Menu Planning
Here's a tip for those who have a difficult time making menu's. If you have a hard time sitting down and coming up with a menu, DON'T. At least, not at first.
Instead, every night write down what you made for dinner that night. Write it all down, the main dish, the sides, etc. Do this every night for an entire month. Voila, you have a (master) listing of meals right at your fingertips.
Now when you need to plan your menu, decide if you want to shop for one or two weeks. After you have decided write the numbers of days you will be planning for on a piece of paper. Number it like this until you have each day numbered: (My example will be for a 1 week menu)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Don't write the days of the week. Just numbers. Then, look at your list of meals, from the month you wrote them all down, and start picking meals that you want to fix from that list. Don't do that for all of the numbers though. Do it for (roughly) half.
1. meal from list
2. meal from list
3. meal from list
4. meal from list
5.
6.
7.
Now, go find your favorite cookbook or recipe magazine, or online recipe site and look for new recipes to try. Pick a couple. You don't have to pick alot, one or two is plenty (Shoot for trying at least one new recipe a week).
1. meal from list
2. meal from list
3. meal from list
4. meal from list
5. new recipe
6.
7.
Then pick a couple of recipes that are not already on your list but are something your family likes and use those recipes for the remainder of the numbers.
1. meal from list
2. meal from list
3. meal from list
4. meal from list
5. new recipe
6. family favorite
7. family favorite
This way, you aren't struggling so hard to come up with meals, you are trying new one's and bringing old family faves back into the picture.
The reason you'll want to number the days instead of labeling them Monday, Tuesday, etc. is because how many times have you gotten a menu made like that and decided you didn't want what was listed for Monday? Or you went out to eat on Tuesday instead? Or were invited to dinner on Wednesday? and it ruined the whole look of your menu? This way, you just take the numbered paper with your meals listed on it, and hang it on your fridge with a magnet and each morning you can look at the list, decide what you want to make, and then that night, after you have made it, mark it off.
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