Our meal plan

It has been requested that I divulge our meal planning system.

When got to a point (with 3 children now eating at the table) that dinner time was becoming a mess. We had no idea what we were doing day to day. Grocery shopping was a night mare. I would wander around the Meijer with my posse..I mean kids...and figure out some food stuffs that may go together. All while trying to retain my photographic memory of the pantry, freezer and fridge. Ya, as you can tell, it was going really well...ok...not so much!

Keep in mind that this is what works for us. We are strange people, with strange kids. So things are modified. And this is not a "set in stone" thing. We made it so it can be manipulated as we need (insert evil laugh!)

We talked about doing this a few months before we really implemented it. I have no idea why we waited so long!

We made a rough list of the things we liked and made frequently for dinner. Then we looked at that rough list and saw a few themes. So the next step came around.

We decided to make categories. And each day of the week would be a different category.
These are our categories:
*Ball park
*Pasta
*Meat glob (can you just hear the hubby humor?)
*Pizza
*Ethnic/other

Now, these are just ours that we created. Some other categories that may fit better into your family could be different. Mexican night maybe. Or if you are big eaters of a certain type of meat, that could be one. Or even breakfast foods.
Notice we only have 5. This is for Monday through Friday. Saturday is our "eat out" night and Sundays are usually a free for all.

Now here are some examples of meals that fit into our categories.

*Ball park---hotdogs, burgers, Italian beef sandwiches, BBQ pork sandwiches, brats---sides are usually fries, tater tots or chips
*Pasta---spaghetti, lasagna, chili mac---usually with some garlic bread and salad
*Meat glob---pork chops, steaks, pork loin, beef roast in crock pot, meatloaf---sides are usually potatoes and a veggie
*Pizza---order out, take n bake, make our own
*Ethnic/other---tacos, periogies, patty melts, tuna casserole---side depends on meal

As you can see some categories have easy and more difficult things. If I'm going to do lasagna on Tuesday, then I'm probably not going to want some thing so involved Wednesday.

Hubby and I sit down twice a month and make the calendar for a few weeks. Usually we do it the day before or the day of a pay day and go until the next pay day. I print out a blank calendar for the month and then we also put it in our shared calendar on our computers (ya know we are cool techies like that). We will then make the grocery list and I'll go the next day.

This is going to sound super duper turbo lame, but it has changed our lives. Changed our family. Makes so many things. SO. MUCH. EASIER. Our grocery bills have gone down so much. It's less stressful for everyone. The kids know what to expect. I know what to shop for with the posse in tow. I can really see this plan working for us for a long time.

Ok, I hope this made some sense.

I'd like to know your meal plan...if you have one. I'm curious how other people make dinners work in their homes. Love to hear comments on our wacky plan too.

Enjoy!!