I can't tell you how many emails I get with this question or a similar one :)

It's a valid question and while I am no expert, I HAVE been  menu planning for the 14 years that I've been married, plus the other years that I did as a teenager when my parents had to travel somewhere and it was just me and my brothers and grandma.


Menu planning for me saves money, hours of stress about what I'm going to cook or "oh my gosh I forgot to thaw the meat", but most importantly, it helps keep me organized and my day running smoother.

Here's a couple of the questions I've been asked through email:


One thing it's not, is complicated at all.  What it really means is that you plan ahead, a few days before you are going grocery shopping, you sit down and plan ahead for meals you're going to cook for the family.


Couple things I find when menu planning:
- I save money because I buy what is on the list and not what I don't need
- There is a wider variety of meals on the table, I don't end up cooking the same things over and over
- Make good use of all the cookbooks I have stashed in my pantry
- Much healthier because I can cook from scratch and plan ahead instead of just grabbing take out


I've actually mentioned this on my blog before, I Menu Plan and Grocery shop every two weeks.  Since we are military we get paid on the 1st and the 15th of the month, so it kinda started from there and I stuck to it.  I've tried the once a week thing and it just didn't work for us.

I find that it is doable and doesn't also become a chore or boring.  I can't imagine shopping once a month or planning menus for a whole month, I've tried it and again, just didn't work out for us.  But feel free to do whatever works for your family, do at least plan for a week in advance and see how that goes.



-- Both.  One thing I like doing is picking one cookbook and planning all my meals out of there for the two weeks or at least one week, this way I feel like I'm getting use out of all the books in my collection and I'm also keeping it all to one place so that I won't be scrambling to find the recipe later.

-- I have a couple of food blogs that I follow and I have them bookmarked in my Google Reader under a folder named Food Blogs.  When I'm planning my menus, I open up that folder and give a quick browse through the latest entries, sometimes go back a few weeks or so if it's a new blog that I just found and see what I like.  If I find a recipe I want to try, I open it in another tab and then bookmark it to my Favorites.  I have a folder in there named "Recipes for next week" to which I save the recipes for those two weeks, once I make them, I just delete the link.

-- I usually just plan for dinners because our breakfast and lunches usually revolved around the same things.  Breakfast cereal, toast, muffins, pancakes and waffles etc.  Lunches are sandwiches, leftovers, salads etc.


One thing you can do is start by not thinking about it as a chore but merely part of the household running.  It truly does help out a lot especially on those hectic days which we all seem to have.

Another thing you can do is jot down a bunch of meals on a piece of paper, things you usually make or family favorites plus recipes you want to try etc.  Keep a running list of those and put it up on your refrigerator.  When you get ready to sit down and do your Menu Planning, just add those meals to the days, you can repeat the same menu every two or three weeks or whenever you wish, I do have meals that I make quite often.

Something else you can do is make Theme Days.  For example:

Monday - Crockpot Monday
Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner (my family loves breakfast for dinner, so I sometimes make bacon, sausages or biscuits and gravy...or pancakes, waffles etc)
Wednesday - Mexican (tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos etc)
Thursday - Pasta
Friday - Make your own Pizza night
Saturday - Casserole Night
Sunday - Soup Sunday (we actually did this a lot growing up, every night we had soup, sandwiches and a dessert.  My stepmom was able to feed a large family very inexpensively)

I also know that some Menu Planners use Google Calendar to help them out.  They set it up where they have a sub folder named "Menu Planning", click on the day and enter the name of the meal, then set it to repeat every two weeks.  Very helpful when planning, you can also remove the recipes and add new ones when you get sick of the same.....so just an idea.

Here are some more tips on how I plan my meals:::

- Check my freezer and my pantry to see what I have available and what I can make using the ingredients on hand
- I let the kids and the husband pick different nights and make their favorite meals....whatever they pick is what goes, so I'll sometimes have a "Nicholas Night, Jasmine Night or Curt Night".  They love having their own night and picking what everyone else will eat.  When you have kids chances are you'll be making pizza or hotdogs or easy cheap meals.  I like it.
- Be flexible, just because I have Meatloaf written down for a certain day does NOT mean that I have to make it, if I look at the menu and would rather have the Fried Chicken for the next day, I simply switch the meals around.


Recipezaar
Allrecipes
Kraftfoods
Saving Dinner
Foodgawker

Whichever way you decide to do it, just remember to keep it simple, keep it easy and not think of it as a chore.  :)

I find Menu Planning a lot of fun, it gives me the opportunity to try new dishes and to get even more excited about cooking.  For those that don't enjoy being in the kitchen, it can make it a little less stressful if you already know what you are making.

I hope this helps some of you out there who are just now thinking about Menu Planning, or have been trying but get discouraged.  I find that it's habit forming, but in the good kind of habit way, I honestly can't imagine not Menu Planning, matter of fact the very few times I haven't done it it was absolutely chaotic in my house.

Do you have any tips, advice, ideas for new Menu Planners?  Why don't you share them in my comments section, could very well be the push someone needed to try it out :)

Good Morning, hope everyone is having a wonderful week :)

On to today's recipe which is a favorite of mine, it's Portuguese Milk Rolls and I remember eating them as a child when we lived in Portugal. :)

Extremely easy to make and so good :)

Paezinhos de Leite – Portuguese Milk Rolls

Because the only kind worth having, is the one made at home......


And because I like knowing that what I make at home is free of preservatives and all the other nasty stuff...

If you want to save and use the new button, just click here.

50 degrees right now.  We had a wonderful weekend with 80 degree weather :)




On my reading pile:::  
Currently reading Herbs Gone Wild (absolutely fabulous book about herbs, including home remedies and recipes). 
Also reading The Keeper by Suzanne Woods (Amish book)
Bible Plan
Joyce Meyer's Promises for your everyday life devotional  



Call the Midwife Episode 5
Finished watching An Island at War - Wonderful short series you can catch on Netflix, I've also added it to the Period Drama List up top :)

Have to plan the new Menu for the next two weeks so I don't have my whole menu plan ready.

Monday -  Mozzarella stuffed meatballs with spaghetti  
Tuesday - Black Bean Stack
Wednesday - 
Thursday - 
Friday - 
Saturday - 
Sunday - 

Housework
Laundry
Homeschooling

Starting a Tabbard for my husband, including a patch on the front with all these intricate designs.  I'm kind of overwhelmed but he's entrusted me to do it and I'm up for the challenge :)
Also making some soap bar bags to give away on the blog, more on that on another post later today :)

Doing more gardening for home life.  Jasmine has a research report to finish, also French lessons.  Nicholas has a robotics video to watch and we're catching up on work from last week when he wasn't feeling well.  Busy day in the school room.

The sound of the fish tank is lulling me back to sleep, I'm thankful for my coffee right now.  I have a lit candle in front of me, the scent of Lavender is permeating the air.  The two pugs are asleep on the couch, my kitchen tables has odds and ends that I've picked up from here and there, need to get it all put away and cleaned up.  My Kindle Fire is open next to me with my Bible reading for today.




It's that time of year again, Renaissance Festival is in town and we went for opening day.  It was so much fun as usual and I got a ton of pictures :)




If you are like me and have always dreamed of living in a small cabin, you simply must go and take a look at this post.   A family of four living in a small 500 square foot cabin :)

Many friends and family who are needing the Lord's guidance right now.

And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6