Planning a Menu

Close-Up of Restaurant Menu on Blackboard

I know that planning menus and making grocery lists saves money, time and headaches, but somehow year after year, my planning and good intentions fly out the window in late summer. I find myself making way too many trips to the grocery store and wandering down the aisles trying to decide what's for supper.  But now that we are back on a schedule, it's time for me to get back in the menu planning groove.

Some people like to plan menus for a month at a time, but it makes more sense for me to plan once a week because I shop once a week (hopefully not more than that).  I don't have room for more than a week's groceries, plus if I bought food for a whole month, my family would have it eaten within two weeks.  Apparently there is something about seeing lots of food in the pantry that makes husbands and teenagers even hungrier than usual.

I start by looking in my pantry and fridge to take a quick inventory and see what I already have. Then I pull up a list that I have saved on my computer of all the meals that I could come up with that my family likes. I have about 40 meals listed including breakfasts. I like to print some pretty menu planning forms to write my menu on, and then I can keep it and put in in my menu notebook to use again later.

Next I consider my budget for the week. If the budget is particularly tight, I can focus on the more frugal meals that I have listed and look through my coupons. Then I gather my recipes so I can write down every item I need.  Once I've made the list, I can pencil in the prices (from either my price book, or past receipts), subtract coupons, and then I'll have a good idea of what my groceries will cost before I head to the store and I know which coupons I'll be using. If I need to shave a few more dollars off I can make adjustments before I leave. That works better for me than trying to do math in my head while pushing a grocery cart or getting flustered trying to change up my menu on the fly and then forgetting what I changed it to by the time I get home.  Don't forget to include any non-food items that may need to be included on your list.  Sometimes I get these things at CVS or Walgreens, but sometimes I need to pick them up at the grocery store.  We wouldn't want to run out of toilet paper or shampoo (yes, I've been there and it's not cute)! 

Do you have any menu planning tips?  How do you stay motivated to stick with it?  Please share!

Master Pantry List

The Pantry
I have been re-reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette (bought at the thrift store of course) and Terri's post about shopping based on the pantry principle and I am thinking about changing the way I shop for groceries.

Basically the pantry principle means buying what's on sale, keeping certain things on hand at all times, and making menus based on what's in the pantry. You shop to replenish the pantry rather than to buy ingredients for specific meals.

I generally plan my menu based on what's on sale (and based on ingredients that are everyday bargains), but I shop for one week at a time and only buy what's on my list.

We get paid once a month, so even though I shop weekly, my food budget is figured monthly and then I just divide it by the number of weeks I will be shopping. I'm thinking it would be better to have the whole month in view rather than a week at a time. I can buy larger quantities that way and maybe even have one huge grocery shopping trip a month with smaller weekly trips to pick up perishables.

I am currently working on a master list of all the things I would need to keep on hand to make the majority of our favorite meals. I have my grocery lists and menus for the past 5 weeks and I am going from that. Once I have the list complete I can just make copies and check off the things I need instead of making a new list each time.

Do any of you shop based on the pantry principle? Do you have any tips for me?

Menu Plan Monday

I'm so excited to participate in my very first Menu Plan Monday with I'm an Organizing Junkie. Be sure and head over to see the TONS of menu planners sharing each week.

I generally don't plan things for specific days of the week. I just plan out a week's worth of meals and then chose what I feel like making on any given day.

This week I've only planned 6 suppers. We'll be at my brother's rehearsal dinner on Friday so I don't have to worry about supper that night. Breakfasts are usually repeated some and other than weekends, lunches are either leftovers, school lunches for the kids, or sandwiches.

Breakfasts:
cereal
oatmeal pancakes
pumpkin muffins
banana bread

Lunches:
chili dogs/ oven fries
Chunky tomato soup/ grilled cheese sandwiches

Suppers:
3 Cheese saucy penne/ orange & romaine salad
Brupper (Belgian waffles, bacon, eggs, OJ)
black bean soup/corn muffins
corn chowder/ cheese and garlic biscuits
beef and cheese calzones/ zu-squash stir fry
biscuit pizza bake/green salad

Le Menu

Sidewalk Cafe Menu, Paris, France
I took French in college and I just think "Le Menu" makes my plain old menu sound so much better. :)

I'll be back with A Day in My Life tonight, but I want to share my menu for the week with you. Part of my "to-do" list for the day includes grocery shopping. By the way, my mom brought me lots of ground beef from their ranch (plus it's organic and grass fed) so we can eat lots of ground beef dishes this month.

Suppers:
Ragu alla Bolognese (I'll share the recipe later. It's really fettuccine with meat sauce)
Frito Pie (a Texas favorite)
Beans and Cornbread
Chicken strips with mashed potatoes, corn and gravy
Burritos with Spanish rice
BBQ chicken drumsticks
Pasta salad with chicken (or turkey)

Lunches:
Homemade pizza
Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (probably potato soup or turkey noodle soup)
PB&J sandwiches
Tuna salad sandwiches
Leftovers
Mac & Cheese with tuna

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Baked oatmeal
Muffins
Cereal
Bacon, eggs, and biscuits
Some of these will be repeated through the week.

