Dinner

Now when most think of menu planning they think of planning dinners. I have posted my menu plans for both breakfast and dinner too! I suggest that you do that as well, it really saves time, money and stress.

Dinner is the most time consuming part of my planning. This is the meal that my whole family is usually here for. I don't make extra special meals, or difficult meals. I try to make stuff that they will eat and is good for them, which is actually kind of hard sometimes.

The first thing I do when menu planning is look at a calendar (duh, right?). But remember I am planning for the next three months, so that is July, Aug, and Sept. When I look at the calendar, I need to think about what is coming up as far as holidays, birthdays, and any other special day. For us, there is the 4th of July (which we are going to a friend's house), also the boys and I will be out of town from July 20-23 (so meals won't be needed on those nights), the hubs and I are celebrating our anniversary Aug 2 (so mac and cheese that night for the little ones), and my oldest little boy has a birthday September 18, and his party will be the 13th-14th. I highlight all those days and fill in those meals first. Then I just start filling things in. There really isn't a right or wrong to this. Whatever you like, just remember to use your color coding when doing this so it is easy for you to see if you need to defrost anything (meat) a day or two ahead of time. When I am doing this, I go though and put in all the beef first, then pork, then chicken, ect. That way I am less likely to put back to back meals.

Here are the meals for the next 3 months. Look soon to see the shopping list, and learn how I accomplish that one...