Monthly Meal Planning (Tuesday Talk)

Today I thought I'd share an idea that my husband actually created for me; a monthly meal plan. Before this, I would meal plan every weekend and shop on Mondays. I used to dread the actual meal planning process. I don't mind cooking or shopping, but I detest deciding what to fix. He suggested I crate a monthly meal plan using magnets. He related it to the pharmacy technician schedule at work (always rotating but basically staying the same). I could have set meals for each week but also have "subs" at the bottom and switch out as needed. I really thought it was a genius idea and got right to work!

First I wrote down about 20+ meals that my family likes to eat.

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Next I bought a set of circle magnets and a monthly dry erase/magnetic board.

Then I cut squares out of plain white paper.

I wrote the meals (mostly just the main course) on the pieces of paper and taped them to the magnets.

And finally I started arranging them on the calender. I typically only plan 4 meals a week. I work all day Thursday and am not home to cook. And then on the weekends we usually eat leftovers, order pizza, or eat cereal. I created "extras" on the bottom row if we ever decide we don't want the particular assigned meal.

It has really made meal planning so much easier for me. Now I just sit down with the calender on Sunday nights and write out my grocery list. No thinking/planning involved! And remember, ALL of the credit goes to my hubs! Oh, I also love it b/c my daughter never has to ask me what we are having for dinner anymore. She just refers to the calender (excuse the junk mail pile beside it) and knows what to expect.

As always, I'm linking up with Keri, Jessica, Katie, and many more for Tuesday Talk.