Menu Planning revisited

Early in the life of this blog I complained that I had a hard time making up grocery lists before going to the store. Jim's sister, Julie, came to my aid with some tips and advice on how she makes the job a bit more manageable (including a delicious recipe for Calzones). I'd post the reference, but I'm too lazy to look it up this morning.

A few weeks ago my friend Melanie gave me a wonderful tool that has made my menu planning and grocery list making so much easier. It's so simple it'll probably make me sound a bit ridiculous. Believe me, I don't mind at all. It's so funny how some things are so obvious I would probably never figure them out on my own in a million years.

It's a calendar: a little pocket calendar with just enough room to write out what I plan to cook each night. Here's why I think this tool is actually working for me. There's something magical about having someone hand you something and tell you, "Here. I thought you could use this to write out your menu plans."

Writing out a menu plan on a calendar is certainly not a new idea. It's isn't even new to me. How many of my friends, including my mother, have suggested such a thing over the years? Not to mention books that I have read. Only now I actually have a calendar that is dedicated only to that purpose. And you know what? It's actually working for me.

How suggestible I am, my husband might point out.

Here's how it's working for me so far:

Most of the time I'm only writing down main courses. I don't often have the presence of mind to plan out the entire meal before I head to the grocery store. For side items, I try to keep certain staples in the house (potatoes, frozen vegetables, rice), and perhaps a few days after I have listed out my main courses I can go back in and add sides to the plan. I might buy lettuce at the store on a whim or I might not. I have a love/hate relationship with lettuce.

The first two week plan was so easy it was ridiculous. There were several dishes I knew that I tended to make over and over, and so it was easy for me to write those down. The second two week plan was a little harder because I needed to be a little more creative. Next time I may simply repeat my first two week plan, but spend some time thinking about what other recipes I might add to my repertoire. That seems like a more manageable plan than trying to come up with my whole entire kitchen life all at once.

The other way in which the calendar is making my life easier is this: having a menu plan has provided other opportunities to make my cooking life a little easier. Marla Cilley of Flylady.com always says to decide in the morning what you are going to do for dinner that night. Now that I have a menu plan listed on my calendar it is so much easier for me to remember to take the meat out of the refrigerator to thaw. I can even chop up onions early if I feel up to it. And so far, we've only had to make a McDonald's run once, and only once have I cooked a frozen pizza off schedule. So far, so good. I hope that I can keep it up, but so far it seems entirely manageable.