HBHW Menu Day 4

Yesterday was Day 4 of the Hillbilly Housewife's low cost menu. Mike is loving having a nice lunched packed every day (I'm taking one of my commenter's advice and making it the night before). Today he had 2 tuna salad sandwiches made on homemade bread, plus some fruit and veggies.

Last night our supper was cowgirl beans and rice. This is one of our favorite Hillbilly Housewife recipes. I made it with Monday night's leftover baked beans. Isn't it fun to have several different ways to use up leftovers? I had enough left for my own lunch today.


HBHW Menu Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

HBHW Menu Day 3

HBHW Menu Day 1
HBHW Menu Day 2

Yesterday was day 3 of following the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 low cost menu. We had a great breakfast of french toast made with the homemade bread and Mike was very happy to have a good lunch to take to work. I plan to get better about packing his lunch every day.

I had an extremely busy afternoon. My mom came to town and we ran errands and before I knew it, it was 5:00 and Cindy had to be at softball practice at 5:45. I usually have supper ready to go by 5:00 on softball days. Just poor planning and not paying attention led to picking up this instead of following my menu.

I only spent $10, but I'm kicking myself for it. I'm still within my weekly food budget, but I'm trying to put every little penny into our emergency fund instead of spending it on pizza.

We're back on track on the menu today though and I'll update you either tonight or tomorrow. Marcia is finishing up her science project that is due tomorrow so I may not have access to the computer for awhile. :)

HBHW Menu Day 2

Tonight we had Boston Baked Beans, homemade coleslaw, mac and cheese, and homemade bread



Mike loved his lunch of meatloaf sandwiches from last night's leftovers along with carrot sticks with ranch dressing, cookies, and applesauce. I'm not very good at remembering to pack him a lunch (an area I need to improve), so he was really pleased. He didn't have to eat fast food or PB&J.

I think the kids' favorite food today was the afternoon snack of cinnamon toast made with the homemade bread. I liked that pretty well myself! :)

His lunch (and mine) tomorrow will be beanie wienies made with tonight's beans and turkey hot dogs and tomorrow's breakfast tomorrow will be french toast.

Read about Day 1 here.

Hillbilly Housewife Menu

This week, I am following the Hillbilly Housewife's $70 low cost menu. This menu is so easy because she provides all the recipes, plus the shopping list. Her $70 figure is assuming that you are starting with an empty pantry, so it may cost you less, but she is also using powdered milk which is not as cheap as it was when she made this plan. I spent about $65. Some things I already had in my pantry, but I bought 3 gallons of regular milk instead of powdered. I do have some powdered milk in the pantry that I bought when it was much cheaper and I can supplement with it if I need to. My family will not drink reconstituted powdered milk unless it is mixed with regular milk.

The menu starts on Sunday. Yesterday's Sunday dinner was meatloaf, green beans and mashed potatoes. The menu calls for muffins to go with it, but I made sugar cookies instead.


Last night I put beans on to soak for tonight's Boston Baked Beans (which are now in the crock pot) and Marcia helped me make up the week's bread. I did the overnight method that uses very little yeast. You let the bread rise overnight.

Menu Notebook

Menu planning has helped me SO much in trying to lower our grocery bills. I can tell you from experience how hard it is to stay within your budget if you don't have a plan!

The notebook in the picture was originally my Home Management Notebook, but now I have two notebooks. This one is devoted to my menus, recipes, and coupons. One section is for menus and grocery lists, one for recipes, and one for the latest Walgreens and CVS sales flyers and lists of "deals". In the recipe section I keep all those handwritten recipes from friends and family and recipes I've printed off the internet. The plastic page protectors keep them from getting wet or stained while I'm cooking.

A great place to get menu planning ideas is Hillbilly Housewife. She has lots of great recipes (many of which are in my notebook), a $45 emergency menu that will feed 4 to 6 people 3 meals a day and a low cost $70 menu that also feeds 4 to 6. I've used both of these menus and they are great.

I also keep 4 weekly menus in my notebook. These are just fairly simple, low cost menus for weeks when I just don't have the time or the "want to" to come up with a new menu. I keep the grocery list for that menu on the computer so all I have to do is print it up, add any extras we might need and head out to the store. This is probably the single thing that has most helped me stick to my grocery budget and avoid those last minute trips to McDonald's.

When I DO have the time, I try to plan my menus around what's on sale. Say there's a good sale on potatoes and chicken, then I'll look those up in my cookbook collection and come up with some menus based on that. There are also tons of recipes available online. If the sale is really good, I will sometimes go over my budget so that I can stock up and then later I can come in under budget.

Another great resource is Money Saving Mom. She has lots of great tips on saving money on groceries and menu planning. I've been menu planning and feeding a big family for years and I am newly inspired by her ebook.

It's also a good idea to look at your calendar when you're planning your menu. If you know one particular day is going to be extra busy, plan to cook something in the crockpot that day. I have 2 meetings tonight so I have soup in the crockpot and homemade bread rising.

Do you have any menu planning tips or notebook ideas? I would love to hear them!