Today I want to share with you how I menu plan. I've gone through several different methods over the years, but this is by far- THE best way to menu plan and my personal favorite. It's not too time consuming, super easy and won't require you to purchase much. You may already have the supplies needed to get started! I do my menu planning monthly. However, with this system its easy to plan several months at a time.
Supplies Needed:
- a 12 month paper calendar, regular size
- 7 packages of post it notes, all different colors
- scissors
- fine point black sharpie
- scratch paper
Step 1:
- Determine your food categories. My categories are Soup, Crockpot, Meat, Italian, Mexican, Leftovers, FREE Day/Out and Misc. Yours might include other categories like Chicken, Beef, Pork, Fish, Vegetarian etc however for my family, we do not eat much meat so all my Mexican dishes, Italian dishes etc are meat free. That's why I have just one category labeled simply- Meat.
- Now assign each category to a different colored Post It.
Step 2:
- Cut your Post It's to size. To do this, cut into quarters. You will only be using the 2 quarter pieces that have the sticky part on them. Throw the others away, or better yet- recycle them!
- Now get out your sharpie & write the name of the dish on each corresponding colored Post It. Shoot for at least 10 dishes in each category. For new dishes put this symbol at the bottom of the post it -N- to help you differentiate that it is a new dish. I try to incorporate several new dishes each month. And if you try it and don't like it, simply toss the Post It away and take it out of the rotation.
Step 3:
- Write the name of each category at the top of each piece of scratch paper.
- Place your colored Post It's onto each sheet of paper for that category. NOTE- there will be some categories that overlap. For example, a soup that you make in the crockpot that has chicken in it could go under the soup, crockpot or meat categories. Simply pick the category that works best for you.
Step 4:
- Take your sharpie and mark any significant dates on your calendar where you will NOT be cooking or where you will be making a special meal. This can include things like your spouse's birthday, St. Patrick's Day, a child's birthday, Thanksgiving, vacation, an anniversary etc. If I know what I will be cooking or if I know for sure that I am eating out on that night, then I write that down. Otherwise, simply leave it blank for now.
- You might also circle paydays or the days you plan on doing the bulk of your grocery shopping. This will help you in staying on budget.
- Now it's time to fill in your calendar with your Post Its. You can assign specific days of the week to certain food categories or plan on cooking something more time consuming on the weekends when you have more free time available. For example, you can do things like Meatless Monday, Free Day Friday, Taco Tuesday, Souper Sunday etc.
- Leave one day for leftovers. You will have them and no sense in being wasteful! I like to assign leftovers to Fridays whenever possible because let's face it- by the end of the week, I'm done.
- Mix up the meals- try not to have 2 pasta dishes in a row or tacos one night and enchiladas another. Keep it interesting.
- Keep in mind your time constraints and budget when placing your Post It notes. For us, Tuesdays are our busy days and Wednesdays are our late nights with activities. So I like to have a casserole that I've prepared ahead of time or a crockpot dish. And of course, there's no way we are going to be eating a week full of steak and lobster if payday is still 3 days away. Not that we eat a lot of steak and lobster to begin with....
Step 5:
- Now's the time to step back and admire all your hard work. Take a good critical look at the colors for each week. Do you have a lot of blues together? How about a week full of nothing but pink and yellow?
- Move your Post Its around if necessary until you are satisfied with the results. This is the biggest benefit to using the Post It's. It's super easy to move them around and adjust the menu for the week or month as you go along. And then when it's time to plan next month's menu- simply put all your colored Post It's back on your papers that listed each category (see picture above) and start fresh.
If you're feeling ambitious you can also think about doing a calendar for breakfast meals and home baked goods. To be honest, I simply write in my breakfast plan for the week and any baked goods I plan on making in the margin next to each week. I don't stress about these items nearly as much. Lunches at my house are almost always leftovers or something super easy like quesadillas, grilled cheese or beans so I don't need a lunch calendar.
When you're done, your calendar should look like this.
*If you try out this system- I would love to hear your feedback! Enjoy!
Bonus Tip- Before you start placing your Post It notes on your calendar, write down the groceries you currently have in your fridge and pantry. Or if you have a weekly CSA delivery, write down items that will be arriving at your doorstep. Then try to build the calendar around meals that contain these items you already have. Hello Money Saved!
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