Do You Hate Menu Planning?
I do. And I also despise grocery shopping. Especially on a weekly basis with just the two of us. So I came up with a system to make it less painful. And it sort of involves two of my Fab 50’s - the eating plan and the organizer! (FWTFL and Whitney English)
Here’s how it works…
I made a weekly spread sheet with the days of the week, with lunches and dinners. ( I don’t eat breakfast - intermittent fasting, remember?)
Using my old favorite recipes and my favorite new ones from FWTFL, I made weekly menus, with low carb days being Monday and Tuesday.
I made as many weekly menus as I could get out of my recipe books. I ended up with 9 weeks for Fall/Winter and 7 weeks for Spring/Summer. Spring/Summer menus are for mid-May through end of September, when there is fresh local produce here in VA, and we are grilling outside more. In the Fall/Winter, I am making more stews and soups, much more hearty fare.
The top of the pages are the menus, and the bottom of the pages are the corresponding grocery lists. I have listed everything I need to make those meals listed. My grocery list is ready to go. I try to include chicken, beef, fish and at least one meatless.
I cut off the bottom and take it with me to the store. I add anything else that I am out of, or that we want.
Does this take a very long time to put together? Yes. But it is so worth it now. I never have to think up a menu, I never have to sit and make a long grocery list. I also spend less time and money at the grocery store. We have a varied menu and I don’t end up making spaghetti every other day.
NOW! Part of the reason this is great for me, is that I am not a fabulous cook - I need recipes - I can’t just create a nice meal from whatever is in the fridge or freezer. So it that describes you, this would probably be too rigid for you. From time to time, I go in and take something out and add something new.
There are two other small parts of my system that are helpful to me.
#1 - I highlight the grocery list by color. I know all the green stuff is in the produce section. The pink stuff is in the meat section, etc etc. That makes for very quick grocery shopping. See below.
#2 - I use Whitneys’ Weekly Meal Guide too. It’s a sticky note, with room for your weekly menu and grocery list. So I put my menu on there and stick it on the inside of my pantry door, and it’s my grocery list too.
And there you have it. And if you get invited out every night or are too sick to cook, or decide to run away and the plan goes to hell, you just throw what you can in the freezer and rethink it! And if you don’t feel like making something that night, you just deal with it however you want. Sometimes I’ll go 2-3 weeks without using one - too much going on. I may be the organizational queen, 👑 but I am flexible.