Reader's Menu Planning Ideas

In case you don't read the comment section, I wanted to share a couple of reader's menu planning strategies:

Mandy says: We do a menu. I print out recipes that are new, plus other stuff I always make. I make a grocery shopping list based on what I have or what I need. I go to the base once a month and get the stuff I need because it is cheaper out there. I keep the menu on the side of the fridge. We do not choose based on date, but just pick off the menu so we can have what we want. Sometimes I let Hailee choose what she wants off the list. John loves when I do this because I am not as tempted to eat out. I have recently started making double of some meals and freezing an extra casserole as well.

From Facebook, a child care provider friend says: I'm working on making a menu right now that has my daycare meals on the breakfast and lunch category and then dinners. I write in the activites everyone has for the evening and then I'm trying to fill in meals that I can do with what time I have left. This was my first week to use it and WOW has it made a difference! I LOVE not having to figure it out on the day, the meat is thawed, the groceries are bought a few weeks ahead of time mostly and it's all there and ready to go! I LOVE IT! If I can keep filling it in ahead before I get groceries it will be a revolutionary plan for us! :O)

Menu Planning

As a child care provider, I am required to have a menu plan that I follow for my child care. I use a 15 day cycle menu. My goal is to eventually be able to only have to stock up on the sale items and fresh items on my child care menu, thereby saving me $'s.

As a wife and mother, I'm not as good at menu planning. I believe that planning a menu is one of the most important ways to save money as a family. When I make my grocery list every two weeks, I try to sit down with a piece of paper and write out the dates of the next two weeks, including making a note of anything going on. This helps me know if I need to come up with an easy meal that night. Then I plan out a menu for the next couple of weeks, using what I already have and making notes of what I'll need to buy. Is this menu set in stone? Definitely not.

My point here is, I'm curious about what your family does. Do you plan meals ahead of time or do you plan day to day? I've found that I need to figure it out either the evening before or early in the day because by the time the day ends, if I don't have a plan, my plan becomes to go eat out. LOL.

Please share what you do! You can comment on the article or e-mail me at Tracy.Hinton@gmail.com