How I Menu Plan

My friend Paula asked me a while back how I do my menu planning, so I thought I would share. 

First of all I keep a pad of paper in my kitchen junk drawer.  On this paper as I run out of something, or think of something we need I jot it down on that paper.  It gets pretty messy.  I also have the children and Steven write down anything they are needing from Walmart, such as toiletry items.

The day before I go to do my weekly shopping, I make a weekly menu, this I keep on the side of my fridge.   I sometimes mix the days around as to which night I make which meal, but those meals on that list are the ones I choose from.  Next I go through each meal and check to see what items I need to purchase to make that meal, and which ones I already have and add the items I need to my messy list.

Next I take my messy list and make two new lists.  One for non-food items, or at least for non-food items that are not located in the food section at my Walmart.

Then I make my food list.  I put the items in the order that the store has them, so it is easy for me when I am shopping.  I always start in the produce section, so those items are always first on my list.  Then I go shopping and get what is on my list.

The last thing I do, is daily I put which ever meal I am choosing to make on my little chalk board.  This truly makes it so easy to just glance and know what I am making that evening for dinner.  For certain items such as home made dinner rolls, I do those well before meal time, so it ready to go at dinner.  

This is how I do our weekly menu planning.  It truly makes life so much easier and saves money, because we only purchase what we need for that week.  I hope this post will be helpful to some people.  Have a great almost weekend!!!