5 Tips for Successful Menu Planning
Menu planning can be the most time consuming part of grocery shopping, and it can be extremely difficult to plan in advance what you will be eating for the next week, two weeks, or month.
However, if you’re particularly busy you may find that having a list of pre-thought options makes cooking meals for the whole family a breeze!
5 quick tips for successful menu planning:
1. How often
Decide how often you want to visit the supermarket, whether it’s once a week, every two weeks, or once a month – ultimately it will depend on your schedule, and your family’s needs.
2. Number of meals
Work out how many meals you will need in that time frame. Remember to take into consideration main meals, side dishes, dessert, drinks, eating out, special occasions, expected visitors, and leftover nights.
You may want to have a simple list of meals for the week ahead, but rather than assigning a day to each of them, you can choose something from the list depending on your daily schedule. However, if you prefer to be more organised, you could write down exact meals for each day of the week.
3. Menu rotation
You may choose to write up two weeks worth of menus, or you could opt for a month’s worth. Remember to leave a few nights blank when you can try out new recipes, or have leftovers. You should also take into consideration the seasons, so that you can buy produce when it’s cheaper, and fresher, and include more soups and stews for winter, or salads for summer etc.
4. Dietary requirements
Use menu planning to help you meet your dietary requirements, for example including more fish each week, or eating more vegetables each day. To keep your menu varied, try using broad categories as the basis for your menu plan, such as:
- Poultry
- Fish
- Pasta or rice based
- Vegetarian
- Red meat
- Beans
- Eggs or cheese
5. Shopping list
Write down exactly what you will need by using a meal planner and shopping list, perhaps based on categories such as dairy, frozen foods, grains/pastas/cereals, canned goods, drinks, fruit and vegetables. Or, you may find it easier to base the shopping list on your normal route around the supermarket.
What are your menu planning suggestions?
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7 Comments
Marcia Francois
02.29.2008
Thanks for linking to my free tools!
Just in case anyone’s reading this, those tools are going to be removed in about a week’s time when I launch my new website so go download quickly
Melanie
03.03.2008
Hi Marcia,
Thanks for letting us know about your new website launch. Best wishes for that!
danielle
09.11.2008
im only 9 so can you tell me a website where they dive you a menu
Fatemeh
12.11.2008
Please send me a healthy menu plan for my kid who is 13 years old. She has been starving herself to loose weight and she is not stopping. The diet has caused brain drain and loss of energy. I appreciate getting a regular diet which includes meat for a healthy 13 year old. Thank you
Melanie
12.12.2008
Hi Fatemeh,
I urge you to see you own doctor regarding this, your daughter needs one-to-one help. I’m sorry I cannot send you a menu plan.
Credit Card Guru
05.18.2009
Thanks for the info. With all the bad diet information we get online with low rate websites, it is good to read something from someone who knows what they are talking about.
Melanie
05.18.2009
Hi Credit Card Guru,
Thank you! I’m glad you stopped by, hope to see you around again!
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