Second step to menu planning

Now that you have successfully made your menu list, it is time to tackle making a menu. I have several suggestions. The first one is to download an empty calendar for the month and fill in the calendar with things off of your list you would like to make. You can also use many of the online menu planners that can help with managing your menu and your grocery list. You can plan your menu from things you already have in your freezer or pantry or plan your menu and make a grocery list of the things you need to purchase for the things on your monthly menu. Another suggestion is to plan a six week or eight week menu plan and rotate it. Start with week one and go through week eight and then start over with week one again. This seems to be successful because most people eat a lot of the same things over and over again anyway. You can also make just a weekly menu. Make sure you add in the times you are planning to eat out for a special occasion or date night and also add items you would like to try. After trying something new, if it is successful, add it to your permanent menu list or discard it as tried, but not successful.

When I plan my menu I try to use variety. As you have seen from our menu list, we eat a lot of chicken. It might look deceiving like we don't have a lot of variety because we eat mostly chicken, but we really do eat quite a range of food. I like to do maybe a comfort food dish one night, a Mexican dish one night, an Italian dish one night and maybe a beef dish one night. I try not to do the same type of food two nights in a row so we do have a greater variety. You can get creative on how you plan your menu, but if you know what you are having for dinner before you go out the door for the day, your day will run much smoother. How easy is that?