menu planning

I have tried making menus before and have not stuck with them, but I think it was because I only did 8 weeks worth of dinners and used some recipes that were not "tried and true" family favorites. This time I pushed myself to come up with 12 weeks of meals that I knew we would enjoy. (I use the term "we" loosely, not everyone in the family will be thrilled with every meal, but you can't please everybody all the time.)

I also made this list to fit our schedule, for instance, we have CC on Thursdays and are gone all day, so most of my meals for that day are easy, pre-made casserole type meals that I will prepare on Tuesday, which is my "kitchen day" (see this post). Also, I planned mostly crock pot meals for Wednesday so that I have less to deal with the night before CC.

12 Week Dinner Menu
If you look at my list, it may seem a bit odd- only 6 days and starting with Saturday, but we shop of Fridays, so my week, as far as meal planning goes, starts on Saturday. Also, we usually eat dinner with friends of Friday nights, so I don't plan anything for dinner on Fridays.

I also have a rotating, 4 week breakfast/snack/lunch schedule.
Breakfast, snacks and lunch

I will add that when I made both of these list I had not intended to share them, so there are some dinners with no sides listed and maybe they could be laid out better, but this is what worked for me, so I am sharing in hopes that maybe it will inspire you or help you to make your own menus. I really has free up a lot of time that I used to spend trying to figure out what to eat each week!

I also have a master grocery list as well. I made this list based on the things that I most frequently buy, and according to where they are found in the stores I shop. There are always things to be written in, and it needs occasional tweaking, like my BJ's list has juice on it, but we are no longer buying juice, but I find it makes creating a grocery list just that much easier. I made my list in Excel and it does not come across right on Scribd, but it is specific to our family and the things that we buy each shopping trip anyway, and really, I think it is something best made up on your own, to suite your family :)

I hope that some of this is helpful/encouraging to some of you, I confess I am feeling a bit insecure about sharing all this, I am no expert and it is far from perfect... I think I better just hit publish before I change my mind!