Tackling Menu Planning

It seems like we never know what we’re going to have for dinner…I stink at meal planning.  Toss in the fact that CT and I have VERY different tastes in food, it becomes nearly impossible.  I signed up for The Fresh 20 and it somewhat works for us…but sometimes the menus have too much stuff that we (I) don’t like.

However, I am working my way through the book “One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler” by Tsh Oxenreider.  She has a chapter on Menu Planning and she has some great tips (Project #5).

I have taken her advice and set up a sub-calendar on my Google calendar called “Menu Planning”.  Each week day, from 6-8pm, I put in the dish that I’m planning to cook.  I set the recurrence for every 13 weeks (CT can’t stand to eat the same meal more often than every 13 weeks….haha).  In the “Where” field, I put either the location of the Pinterest Pin (more on that later), the recipe’s website, or the cookbook the recipe came from.  Then, in the description I copy in the recipe.  Check it out:

 Finally, I have created a spreadsheet to create a grocery list for the recipe….I fill that in and then attach it to my google event:

 

You can set reminders so you always know what’s coming up as “due” for dinner.

As far as recipe ideas go, I hit up my Pinterest account for my “recipes I love” or “recipes to try” boards, The Fresh 20’s weekly menu, old fashioned cookbooks, or my favorite cookbooks ever….the family ones that we have made with my dad, sister’s and my favorite recipes.  I try to make 1-2 new recipes each week, and make an effort to have a good variety of “types” of meals (pasta, salad, meat and veggies, etc) each week.

If I’m trying a new recipe from my Pinterest boards, I am sure to either move it to a “recipes I love” board or to my “looked good, but….” Board after we have tried it so I know what worked for us.  This is why I include a link to the pin and not the actual recipe on my calendar event…so I know what needs updated on my Pinterest account.  I end each meal for a new-to-us recipe with, “so, is that something you’d like to have again in 13 weeks???” and CT has instructions to be painfully honest!

ps—I’ve added a link to my Pinterest account on the sidebar------------------>

I am hoping if I stick with this, eventually I will have my menus all planned out for me.  The hard part will be coming up with 13 weeks of recipes to fill in the blanks until my recipes start repeating themselves…haha.  That’s only about 65 dinner recipes…..oy vey!!