When I sat down to plan the meals for this week, I realised that this week would see the start of August. For me, this year August has particular significance as I am doing the 30 Day Challenge in this month. I won’t bore you with the details, other than to say that it is an Internet Marketing Course that will require a chunk of my time every day for the entire month.
It is going to be a lot of work, so to prevent myself from meltdown because of overload, last week and for the remaining time until the challenge starts, I am trying to get as organised as possible.
A major part of this was to menu plan for all of August and the first week of September (will probably be exhausted by them!). I also used a slightly different style of planning because it was for such a long period of time. I was reminded of this process by Small Town Blessings.
Basically you allocate a style of meal to each day and then make your selections from this criteria. For the month of August, I am keeping it very simple, no new recipes, just tried and tested home favourites.
The plan I used was:
Monday – Prepare ahead meal
Tuesday – Pasta based meal
Wednesday – Rice based meal
Thursday – Big dish (has left over potential like soups, casseroles etc)
Friday – Left Overs (by the end of the week, I will need a night off.)
Saturday – Mexican
Sunday – Meat and Veg
So for this week, this means:
Monday – Shepherd’s Pie
Baking – Chocolate Balls
Tuesday – Fettuccine Carbonara
Wednesday – Chicken Korma
Thursday – Tuna Rice
Friday - Left Overs
Saturday – Mexibake
Sunday – Sausages and Vegetables
Again, I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.
0728 Menu Plan and Shopping List
It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.
The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.
The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.
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For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.
{ 5 comments }
Oh wow – good luck with that 30-day challenge. I’m doing the August Declutter Challenge on my blog and I was so hoping you’d join in…. Oh well.
But I do love how you’ve planned your meals for the month – hats off to you!
And your blog is lovely and uncluttered – just beautiful!
Marcia (Organising Queen)s last blog post..Menu Plan Monday 28 July – 3 days to go til the ADC!
I like the idea of theme nights to help with the planning. How do you plan to make money online? I would like to know also. (I just found it in the 30 day challenge)
Organizing Mommys last blog post..Menu Planning for July 28-Aug. 3, 2008 and public speaking adventures..
Good luck with your 30 day challenge, and thanks for the comment on my blog
I just love Shepherd’s pie..yum… I’d so love to make money at home too.have a great week
Michelles last blog post..McKenna’s First Cup Of Tea….
I LOVE anything with the word “planning” in it! I am visiting from Org Junkie and really like it here. I will be back often to see what new planning tips you’ll have.
Jen
http://www.ListPlanIt.com
List Mamas last blog post..List of Things to Do to Prepare for your Yearly Exam
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