My Family’s Week-Long Menu Plan

So, how does my family go about menu planning each week? I thought I’d share our process as just one example of how you and your family might also menu plan.

Step 1: Pull out the recipe binder. Yes, I’m a bit old school here [although we are considering going digital]. Our 3-inch binder is filled with recipes we’ve found online. We use binder tabs for different categories such as salads, chicken, seafood, vegetarian entrees. We also have a few ethnic categories like Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern as my family likes to eat food from around the world. It is also filled with our favorites from our cookbooks. I also make a copy of any recipe from a cookbook that we’ve enjoyed and add it to my binder. This decreases the number of places that I need to look for recipes.

Step 2: Ask everyone if there is something they want to eat this week. The answer might be pasta, or it might be a specific recipe (risotto with scallops and beets). Either way, this is a great way to get the entire family involved.

Step 3: Write down the recipes. Using the Living. Simplified. Meal Planning Chart and posting it in the kitchen for all to see, takes the guess work out of what’s for dinner on a particular night. We keep ours on the refrigerator.

Step 4: Create the grocery list. At the same time that we choose the recipes we also create the grocery list. We also check for any pantry items that need replacing, decide what fresh fruits and veggies we’ll need for the week, and see if there are any items we need for breakfasts and lunches.

Step 5: Go grocery shopping. 95% of the time, we do this the same day that we menu plan. When the groceries are brought home, sometimes we do a bit of meal prep like chopping veggies for the week.

Step 6: Cook dinner. Be sure to get the family involved! One person chops. One person preps. One person cleans up. Even young kids can help stir items in a bowl or rip lettuce with their hands. Be creative!

Step 7. Eat! Be sure to enjoy your dinner together, make notes on your recipe if you haven’t cooked it before, and say “Thanks chef!”

Here’s what we ate this week:

Monday: Garden salad, grilled pizza, homemade tomato sauce, homemade pesto, s’mores

Tuesday: Garden salad, salmon with eggplant and tomato compote

Wednesday: Garden salad, grilled chicken, grilled zucchini, garden salad

Thursday: Pan con tomate, shaksuka with eggs and chickpeas

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Local restaurant

Sunday: Garden salad, orzo salad with grilled shrimp