I'm also starting to realize that the key to keeping things running smooth is to always, always, always have a plan. I'm pretty good at "winging it" when I need to, but my life really works well when I put together a plan. So, I thought I'd share with you (my handful of mommy readers) one of my ideas that has been working really well. I started writing out "Dinner Plans" about a year ago, but I'd just scribble them out on a sheet of paper and stick it on the fridge for a frame of reference. It worked well, but I'd struggle every other week when it came time to figure out a new plan. I'd spend a lot of time thumbing through my recipe box for ideas & then I'd write it all out by hand again and stick it up on the fridge. Then one day I had a great idea! I started to write out my dinner plans on my computer, and then I'd save the document and give it a number. I did this for several weeks until I started to have a collection of dinner plans I could sort through. Sometimes I would look at a dinner plan and just make a few substitutions & then I'd be on my way! Right now I have about a dozen different dinner plans each with 8-10 meal ideas each. Sometimes I just copy and paste meals ideas from several different plans to make a brand new one :-).
It's still a work in progress & I'm still adding new recipes and ideas to my new dinner plans, but at least I have a group of "base plans" now. If I'm ever short on time I don't even have do the "planning" part if I don't want to because I can just choose an old meal plan that I have saved! It's been a great help & a huge time saver. I know there are lots of different ways to organize dinner plans, and I've tried a lot of them, but for some reason this little system seems to work for me. Eventually I'm going to work on compiling a list of "main dishes", "side dishes" , and "desserts". That way it will be a little easier to throw together a new plan (without having to even do the whole copy and paste thing!) when I'm short on time, but still want something new to choose from.
So, how do you plan your meals?? Or....what other time saving tips do you have to share?
Oh, and here is the last meal plan I put together....
Meal Plan
-Lemon Rosemary Chicken with new potatoes and Green beans
-Grilled Cheese with turkey & red pepper on Sourdough with Tomato Soup
-Chicken Fajitas
-Meat Goulash with Macaroni, dinner rolls & salad
-Meatloaf with garlic Mashed Potatoes, corn, and green beans
-Balsamic Chicken with French Bread & dinner salad
-Tex-Mex Chicken Casserole / mixed southwest veggies
-Ham and Bean Soup / Cheddar biscuits
4 comments:
What a great idea! Since Luke and I have been married, I've always made a list on a sheet of paper for the meals we would have that week. My problem comes every week when it's time to make the list--I love trying new meals and would like to spend time going through my cookbooks and recipe files, but that's just not practical now that we have a family. So I really like the idea of keeping a log of those meals (right now I use the back of it for the next week's grocery list) to use for future meal plans. Thanks for sharing, Amber!
Amber, this is a great idea to put it on your computer!! I'll have to give this a try. I did reorganize my recipe box and threw out everything I don't actually use or have no intention of ever making. So all my main dishes are ones that I rotate in my meals on a regular basis. So when I go through them, I just pull out the cards that I will use for the next 8 meals or so and put them at the front.
I'll have to try the computer idea and save them. Great idea!!! I like how you put the side dishes with it too. I usually just have a bunch of sides I can make and then decide what to throw in with it that day. This would take that guess work out that part too.
That is a great idea, Amber. Over the years I have tried lots of things, but not stuck with anything in particular. I do love to go to allrecipes.com and make a menu right there-- you can print off a grocery list that goes with your menu. Thanks for the inspiration to get more organized!
Theresa-I've wanted to do the same thing with all my cookbooks, but you are right, there just never seems to be time for that! What I started doing is just picking one or two new things to try & working them into an existing dinner plan & before you know it you have more new dinner ideas then you realized.
Karen-I still have no idea how you got your recipe box organized so quickly! I need to go through mine and get rid of stuff too. I print off those 4x6 cards from all recipes and then just stick em in my box. Brandi did a really cool thing where she arranged all of he recipes "scrapbook style" in a three ring binder. She pasted index cards to sheets of paper & then put the paper into those clear sheet protector sleeves. That way she can easily flip through the pages to find a recipe. Maybe some day when I get more sleep I'll have the energy for that :-).
Faith-I've never used any of the handy tools on all recipes, but that sounds really cool. I'll have to check it out. I still write down dinner plans on a scrap piece of paper, I just try to remember to write them out on the computer later on for future use :-).
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