Methods of meal planning...

I'm not quite sure what's right for me yet. I'll write all the ways I've come up with. Right now I'd say I'm more random than anything because I have so much food in this house! BUT since it becomes over-whelming I've been going with the weekly themes.

Different ways to meal plan

-Randomly: Based on what you already have in your house that you need/want to use up so you can save time and money.

-Weekly Ethnic Themes: Such as Mexican Monday, Asian Sunday, Italian Tuesday, etc.

-Weekly Food Themes: Such as Meatless Monday, Chicken Sunday, Soup/Salad Saturday, etc.

-Focused around 1 ingredient: Example- if you find a great price on a Value Pack of chicken breasts then incorperate a lot of chicken into all your weekly meals (lunches aaaand dinners!)

-By Cooking Method: Such as Grilling Friday, Oven Saturday, Slowcooker Sunday, Panini-Press Tuesday, etc.

-By Adjective: Such as Crunchy Thursday (maybe fried chicken), Cold Wednesday (maybe a fresh salad), Warm Friday (which would be anything baked and still warm when it got to the table), you get the idea.

-By Convinience: Busy on Saturdays? Make it Simple Saturday (maybe soup & grilled cheese, or pop a frozen pizza into the oven). Have a little more time on Wednesdays? Make something alittle more special that takes alittle more of your time and preperation.

-By Sales/Coupons: Gather all of your weekly ads (they usually run Wed.-Tue.) and compile your meals based on what's on sale and what you could use coupons on.

Those are all the ways I've come up with... what about all of you fellow food lovers!?

It's an obsession...

I obsess over food, and I obsess over menu planning. I spend hours a day re-arranging my menu plan. I then go to the store everyday to buy more food and have to change my menu plans again. It's a vicious cycle and I need to stop. Menu planning is supposed to be about saving time and money, and actually it's pretty much consuming all of both! I HAVE to plan a weekly menu and stick to it. I just have to! I spend way too much on food and then I'm left over-whelmed by the amount we have to eat (before it goes bad). I'm trying to plan atleast 2-3 weeks in advance for now to make things easier since we have a lot of food here already. I took inventory of everything in the kitchen and came up with dinners using a lot of those ingredients! I'm going to try my hardest to break this cycle of going to the grocery store every day and stick to my menu! Here's my first one on this blog! Wish me luck!

For the week starting 9/28/2011
Wednesday - Burritos (made w/ ground beef)
Thursday - Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo, Homemade Garlic Bread & Salad
Friday - Rotisserie Chicken, Mashed Potatoes & Greenbeans
Saturday - Slow Cooker Chuck Roast, Baked Potatoes, Salad
Sunday - Teriyaki Salmon, White Rice, Salad
Monday - Shredded Salsa Beef Tacos
Tuesday - BBQ Burgers & Fries