How do you menu plan??

[Madi]

I need some help/guidence/inspiration :2lol

I'd love to know how other people actually menu plan.....do you sit down on a particular day and work it all out? Do you have a spreadsheet or plan that you fill in?

I tend to be either wing it or go hyper over organised, and waste time doing elaborate spreadsheets and shopping lists that never get used. :rolleyes

I used to do OAMC (once a month cooking) pre kids, but cannot find the inclination or energy to do that anymore!

[Rinelle]

I menu plan each month (in an attempt to save a bit of money). I pull our our calendar, and see what food we have frozen that can be used. Then I either make a list of the suitable number of meals, then assign them to days, or just work my way through the days, adding meals, then work out what I'll need at the end. I try to spread meals with lots of vegies out across the month, and also, spread out the cheaper (often non-vegie) meals too.

We don't stick to the menu religiously, and meals quite often get swapped around between days, but at least it means we have the right amount of food to get us through the month.

The most important thing is to put meals in that your family will eat, and that aren't too much hassle to prepare. Save meals with lots of cooking, or trying out something new, for days when you have plenty of time etc.

[michelle_j_r]

i used to do it once a week when i was doing my shopping list so i knew what to buy. I could stretch things further that way if i knew i was having roast chicken one night i could do a chicken risotto the next night etc etc. I think that way you also tend to have smaller meat portions to make it last until the next day and do more in the way of vegies which i think is also a huge plus.

Now i am intending to shop less often than once a week so i still do a menu plan for the first week roughly! but i have a spreadsheet that lists all the stuff i buy and how often o go through it and the things i need to make sure i have on hand for certain reliable favourites.

[Stardust]

Just do it on scrap paper here. I do it once a week too, just write down what we have, what we need and what I feel like for that week!

[mama_bel]

First I look at what I have in the fridge/freezer/pantry/garden and what will be bought/delivered during the week. I plan my meals around using the fresh produce asap.

I look at busy days and quieter 'home' days and plan the easy meals (pasta, etc) for the days we're out till late with kids' activities etc.

If there's a new recipe I want to try, I plan it for a 'home' day.

Then I look though the week and see the balance of rice, pasta, potato, egg, fish, legume, etc based meals so we're having variety.

If it's a lighter meal, like soup, I plan a dessert for after.

And that's about it!

Oh, I use a piece of paper - A4 size - where I write all of our outings, activities, appointments, meals, etc on for the week. It's printed from Word ready to fill in. It goes on the side of the fridge for all the family to refer to.

Shopping list is a scrap of paper with the few items on it to do the meals for the week, once I've menu planned. I don't usually need to buy much as I shop in bulk and through co-ops etc. When I go to town for something else, I grab the week's shopping.

[SeaStar]

All of the above, I do mine weekly!

[Merlion]

i try to do mine weekly. i get DH to say what he feels like eating at the beginning of the week and see what meat i have in the freezer and go from there. then if DH ideas don't appeal to me or we don't have the ingredients i go look at taste.com.au and do a search on something appealing

[Hailstorm]

I don't i suck at menu planning!!! :rofl

But would really like to get into it so will be following this thread :laugh

[SungaiKecil]

We do ours weekly. DH works late night one night, so that's a night the kids and I have something we like that DH doesn't (like agnalotti)... at least one night is budgeted as eating out/with friends/family, so we're really only planning 5 dinners a week. Leftovers are incorporated into lunches, breakfasts are repetitive here because the kids have limited likes (weetbix, porridge or muesli). 2 mornings a week we plan a cooked breakfast for DH and I... the rest of it is fruit and snacks.
We're not overly adventurous with our dinners, but we don't eat the same things week in week out either.
I've limited us to 1 spaghetti bolognaise a fortnight LOL.