Weekly Menus

When I was working full time I did not always have a good handle on purchasing food for our evening meals. We were like a lot of people. Greg and I both would run by the grocery store on our way home from work every night to pick up items we needed. Then we would run home to cook dinner. It became sort of comical because my husband and I think very much alike. So many times, when we brought our purchases home we would discover we had picked up many of the same items. I knew right then, I needed to get a handle on grocery shopping. I created a weekly menu and it would get posted on the refrigerator in a magnetic backed acrylic frame.  ( see the photos below for samples) I would use the menu to create a grocery shopping list and all four of us go to the grocery store to purchase everything we needed for the week.

I saved all of our menus over the years in a folder. Now, when I get stuck for new menu ideas I just pull out the file and browse through them. I must admit we have had some great weekly menus through the years. It was always fun to see what borders would show up on the menus. They would be seasonal or they might be a Happy Birthday border if one of us was celebrating a birthday that week. There were times when Greg would type the menu for me. His were always very creative. He always added a lot of graphics.

I wanted our girls to feel they were part of the weekly planning so I would get menu ideas from everyone. I quickly realized this was going to be a fun learning experience for Katy and Jenny. Since they were young they thought it was a cool and fun thing to do. It also got them interested in menu planning. They were learning how to plan well balanced nutritious meals. The girls were always so proud of themselves the night their meal was prepared. They were always so helpful in the kitchen.

Do you have a unique menu planning idea? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear about it.

Until next time.....