This past week has been a bad week for meal planning in our home. I am not sure if it was Mothers Day last weekend or the endless rain. Never the less  my meal planning went off the rails and it has been a week of lunches that were very creative to say the least and some meals that were nothing short of a miracle to pull together…from a few loaves and yes some fish.

I can’t over stress the importance of Meal Planning for your HEALTH, your pocketbook and your time.

Today I will be getting back to Meal Planning and the comfort I feel from having this important plan in place.

To help you with your meal planning I am going to share my most recent article from my Organize series for the the ST Croix Courier paper based in St Stephen NB, Canada.

The subject of meals and meal planning is a constant source of conversation and anxiety for most families. Mainly because the thought of making a decision every night about what to eat can make you want to reach for the phone and call for take out.

How do you get out of this expensive, unhealthy cycle of meals on the run?

With a weekly meal menu! The Meal Plan is the ultimate solution to make life run smoothly.

The few hours spent making up a menu plan will save hours of time and frustration, money and loads of calories. The time spent will also pay of in the long run; imagine coming home every evening knowing what is on the menu for that day!

The menu’s can be as simple or as complex as you want; including only suppers or adding in lunches as well as morning and afternoon snacks. A menu reduces the end of the day stress of trying to figure out what you’re going to eat and it makes grocery shopping so much easier. One trip a week with a list in hand can save lots of money as well. If you are a parent, a menu is also a great way to get the rest of the family involved too. Older children can begin preparations before parents get home at the end of the day and enlisting their help with making school lunches helps this chore become a breeze.

SIMPLE steps to successful Meal Planning:

• Involve all family members, set aside some time, and brainstorm.
• To help in the brainstorm process, make a list of common foods and favorite family meals.  If you want to change your eating habits get some cook books or look online for ideas and commit to being adventurous with something new each week.
• Take the time to make a master list of all the types of food, and then you can mix and match and change things up by changing how it is prepared.  For example- hamburger can be made into spaghetti sauce, Sheppard’s pie, tacos, lasagna or just plain hamburgers.  Pork can mean pork chops, tenderloins, ham or bacon.

Make the Main Dish…the Main Dish:

Start with main dishes and then add side dishes, remember to use leftovers in your plan for lunches and quick meals. If you have meetings, events or kids activities that limit your meal time note them in your plan and add quick meals on those days.

Once you have an idea of the meals you want to include in your menu use a menu template and fill it in.  Here is a simple plan that you can copy and use over and over, just follow this link to get the Menu Plan Template

Side dishes can add spice to your menus:

When planning side dishes think variety. Rice dishes, potatoes dishes, vegetables, salads and pastas. Change it up during the week and enjoy new things.

As you create new weekly plans save then and once you have 6 weeks of menu planning you can reuse, recycle and revamp so you are not starting from scratch each time.  You can also have season specific menus as summer and winter eating does differ.

Sometimes you need to use time to save time. By spending a little time every six weeks planning your menu you will save hours of time, tons of cash , frustrations and possibly some calories too.

Here’s to a happy healthy menu!

Here is my personal favorite for keeping this BUSY mom sane and on top of an important task….Meal Planning

From corporate boardrooms to casual gatherings the Meal Plan is always a hot topic. A casual mention of a weekly meal routine and I have everyone’s attention. The kitchen really is the heart of the home and when this room rocks it sets the stage for success for the whole day.

You will find success in the kitchen with a few very easy meal planning techniques that work well for our family and can work in yours too.

Meal planning for the busy family needs to meet these minimum standards…

• To save valuable time you need quick dinner ideas.
• To save money and add convenience to you need to have easy dinner ideas.
• To provide energy and vitality you need to have healthy dinner ideas.

Organizing is all about planning.

Here are 3 steps to ensure meal planning success.

