Meal Planning 101

Every Friday I is grocery list/meal planning day at the Fiack house. I love to cook, but I HATE thinking of WHAT to cook. So last summer I made a plan. I took blank sheet of paper and put numbers 1-7 on the page representing the number of dinners I would plan for the following week. I took down my favorite cookbook picked out 4 of my favorite recipes and wrote down the name of the recipe and the page number on the sheet of paper. Then I handed the book over to my husband and told him to pick 3 recipes that looked good to him (he marked them with sticky notes for me). When I was done, my menu looked like this:


Menu # 1
1- Eggplant Parmesan

2- Ham & Cheese Frittata

3- Chicken Quesadilla Salad

4- Fish Tacos

5-Spring Roll Salad

6- Pizza

7- Waffles


I looked at my recipes and made a shopping list according to the recipes we chose. I continued to do the same thing until I had 4 weeks worth of menus. The menus are printed on card stock and I have them on a clip board hanging in my kitchen. In addition to the ingredients for my menu I also plan for quick breakfasts, and usually soup or sandwiches for lunch. Piece of cake!

I rarely prepare my meals according to the numbers on my menu. I take a look at the clip board some time during the day and decide what I want to make that night. I only have to shop once a week and rarely have to make emergency runs to the grocery store.

This week I will be working from the following menu:

Menu # 2

1- Chicken Rolls

2- Pan Steamed Veggie Dumplings (ww 31)

3- Sushi Salad

5- Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

6- Tostadas

7- Spinach Frittata

I'll be posting pictures and recipes all of next week.

Happy Friday everyone!

-The Domestic Diva