My menu planning "board" is actually an upright freezer in our laundry room - but this could easily be made on an old painting from the thrift store, or a canvas from the craft store. I love to use old thrift store paintings for things like this - just cover the original piece with a coat of paint, or even adhesive shelf liner.
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Our Menu "Plan"
This is the same basic menu plan I have used for many years. Things like "Thursday pasta" came from our sons playing football - so we loaded them up on carbs the night before. Having a theme for each night, even if we don't always follow it, helps to narrow down the "whats for dinner" question that can be a little overwhelming at times.
There are several cards under each clip. One card has a list of ideas, the other cards have meals that are either made ahead in the freezer, or we have all the ingredients on hand to make. Each week I flip through the cards and move meals to the front, or I make a new card for something new I want to make that week. That's our menu "guideline" for the week. I may move tacos to Wednesday, or get busy and decide to just have spaghetti on a night I planned to cook something more time consuming.. The menu is a guide, not a set rule. (there's a list of our "menu ideas" by theme, at the bottom of this post.)
The inventory card is a list of things in the freezer. When the local stores like Burkholders have their chicken sales, I buy a case, then sort it out into zip lock bags, seasoning or marinating a lot of it, and making things like chicken cordon bleu, anniversary chicken, and cubed chicken for soups and pastas, all frozen and labeled. The inventory helps me remember what all is still in there.
There's a clip just for recipes that I want to try, and the lower clip has some seasoning packets we bought to try. I'm less likely to forget we have them if they are clipped here, rather than stuck in the pantry.
I rarely make just one casserole. If it can be frozen, any time I make one, I make 2 or 3 and pop the extras in the freezer.
The "base" of our meal plan looks something like this:
Sunday Dinner
Roast, Chicken, Pork loin - mashed or scalloped potatoes, vegetable, stove top stuffing
Lasagna
We go to church on Sunday, so these meals are all set so that they can mostly cook themselves while we are there. Stovetop stuffing and ore ida mashed potatoes (yes - instant potatoes on Sunday) can be made in just a few minutes when we get home.
Whatever meat we have on Sunday influences the rest of the week. Leftover roast may become beef stroganoff, or pot pie, or roast beef sandwiches. Leftover pork may go into carnitas, chicken into a soup or chicken pot pie, etc.
Monday Leftovers
When I say "leftovers" , that could mean a meal I made extra of and froze, or it could mean leftovers in the fridge that I re-purpose into another meal.
If there are no leftovers, or if none of them appeal to us, we grill hamburgs, or have breakfast for dinner.
On Saturdays, Fetters in Milton has any large sub for $6.49. We frequently pick that deal up, and while there we often buy steaks as well. If we did buy steaks, and didn't have them Saturday night, we'll have them on Monday.
Tuesday Taco Night
Enchiladas, taco salad, taco quiche, refried bean soup, carnitas, flautas, burritos, or tacos
We also sometimes do baked potatoes on Tuesdays, with variety of topping options. I may make a meat or sandwich to go with them, or we may just have potatoes.
This week I plan to make cilantro lime chicken tacos on homemade flatbread, with a baja sauce and a three bean salad with tortillas.
Wednesday Casseroles
"casseroles" is a misnomer. Wednesday is my errands day, so what we have is often left up in the air, based on what I find at the market or store that week that looks good. If I know it's a particularly busy Wednesday, it will be something I can throw in the crockpot before I leave for the day. But I keep a list of ideas as well -
Sweet and sour chicken, soulvaki, celine dijon chicken, brasciole, sauerbraten beef, shepherds pie
Thursday Pasta
Ideas - Pork Lo Mein, Rigatoni Casserole, Goulash, Beef Stroganoff, Haluska, Chicken Spaghetti, Turkey Tetrazzini, Chicken alfredo, Carbonara, Spaghetti, Baked Spaghetti, Macaroni and cheese...
Friday Night Pizza Night
Calzones are a staple here. Home made pizza dough, topped with Italian seasoning, garlic, deli ham, pepperoni, and thick layers of provolone and mozzarella cheese. Fold, bake, serve with sauce on the side.
Saturday Soup and Sandwiches
Bear Creek Soups are very good, and pretty cheap at Big Lots. One pack costs around $3 - and all you do is add 8 cups of water. I keep these in the pantry, and they are great for any night I am in a rush
Soups are also great for using up leftovers. I can usually clean out the fridge and make it into a soup of some sort. :-)
Other staples on our menu rotation: French onion, broccoli cheddar, vegetable, chicken noodle, chicken enchilada, sausage tortellini, cheeseburger soup, chili, chicken corn
Sandwiches are rarely lunch meat here. It's not something I typically keep on hand. The exception is deli ham from the cooler section of Sam's club. It's a cheap ham, over in the aisles near the frozen foods, not in the deli aisle. It comes in a two pack and freezes exceptionally well. This is what I use in calzones, and in ham and cheese sliders, or ham bbq. Occasionally I will buy sliced roast beef at the deli, specifically for roast beef sandwiches. I love horseradish and have a ton in my garden, it goes great on roast beef sandwiches.
Other staple sandwiches - Hamburg BBQ ("sloppy joes"), falafel, pulled pork, chicken salad, white castle knock offs.
Lunches For Dan's Work
The freezer in our kitchen, on the side of the fridge, is for meals for Dan to take to work, and ice cream. When I cook supper I always try to cook enough for Dan's lunches, if it is something that will freeze. I stack the meals in containers like tv dinners, putting the latest in the back - so what he takes to work is almost never what we had for supper the night before.
Inside Our Freezer
I know upright freezers are no longer common, but this 1980's montgomery ward freezer still works great, nearly 40 years later. We've been through at least 12 "more energy efficient" chest freezers since 1993, but this freezer my mom gave me, from my childhood, is still going strong. (Many of the chest freezers are used for storage here on the farm, but too many of them were simply trashed, as they were not able to be repaired) It has to be defrosted manually twice a year, but I think it's worth it!
The freezer is sorted into sections - there's a basket of premade foods (the chicken cordon bleu for instance - and that basket it sitting on one of the "emergency lasagnas" always kept in here) one of just meats, one for vegetables, and one for things like frozen french fries and pierogies. The baskets at the top hold cheese, and sweets. When I make doughnuts or muffins, I freeze a bunch in the sweets basket, and we use SO much cheese in this house.. I know it changes the texture to freeze it, but it still works just fine if it's going to be melted into a dish anyway. I frequently buy logs of provolone, and large bags of shredded mozzarella and of cheddar, and then freeze them in quart sized ziplocks.
The door of the freezer holds frozen breakfast foods (waffles, scrambled eggs with peppers and sausage for breakfast burritos, sausages) and fruits that I froze in season. I have too many chickens, so we have a good amount of eggs. Ok, an insane amount of eggs. I give a lot away, but I also scramble and freeze a few dozen each week. They reheat well.
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