Easy Meal Planning

How can it be Wednesday, already?

OK. So jumping right in.

Today is Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.

And the only thing I have to give you is this: Easy Meal Planning. Because I'm cooking right now! My brain can only handle so much original thought, Folks.

Years ago I had this wonderful system of organizing and planning meals. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners. But that was in a different lifetime. Or maybe just with a smaller number of children.

So for a family of 10, here's what works really well for us.

On Saturday, I get out a pad of paper with a space for each day.

It looks like this:

Then I add any evening activities that would affect our meal times. And sometimes I write down if I have things during the day, so that I will remember to plan something that can be done quickly when we get home.

Then come the meals. I use the same 20 or so. It's just easier that way. My kids like them, they are inexpensive, and I can keep the ingredients on hand. Every now and then I try something new, but then I fill the rest of the week with our usual fare. Makes everyone happy that way.

So after I fill out this week on my pad of paper (it has a magnet, so I keep it on the fridge), I get out my handy computer shopping list. It looks like this:

Everything we buy on a regular basis is on this. I just circle what we need. It's organized by section of store - in the order that I go through the store each time. I do have separate lists for two other stores, but I only do that shopping once a month.

Now, to keep it real, I must say that I often switch around these meals. Sometimes I don't feel like fixing chicken on Wednesday, so I fix spaghetti and we have the chicken on Thursday. But the main thing is that I have the ingredients for all of these meals. So there's no question of having what I need or making a decision (that's the worst part - as if there aren't 10 million other things to decide each day).

Most weeks, my 10 year old (almost 11) daughter does the meal planning and the grocery list. She does a great job! It's a really good exercise for her find the recipes (if needed), check the pantry and the freezer for what we have and make the list for what we need. After we have the week's meals planned and the list ready, we head to the store. That's another story for another day. But let's just say it involves two of the older kids (as helpers), two grocery carts, a van full of grocery bags, and hundreds of dollars. Yikes. Not to mention all of the strange looks and comments.

I'd be happy to share our "regular" meals with you. But it would have to be in another post. The chicken just beeped for today's dinner and I'm making two pans (one for a friend with a new baby) so I should get started. It helps to have it ready to go before the kids get home from school.

Happy Planning!

And don't forget to check back at Rocks in My Dryer. I've already found some good ideas over there today!