WEEKLY MENU CALENDAR FULL
So I regularly make the full recipe on good days and immediately put the planned overs up into meals for the freezer. I rely heavily on planned overs because I have an illness that can make meal prep impossible. When I make a full recipe it’s because I plan to do it rather than allowing it to happen by chance. I do the math on favorite recipes and cut down how much I make.ģ. I have learned to do a lot of repackaging into 1 or 2 meal portions as part of putting away groceries. Some of the paring down includes these things:ġ. There’s only 1 of me and I do successful menu planning always. I am hoping to start doing this but on a larger scale to suit my family of 5 That one day of prep work saved them an amazing amount of time stress and mess. He mixed and shaped together a couple small meat loafs, stuffed some peppers, rolled some meatballs, even shaped some burger patties.Īfter everything was prepared they portioned it into small meal sizes and stuck it all in the freezer!! Now after a long day at work for both of them they can come home grab a whole meat loaf and throw it in the oven for an hour and its done!!! no mess or long prep time just for the 2 of them. While she was doing this my brother was preparing other ingredients to go with it. When she got home she divided it all down into small half or 1 pound portions. Then my brother takes it a step further by actually preparing awhole meal to put in the freezer! for example she found a sale on hamburger for dirt cheap and bought about 30 lbs of hamburger!!! What she does is still buys in bulk for optimum saving potential, but then once home separates everything into smaller portions. My brother and his fiancee have been a childless couple for 6 years now and she has mastered the art of small meals with big savings. We both like leftovers but sometimes when I fix something else…I end up throwing little containers away.ĭoes anyone have smaller meal planners ? We do eat out at least once a week. I haven’t seen this addressed-There are just 2 of us & its hard to get into the groove of cooking smaller,:cook2: Like homemade veg.
It also reduces food waste, as you’ll know exactly what’s in your fridge/pantry, so you won’t have to throw out ingredients that are past their best before date or are rotting away at the back of your vegetable drawer. How many times have you stood staring into the fridge after work, wondering what to serve your family?Ĥ. As mentioned above, despite the fact that it takes a few minutes of time to plan a menu, it’s also a considerable time saver. It improves your family’s nutritional intake as it forces you to be more aware of what you are serving, rather than staring into your fridge or pantry at the end of a long day and grabbing the first thing that will fill the gnawing hole in your belly.ģ. It saves money by reducing impromptu visits to the grocery store, which often results in impulse spending.Ģ. Why Plan a Menu: 20 Benefits of Meal Planningġ.
WEEKLY MENU CALENDAR HOW TO
Here’s how to Use it! Dinner Theme Menu Planner It’s one that kids tend to love, and it can easily turn into a family fun night. Themed Dinner Menu Plan– this menu plan is entirely theme-based. Since you already know what you have on hand in your freezer, fridge, and pantry, you know what items you have to accompany the meals or to create main dishes. Scan through the sales ads of your favorite grocery stores, and jot down several meal ideas based on those specials.I’ve found that this is quite helpful when it comes to trying to figure out what to feed the family. I’ve always been this way with my family and my children are not picky eaters by any stretch of the imagination. For us, I have a 2 choice option on our menu, take it, or leave it. Generally, this list is considerably smaller. I feel it’s imperative to have an idea of what they won’t eat. I know that lots of menu planning articles like to focus on what you will eat or want to eat. Make a list of what your family absolutely WON’T eat.If you have a fully stocked pantry of basic items, congratulations, the battle is nearly won! This serves several purposes: first, you may be surprised at how much food you actually have on hand. (I’m not talking about a physical list, just a general overview so you know what you have available to use). Start by taking an inventory of what you have on hand in your pantry, fridge, and freezer.This type of menu works well for families with very picky eaters. These same meals are eaten over again (hence the “rotating” menu). Generally speaking, a rotating menu consists of 15-20 meals that are within the family’s budget. Rotating Menus– This is the least time-consuming method of menu planning, but also the most boring.
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