1. Family Meeting Time-Get the family together and ask what each person’s favorite weekly meal choices would be. Make sure the choices meet the meal planning standards! Create a master list of all the choices for breakfast, lunches, dinner and even snacks…this is also helpful for those school lunches. This list can be added to as new meal items are tried, tested and given a thumbs up.
2. Master Meal List- With the list of possible menu items in hand it is time to pull the weekly meal menu together. This can be as simple as a calendar with the healthy, quick easy meal items written in the spaces or you can go virtual with a handy meal planning tool like the one mentioned in this blog post. Post the menu in a spot where everyone can see it and you may be surprised when you head to the kitchen one morning to find that someone has already started the meal…really…kids and significant others do want to participate…let go…you can do it!
3. Grocery Shopping- With a week of meal ideas in hand it is now time to grab the weekly flyers and map out the plan of attack. By paying attention to weekly specials and deals you can stretch your grocery dollars…keeping money in your pocket.

Organizing Today in the Kitchen can save Time, Money and add Convenience to your life.

Have fun…test new recipes…let the kids get involved…make meals a family event.

Here is a video I did years ago…please disregard my suggestion of adding Hot dogs to the meal planning…unless they are vegan….oh what I have learned

Our family…me…has been on a personal mission for years to figure this out. We have so many food allergies and sensitivities in our household that meal planning is just that…a lot of planning. There are times that I want it to be easy but I know that the people I am feeding will suffer. So I keep on keeping on. As I learn more about food from documentaries like Food Inc I have become even more vigilant about what I am preparing for my family.

All of this planning and preparation in the kitchen takes time and energy. Can you feel my excitement about the conversation that happened at the coffee shop today.

While chatting and catching up about the upcoming week the Skipper said ” I feel like wontons”…now being the comedian I am I said” You don’t look like a wonton”…hehehe. I know you were totally expecting that. Yahoo the Skipper has a hankering to cook…which for me is real pleasure. It means that I don’t have to cook tonight and to be honest he is a great cook.

Thankfully we have some leftover pork from the awesome BBQ I did for Sunday’s supper. I love to try new recipes and I found the BBQ Pit Boys and this awesome recipe for BBQ Pork Loin Roast.  I used a tasty naturally raised Pork Loin I picked up on Saturday from Kuinshoeve Meats in Rothesay NB. You can pick up locally raised pork and poultry products, Armadale Dairy products and specialties, such as head cheese and sausages….it is worth the trip if you live in the area.

As I am writing I can hear the whir of the mini chopper as the Skipper is getting the Pork Loin ready to make some yummy Wontons. We like ours boiled and we drizzle soy sauce over them…I am drooling already. Here is a great video I found to help you with your own Wontons. Check it out.

As a side note we will use the leftover pork roast, will omit the salt as the meat was salted for the BBQ on Sunday and we will boil them.

So for less than $14.00 for a small Pork Loin I had enough meat to feed the 4 of us on Sunday and tonight all 5 of us will be enjoying the delicious Wontons made with the Pork leftovers.

Economical, healthy and delicious…what could be better.

When the 3 Muskateers were younger this whole part of my life was easier, we weren’t on the go so much and the kids were actually home at mealtime. Now with a teen and pre-teen and one who thinks he is 30 something I have my work cut out for me.

As someone who loves routine and structure  I am always looking for tools to help me save time, money and reduce stress. Here is my latest find… a new Meal Planning Tool… oh and the story of how I found it… I love telling stories.

This Tuesday while on twitter and participating in gno (girls night out) I had the pleasure of meeting Dawn from @mealplanningmom. She DM’d me and said ” Treat yourself to a free week of recipes @menufortheweek.com”.  I quickly made my way to her website http://www.menufortheweek.com/ to find a solution to the meal issues in my home. I have always worked from a menu so this concept is not new for us but really… I am so bored with our menu’s. Variety is the spice of life and I am looking for variety. Dawn is also sharing time saving money saving secrets. She boasts that the meal plan for a family of 4 will cost on average $12 per meal… I am excited about that alone!

Family Meal Time

My plan for next week is to follow the free meal plan provided and see how that works with our budget, dietary needs (we have a peanut allergy and a dairy allergy.

I hope you all find this site useful and I would love for you to report back on your findings.