For some strange reason, I'm in the mood to blog about menu-planning. I've spent years trying to get a handle on mealtimes, and while I have a long way to go to consider this "conquered", I have had a few things that have worked for me at various times along the way.
Awhile back, I used Deals to Meals menu-planning service for several years. Deals to Meals is awesome because it coordinates your meals with what's on sale at your local grocery stores that week. It is available in a number of states and is expanding all the time. Most of the recipes were absolutely delicious. My family probably enjoyed these meals more than any other service I've tried. Deals to Meals also has lots of food storage information and help as well as a great blog with recipes and tips. This is not a free service, I believe it runs about $5-$7/month, which is way less than the amount of money you save. The drawbacks are that it only includes dinners (and I think only covers 5 dinners a week, I could be wrong on that because it's been awhile) and that the meals are fairly time-consuming to prepare.
This past year I've mainly been coming up with my own menus, but here's how I've done it fairly easily: I've been making 4-week seasonal menus that I rotate through. So I've had a fall menu, winter menu, spring menu, etc. Each menu had four weeks' worth of dinners (main dishes only), and then I would start over again until the next season came. I further simplified things by designating certain nights, such as Monday=Mexican food, Tuesday=soup night, Wednesday=breakfast-for-dinner, etc. Friday and Saturday are always kids' choice, and I had each child choose their four favorite dinners and we just rotate through them.
But recently I discovered another AWESOME mealtime resource: The Better Mom Bi-Weekly Menu Plans. I just started using this resource this past grocery trip. I'm interested in cooking with whole foods, and that is what these menus are all about. All the recipes are healthy and many are gluten-free or can be made so easily. The plusses to this service: 1) it's free, 2) it includes breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, unlike any other menu plan I've ever seen, 3) all the recipes use only whole foods, NO convenience foods whatsover, though you could substitute some where desired--for example, there are even recipes to make your own salad dressings, tortillas, etc. are included, 4) each day it tells you what you will need to prepare ahead of time and what you can get ready for the next day's meals. The recipes are also great to use multiple foods for more than one meal--for instance you make grilled chicken one day and it specifically tells you to make extra for two other day's lunches that week. Or, you make biscuits for dinner and then it has you use the extras for breakfast the next morning. 5) All the recipes are linked right there so you can save them or print them out.
The only "drawbacks" that I can see are that there is a lot of cooking involved (because everything is from scratch) and there will be some extra costs associated with buying specialty foods, things like spelt and almond flours, sucanat (a natural alternative to refined sugar), etc. I supposed you don't have to buy the special ingredients, you can just use your normal flours, white sugar, etc.... but for me the big advantage is that I WANT to start incorporating these things and just need a resource to show me how.
The recipes seem to be pretty family-friendly and not too terribly weird. That's another plus!
Awhile back, I used Deals to Meals menu-planning service for several years. Deals to Meals is awesome because it coordinates your meals with what's on sale at your local grocery stores that week. It is available in a number of states and is expanding all the time. Most of the recipes were absolutely delicious. My family probably enjoyed these meals more than any other service I've tried. Deals to Meals also has lots of food storage information and help as well as a great blog with recipes and tips. This is not a free service, I believe it runs about $5-$7/month, which is way less than the amount of money you save. The drawbacks are that it only includes dinners (and I think only covers 5 dinners a week, I could be wrong on that because it's been awhile) and that the meals are fairly time-consuming to prepare.
This past year I've mainly been coming up with my own menus, but here's how I've done it fairly easily: I've been making 4-week seasonal menus that I rotate through. So I've had a fall menu, winter menu, spring menu, etc. Each menu had four weeks' worth of dinners (main dishes only), and then I would start over again until the next season came. I further simplified things by designating certain nights, such as Monday=Mexican food, Tuesday=soup night, Wednesday=breakfast-for-dinner, etc. Friday and Saturday are always kids' choice, and I had each child choose their four favorite dinners and we just rotate through them.
But recently I discovered another AWESOME mealtime resource: The Better Mom Bi-Weekly Menu Plans. I just started using this resource this past grocery trip. I'm interested in cooking with whole foods, and that is what these menus are all about. All the recipes are healthy and many are gluten-free or can be made so easily. The plusses to this service: 1) it's free, 2) it includes breakfast, lunch, AND dinner, unlike any other menu plan I've ever seen, 3) all the recipes use only whole foods, NO convenience foods whatsover, though you could substitute some where desired--for example, there are even recipes to make your own salad dressings, tortillas, etc. are included, 4) each day it tells you what you will need to prepare ahead of time and what you can get ready for the next day's meals. The recipes are also great to use multiple foods for more than one meal--for instance you make grilled chicken one day and it specifically tells you to make extra for two other day's lunches that week. Or, you make biscuits for dinner and then it has you use the extras for breakfast the next morning. 5) All the recipes are linked right there so you can save them or print them out.
The only "drawbacks" that I can see are that there is a lot of cooking involved (because everything is from scratch) and there will be some extra costs associated with buying specialty foods, things like spelt and almond flours, sucanat (a natural alternative to refined sugar), etc. I supposed you don't have to buy the special ingredients, you can just use your normal flours, white sugar, etc.... but for me the big advantage is that I WANT to start incorporating these things and just need a resource to show me how.
The recipes seem to be pretty family-friendly and not too terribly weird. That's another plus!
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