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{Gluten Free} Meal Plan 9.5.11

menu plan monday

It’s been so crazy busy here the last month or so between traveling to BlogHer, our Maine vacation, my husband being out of town, and the crazy earthquake/hurricane/tornado event. Now that the kids are back in school and normalcy is returning, it’s time to get my life organized again.

I figure meal planning is a good place to start. It saves SO much time and stress, but some people seem intimidated by the idea so I thought I’d give a few helpful hints.

My first tip for successful meal planning is to have a good repertoire of recipes.

My second tip is to get them organized. I love my Recipe Binder. (I have two now — one for dinner related recipes and the other for breakfasts, breads, snacks and desserts.)

homemade recipe cookbooks

Every time I print off a new recipe, I put it in there. If I like it, it stays. If I don’t, I toss it. And when it is time to plan my meals, I just thumb through the one that has dinner recipes (they are sorted by soups, sides, casseroles, and type of meat) and come up with dinners for each night. It takes some work to compile one, but once you have it, it is so much easier to plan meals.

My third tip for successful meal planning is to schedule time to sit down and do it. (Sometimes DOING IT is actually the hardest part!!) I schedule time every Monday morning (choose whatever day works best for you) to make my menu plan and my grocery list.

First I go through my recipes, choose the ones I want to make for the week, and write them down.

Then on another list (I keep those list notepads magnetized to the side of my fridge for this purpose) I write down the ingredients I will need to purchase to make the recipes. That is the start of my grocery list. Before I go to the store, I go thru my fridge and pantry and add things that I have run out of.

Then I go shopping!

I purposefully try to keep Mondays free of appointments and commitments so I can focus on getting my household in order. Mondays are dedicated to laundry, meal planning and grocery shopping (and writing Menu Plan Monday posts, of course!!)

With that said, here is my Menu Plan for this week.

Menu Plan Monday

MONDAY :: Shaved Parmesan Chicken with Lemon Creme, roasted broccoli and rice

shaved parmesan chicken with lemon cream

TUESDAY :: Broccoli Soup and Hot Dogs

broccoli cheese soup

WEDNESDAY :: Shepherd’s Pie and green beans

shepherds pie

THURSDAY :: Pan Roasted Fish with Tomato Confit and Zucchini Pasta

FRIDAY :: Pork Kabobs with red peppers, onions, mushrooms over rice (no pic, sorry!) I marinate my pork cubes in Michael’s Marinade.

We usually eat leftovers or order out on the weekends.

What are you serving up this week??

For more Menu Plans, visit the Menu Plan Monday blog carnival at Organizing Junkie.

Join The Conversation

6 Responses

  1. Menu planning is a big part of my weight loss success. Generally, Sunday mornings my husband and I sit and chat about the upcoming week over coffee. I plan my meals at that time. Our evenings are busy and there are days that are good for cooking and days that are not. I often plan meals that allow me to use leftovers during the week.

    The way that it helps me lose weight is by taking impulse out of the preparation. It also means that I use up the good produce that I buy at market.

  2. Sounds like a yummy week at your house! I need to get back into menu planning. I am usually pretty good about it (sometimes even a month in advance-ish) but over the summer I’ve gotten very lax. Hope it’s a good week!

  3. I too am trying to get back in the menu planning swing of things. Thanks for sharing yours, I’m going to try the chicken and the soup this week!!!

  4. Here’s me at 4 this p.m. : “Oops, forgot to take anything out for dinner.” (It’s Monday so we’re supposed to have meat and salad, and the meat is usually frozen.)

  5. We had smoked chicken yesterday. Tacos today. Potato/corn chowder tomorrow (pretending it is fall). Grilled pork tenderloin Thursday. Leftovers Friday. Tailgating Saturday!

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