Meal Plan Part 3 - Putting It All Together!
I was determined to get a meal plan organized for my household before my maternity leave came to an end. With a toddler to include in mealtime and a baby to distract from mealtime, I felt it was important to have an organized method to go about getting us all fed a decent meal each night. No more coming home and saying, "What's for dinner??"
I am happy to say that our meal plan did indeed get implemented just before my leave came to an end and it has been working great for several weeks now! It makes cooking and grocery shopping alike so much easier!
I'm going to present our meal plan to you in 3 parts.
You can find Part 1 here: Recipe Book.
And Part 2 here: Menu Board.
This is part 3!
So where are all of these meal ideas coming from that we're writing on the menu board and finding in the recipe book?
Wellllllll...
From my master list of dinner recipes!
But let me back up just a bit for a moment.
Back in July I mentioned that I was working on organizing our household and shared the above picture with you. Every.Single.One. of the above items has played a major factor in that.
You may recognize the dry erase sheets. The rest include (from left to right) a new coupon book, a store loyalty/gift card holder, a flippable paper pad, and a magnetic organizer.
What I won't be focusing on in this post are the coupon book and gift card holder, but believe me when I say they have helped immensly in my organizing, and indirectly in my meal planning.
Okay, back to the meal plan master list.
I sat down and wrote out all of the meals that I currently make and otherΒ meals that we enjoy but rarely eat because A) I forget about them or B) they are buried in the piles of recipe books we own.
I came up with 40 meals!
28 for me toΒ cook...
...and 12 for the hubs to cook!
Oh yes, my friends, daddy does NOT get out of cooking around here.
He actually enjoys it so its not that much of a chore for him. So he is responsible for at least 1 meal per week.
The flippableΒ pad contains all of the ingredients needed for each recipe. It.Is.Awesome!
I use this to make my grocery list each week. It has made everything soooo easy!
The numbered master meal list transfers well to theΒ ingredient list. Each set of ingredients is super easy to find via the number system. In the above top photo you can see that I also wrote the number and name of the recipe in the colored tab. It makes flipping through the book to find what I'm looking for very simple.
I also have left myself open to finding new recipes to try and possibly even add to the master menu list. If I happen to feel like I have some extra time when I'm planning the week's meals (which is usually on Sunday) I can go in search of one of the multiple recipes I have bookmarked on the internet.
Now maybe those numbered tabs make a little more sense on my recipe book. π
Remember its full of the recipes that I don't have memorized.
Here is the set up in my kitchen.
(Don't pay any attention to the actual decor on the walls or shelves. I'm still in the processing of decorating!)
The first arrow points to where my meal master list and ingredient book live.
The second arrow points to my recipe book.
The third arrow points to my menu board.
So let's do a recap of the items needed for my meal plan...
1. Master List of Meals
2. Ingredient Book (from Target)
3. Dry Erase Marker & Eraser
4. Magnetic Organizer (from Michael's?)
5. Recipe Book
6. Menu Board (from JoAnn's)
You may have noticed I only chose 5 mealsΒ for my menu plan, and they aren't assigned toΒ a particular day of the week. Things come up. Plans change. By only choosing 5 meals a week and planning the day before which to eat, it leaves our schedule flexible since you never know what may come up. Plus, we are bound to have leftovers from one or more of the meals so no need to planΒ new meals for 7 days a week!
So this meal plan took quite a bit of initial investment of time, but now putting together our dinner plans has become a cinch!
What do you think? Is this something you could use for your family?
Is it adaptable for your use?
What would you do different?
I'm curious to know what you think about it!
And it appears the overwhelming decision from y'all is to go with no trim on the pantry door!
So that's how I'm going to leave it for now. Once I get the black knobs on and paint the hinges we may give it another look, but with the holidays coming up before long, that project is probably a little ways off. π
Great system it is, Where did you get the gift card holder? I definitely like the door without the trim. It is eye catching and looks beautiful.
doğumgünü hediyesi
What a fabulous idea! I already made a dry erase board for my meals and was trying to figure out how to better organize things. Thanks for the ideas!
