What's Cooking Good Looking

I have been using a menu board for about a year. I play it by ear and figure it out week by week. During this year of board planning by week, I have realized we get into a funk of having the same food week to week. I did a stint of freezer meals to save some moolah, but it wasn't for us. The things we enjoy eating did not transfer well into freezer meals. I still freeze things that work, but not everything. Over the past few weeks I have been working on some ideas to give us a bigger variety in our diets. This is what I came up with...

 Things I used: I found everything laying around the house...

Black 1" Binder

2 snack sized sandwich bags

Small colorful index cards 

Post Its

Clear page holders

 I started by purging recipes we have NEVER used, and didn't like. There were a lot of them. I then placed all of the recipes back into the sleeves of the binder. Not necessary for everyone, but I am a messy cooker. My pages need protection.  I filled out all of the index cards with meals for the week. I will do a separate post displaying all meals and recipes. 

 

I mixed all the cards up, placed a post it down marking the 1st of the month, and laid out 30 cards (September has 30 days).  I have 32 meals in my stack of cards.  I then got out my trusty Mom Planner. LOVE this thing, you can get one here... Do It All Planner.

 I went through the planner to find any already scheduled activities and plans. In September we have a wedding in which we must travel... No cooking will happen in the car or a hotel... I took out the corresponding meal cards on the table and replaced with a post it that has travel on it. The remaining cards are then rearranged if needed to make the most of my shopping list each week. For example: I have two recipes that require bacon. I made sure these are within a few days of each other to ensure that no bacon will be wasted. Hard to believe, I know. Too much bacon!!?? No way!!! Yes. I don't like leftover bacon, so I only cook what is needed for that night. I also made sure crock pot meals were not right next to each other. I also put the grilling days together so the hubbs would only have one grilling day. Whatever works best for you. That is the beauty of this system.

 Starting with the 1st of September I followed the meals laid out and filled them into the bottom section in my planner. I include the sides I will need on hand as well. Lunches on weekends are usually leftovers. We do not go out to eat very often. It is too costly. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month. The exception is DQ night. Our local Dairy Queen allows kids to eat free each Wednesday. We like to take advantage of this. The kids get a free treat if they eat their dinner!

 From laying out to placing it in my planner only took about 15 minutes, and my WHOLE month is ready to go! Even my son was excited for me!!!