does anyone do their menu plans monthly?

**canadian gardener** · 01-06-2004, 08:54 PM

Something Strawberry taught me years back was to write the list of meals I'd shopped the fixings for, and each day, you pick one, and cross it off the list.

I hated planning menus before that, it felt like a straight jacket but with that simple tip, I became a born again menu planner.

She gave me flexibility and I could go from there.

I started small, and did a week at a time. I still think in one week segments even though I plan 2 weeks at a time.

Without those menus planned, and the fixings to make them on hand I wouldn't be able to manage on our budget. It's quite a wonderful saving of money.

I plan mine around payday which is every two weeks.

My shopping list and menu plan are intertwined. Here is what it looks like:

I usually pencil in my menus for 2 weeks on the top left corner of a notebook refill page. That way if something becomes impossible, too costly, or I find a better deal, I change my menu on the spot. A good menu plan should be flexible to take advantage of deals.

Near that is a list of OAMC recipes, or freezer stuff I want to make this payday. This payday for example I've been concentrating on making breakfasts for the freezer.

On the other side is stuff I need to buy to complete those recipes, both the menu items, (some are from my previous OAMC sessions, and won't need extra) and the OAMC recipes I'm planning to make.

Below that in the bottom half of the sheet of paper is columns for each store I visit, and a list of good deals that I want for my pantry or freezer from that store.

I start shopping with my super cheapest prices overall store, and try and get as much as possible there. I get the "must buy" list there. That is things that aren't on special anywhere, but I need them anyway.

Then I hit the specials (cherry picking it's called) at the other stores.

When I get home, I stick the rather wrinkled, scribbled on mess that is my menu and shopping list, on the fridge.

It's also my reminder list that I'm making breakfast burritos (2 dozen) and 24 servings of breakfast quiche and 12 servings of omelet rolls today

**halo475** · 01-06-2004, 09:08 PM

I used to do this-a month at a time, but found that I couldn't work that far ahead, although I did like having a general plan for a moth at a time.

It did not work for me because of the way I shop-I do a once a month shop and fill in around the edges with loss leaders. I buy beef by the side, so always have that in the freezer, and potatoes by the bushel in the fall, so is nothing else we can have beef - n - taters. Or something with hamburg..

But I need to get back to having some kind of plan even if it is only a week or 2 at a time, because I need to have a plan for meals. My kids nutrition is sorely lacking

LOL

**Strawberry** · 01-07-2004, 11:50 AM

I would be lost without menu planning. I have done it for so many years that it's second nature to me.

Sometimes I plan monthly and sometimes bi-weekly. I think it works well for me because I stay very flexible and my menu is based on the food already in the house. I generaly only pick up fresh produce and the odd ingredient. I shop for specials not for my menu.

For me, I don't plan what we'll eat on a certain day. I just list 14 or 30 days worth of meals and when I wake up I pick that days meal and grab the meat out of the freezer.

Tuesdays are rushed dinners so I take that into consideration in my planning. Dinners need to be quick and easy to clean up. Saturday I almost always make a double recipe of stew, roast, spaghetti, or casserole for example. I very rarely cook a big meal on Sunday, we just heat up Saturdays leftovers.

It works for me

**pip** · 01-07-2004, 09:47 PM

I like to plan the menu for a weeks time. That's about as far as I can get, but it works well for me. I try to look at what I have in the freezer and pantry, then what's on sale at the store. It helps me with our budget to plan ahead of time.

**Sinclairwife** · 01-08-2004, 07:47 AM

Yes, I make a month of menus, it saves me money and keeps impulse buys to a minimum. I have an Aldis near here and I will go there at the start of each month to stockpile canned goods, pasta, spices, cooking oil, condiments, flour, sugar, baking ingredients like chocolate chips, pecans and other nuts, frozen meat, fish, chicken, and I get my butter and cheese here too.

After I'm done in that store I go to the Dollar General Store and Walmart(I buy the huge 24 roll pack of Angel Soft Bathroom tissue, I hate running out of that stuff. lol

The only thing I get weekly is milk and lettuce.

**Ellise** · 01-08-2004, 07:58 AM

Yes, I would be lost without one! since I do OAMC I too make a list simular to the one Strawberry and canadian gardener do. I plan, purchase then create! I've been doing OAMC for about 3 Years now, and it just works for us.

**Jayne** · 01-08-2004, 09:24 AM

I used to do this years ago( 20 to be exact) when I was an Air Force wife...I need to do it again, even though its only dh and I

**Katybird** · 01-08-2004, 09:37 AM

I like to try to have at least 2 weeks worth of menus done at a time. I find that I save so much money by knowing what I am cooking each night. I am pretty flexible about it though, if my menu says I am having goulash on Monday but DH wants chicken and dumplings, I don't mind changing the plan as long as I have time to get the meat thawed out.

I try to do at least half of my meal plans using crockpot meals because of the 12 hour shifts that I work. I also do planned leftovers as part of my menu plans too. I am making pot roast today and we will have pot roast for supper and on Sunday I will be making french dip sandwiches from the left overs.