I have a similar system in place. The one difference is that I break down my shopping list into non perishables that I can buy in one big monthly shop, and then 4-5 smaller weekly shopping trips. If something I usually buy in the monthly shop is not available, or the price isn't to my liking, I can hold off till next week or the week after to see if I can get a coupon, or if I can it on special in another store.
Michelle, I love the idea of the master list and flip book with the recipes. I am on a productivity kick right now and this is something I know I would like to try!
I hope you can join us at It’s a Wrap Link Party at Artful Rising with your great post.
I'm still trying to work out a menu planning system that works for me. This has given me a few more ideas. Thanks!
I love the little flip notepad with all of your ingredients listed--- that would be a BIG help with grocery shopping. Found you @ Tip Junkie. π
Brilliant! I will have to get cooperation from my guys that they will actually eat. NOT fond of veggies or fruit. Can we say boring, unhealthy meals? Just might give it a try, though. I love easy!
Janet
Amazing! I did the exact same thing but not as crafty as you. I just went back to work after having my first baby, and had I not done this I don't know if I could of got dinner on the table. I do mine on a monthly and it has saved my life! Thanks for the inspiration I want to make mine as nice as yours I just print a crapy calendar and stick it to the fridge lol
No trim!
I am big on meal planning, but I just love your "next step" of making a master meal list with recipies. That is awesome! And you have done it in such a cute way!
Got inspired
Inspiring!! Thank you!~
So glad you shared this at this week's BFF Open House. You need to patent this system. Next stop...QVC!
All three posts are so full of good ideas! Great system! A good reminder that I really need to get control of my recipes again.
How organized! I love how you use those together!
I love how everything goes together! That would make me excited for meal planning. π
What a fabulous system you and I love the color of your kitchen area!
Gotta tell ya - the hubs is NOT allowed to cook around here unless it is grilling. π
I think your idea is amazing, and is put together beautifully. I could really use something like this in my own meal planning. I was wondering, though, since I am a major coupon and budget shopper, do you have a way that you coordinate your meals with what's on sale at the grocery store? Or do you just say "this is what we're having" and then buy all the ingredients at regular price if you have to? I can't decide if it would be easier to have the meals already planned out, or try to plan the meals around the grocery store ads, etc. Seems like a lot to keep track of.
I think your idea is fabulous, though, and I am very impressed with how you have it organized! Thank you for sharing. Love your kitchen, by the way.
I love how organized you are! I finally started using a dry erase board for meal planning, but thinking that I may have to try the recipe book idea.
And just looking at the photos of the doors alone, I would say no trim, but you could pull it off with the black decor you have on the walls. So, basically, I'm of no help to you on that one π
WOW! Michele, this is incredibly genius! I need to do this--I need to make a master list of all my recipes. Love that you have an ingredient list. So so smart.
This is some seriously creative organization Michele!! Plus it's cute too! (I always feel better when my organization is cute. I'm shallow that way. π
I love the system with your master list and having it paired to you ingredients list. That is genious!!
Wonderful idea!!! Are you for hire - could you come to my house and do the same thing? π Love the idea of having your favorite recipes in their own book. We have so many cookbooks with pages turned down or flagged, but I can't keep up with what recipes are in each book!
Great job!
Wow!! Props to your MAD organizational skills! I think lots of working moms, new moms, and disorganized women (like ME!) will find this uber-useful. The best part is how adaptable it is. I've been using tools from http://www.5dollardinners.com, which have been super handy, but your posts kinda tie it all together. As for the dry-erase sheets, I vote for No-Trim.
This is genius Michele!
Great system! Love it! Where did you get the gift card holder? I definitely like the door without the trim. It just blends better to the eye. Just my opinion though!
what a wonderful idea! my husband and i are moving out of my parents' house (which has set us way back in the figuring-out-what-we like-to-eat-that's-not-from-a-restaurant path so now that we'll have our own kitchen in just a couple of months (halleluja!) i'll definitely have to implement a master list and plan out meals. thanks! oh, and i love the whiteboard door panels. i think they're super neat!