ingredients you already have in the house. We all have a staple of food items that are always in the fridge or pantry, usually for meals and recipes we’re most familiar with. Keep this is mind: It’s helpful to use your tried-and-true dinner recipes on busy nights, and save the fancy meal for a day when you’ll have more time to be creative and adventurous with your cooking.

Plan for the entire week. Sit down one day on the weekend, and plan the entire week’s worth of meals. Our Eat Well! Monthly/Weekly Meal Planning Calendar is a great option for this, because it comes with a standard monthly grid, as well as a weekly pad for meal planning. The pad has space for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, as well as a perforated shopping list! Fill in the meals for the week ahead and post it on the fridge for the whole family to see.

Recycle! Consider saving a successful weekly menu plan for future use. File them away (these accordion folders would do the trick!) and revisit them in the future.

Remember, menu plans are not written in stone. Write it out in pencil and give your permission to erase or alter the plan as circumstances change.

Comment below and let us know what’s on your menu for the week!

(Photos Courtesy of Weekofmenus.blogspot.com)