Menu planning for your family can be completed quickly and without fuss, if you set yourself up a process to follow. I like to make sure all the family is involved for a couple of reasons:
- The more involved the kids are with choosing the meals, the more likely they are too eat them without fuss.
- It gives the kids an insight to the work that goes behind getting a meal to the table
- It saves me time!
The video below explains the steps I take and shows how it can indeed be done in 30 minutes. The steps are written in brief under the video.
| Step No. | Action |
|---|---|
| 1. | Gain children's input and husband's input. 4 meal selections per child. No meal to be repeated more than twice. We use a basic template to write this down which you can download here - Monthly Menu Plan Template (including kid's input table). |
| 2. | Create matrix of activity and meal requirements for each day of the week. For example nights when we are busy, I will choose a meal that can be prepared earlier in the day, like a slow cooker meal. On the weekend I will allocate a meal I know my husband or kids can cook to give me a break from cooking. |
| 3. | From the list of meals chosen by the family, allocate them across the days of the month, according to the matrix, eg slow cooker meals on days I need to make a meal ahead. |
| 4. | Create weekly shopping lists using either of the tools below: |
| 5. | Print out your shopping lists including menu plans for the week and know that you don't have to think about what is for dinner for another month! |
Example Monthly Menu Plans
The menu plans below are the ones I created in this video. The shopping list PDFs have been added at the end of each weekly plan. Please note when you create the menu plans in the Planning With Kids Menu Planner App, the app only allows you to plan from Monday to Sunday. I plan from Saturday to Friday, so Monday in the PDFs is really Saturday for us and so on.
Day | Week Commencing 6th April |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sat |  | Tacos |
| Sun |    | Roast chicken and vegetables English muffin pizza Oat and seed lunchbox slice |
| Mon |  | Fried rice |
| Tue |  | Slow cooker spaghetti bolognese |
| Wed | Left overs | |
| Thu |  | Chicken schnitzel and vegetables |
| Fri |  | Scrambled eggs and tomatoes |
| Shopping List | Weekly menu plan shopping list for 6th April 2013 | |
Day | Week Commencing 13th April |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sat |  | Souvlaki |
| Sun |    | Sausage and veg Banana cake Chicken balls |
| Mon |  | Baked penne pasta |
| Tue |  | Mexibake |
| Wed |  | Beetroot soup |
| Thu | | Chicken schnitzel and vegetables |
| Fri |  | Chicken wings, baked potatoes and steamed corn |
| Shopping List | Weekly menu plan shopping list for 13th April 2013 | |
Day | Week Commencing 20th April |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sat |  | Sweet chilli chicken wraps |
| Sun |    | Lamb chops and vegetables Sushi White chocolate chip and raspberry cookies |
| Mon | Slow cooker beef stroganoff | |
| Tue |  | Quick tuna rice |
| Wed | Left overs | Tomato and coconut soup |
| Thu | | Chicken schnitzel and vegetables |
| Fri |  | Fish burgers |
| Shopping List | Weekly menu plan shopping list for 20th April 2013 | |
Day | Week Commencing 27th April |
|
|---|---|---|
| Sat | | Tacos |
| Sun |    | Marinated steak and garlic mash Egg and bacon tarts Lemon and chia muffins |
| Mon |  | Fried rice |
| Tue |  | Pumpkin soup |
| Wed | Left overs | |
| Thu | | Sausage and veg |
| Fri | | Chicken wings, baked potatoes and steamed corn |
| Shopping List | Weekly menu plan shopping list for 27th April 2013 | |
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