Do you struggle with menu planning? Well, I believe menu planning is important! Here’s the deal, the main problem with dinner is that it comes every night. I’ve never had it happen where we all forget to eat dinner, or it’s eight o’clock the next morning and someone says…hey, we never had dinner last night! We just always remember dinner, it seems to be a very important part of each day. Knowing this fact, and realizing we can’t run from dinner duty. I think we need to embrace it, or as I’ve heard it said, let’s not be frustrated, let’s be fascinated! So, here are some tips to help get you on your way to being fascinated…

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9 Easy Menu Planning Tips

Plan out every dinner (see above mention that NOBODY ever forgets dinner, so don’t play that card, no one will believe you anyhow…)
Delegate planning and cooking to other family members as appropriate.
Use your Crock-Pot! There is nothing better than knowing that dinner is done and waiting for you at home. (Don’t forget to use a liner – best invention ever – it makes for a speedy clean up!)
Try when you can to make two dinners in a row, for example skewers on Monday make for an excellent stir fry on Tuesday with the left overs.
When time allows prep dinner in the morning as much as possible, marinate the meat, cut up the veggies, or make any of the sides you can ahead of time.
Plan your meals that will be eaten out during the week too, this way you will have nights off to look forward to, sort of like a “Personal Day” from your dinner work. 🙂
Have a “Theme Night” or two during your week to keep Menu Planning easier on you, we do a “Mexican Monday.”
Always begin thinking about dinner at breakfast time.
Give yourself three categories of meals: (schedule them according to your nightly schedules)
- Flexible – Left Overs (LO), Breakfast for Dinner (BFD), On Your Own (OYO)
- Favorites – Family Faves (these are my simple recipes), things you can whip up easily and could also serve to company
- Fancy – Recipes that take serious time and energy and or new ones you want to try