Family Menu Planning

Thinking about what to cook every day is a daunting task for most women. Many times, women spend most of their time in the shopping market thinking about what groceries to buy, and end up with a whole lot of stuff in the fridge and kitchen cupboard which they finally throw away. It also leads to a waste of time and more importantly, money. Thus, it is very important to be organized in this matter, and the easiest way of doing this is by family menu planning.

How to Prepare a Menu Plan for your Family?

Family menu planning is a way of deciding and organizing what the family should eat for a fixed period of time. First, one must decide what kind of family menu planning would work for one's family. It can be on a weekly or monthly basis. One should create a menu plan as per one's requirements and convenience. Many shopping malls, offer sale on groceries and food items on some particular days of the week. You can plan out your family menu plan according to that. First of all, check your fridge and cupboard and make a list of things that is available with you. As per this, make out a list of dishes that you are going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week. Then make your grocery list of what you would need for your menu plan. Doing this every time before you go to the grocery shop would help in cutting down on your expenses, and also save the frequent trips you make to the grocery store.

Making a good family meal plan will require at least 1½ - 2 hours of your time. Many people think that this is a hassle and hence avoid doing it. However, in reality this is not the case. We may think that we do not have 2 hours to waste, but actually it is a big time saver. Once you make the list, you just have to go once to the grocery store to buy your provisions. It also rescues one from the dilemma of deciding what to make each day. It gives you more cooking time and allows you to prepare a nutritious diet for your family. Once you get used to the weekly plan, you can also go in for monthly menu planning.

Before starting to make the plan, think about which days you would be very busy and which you would have less work. If you usually have to stay late at your work place on Thursdays, plan out certain easy dinner ideas or eating out on Thursdays. As everyone is at home on Saturdays and Sundays, put in some special dishes on your menu plan for these days. You may also need a menu plan for holiday cooking as the kids would be at home the whole day. However, it is important to remember that though there are certain rules in menu planning, your meal plan should be flexible too. If on some day, you have to do overtime at work or you fall sick, you can exchange that day's menu with some other day.

If you are not comfortable with weekly or monthly menu planning, you can opt for a single day family menu plan. Here, you can check what is left over in the refrigerator and make your meal plans accordingly. Another way of making a family menu plan is by inculcating a rotating menu plan. In this, you have to list 10-20 recipes and repeat them throughout a week or month.

Whichever family menu planning method you choose, the result would be that you no longer have to worry about daily meals. It is also one of the best ways of giving your family a healthy diet and teaching good eating habits to your kids.