I honestly don't know how people can do dinner every night without a menu plan! It may just be me. I have to have a plan and recipe for almost everything I cook. My husband Kyle can just open up the pantry and refrigerator and whip up a 3 course gourmet meal. It's annoying but at the same time awesome! I do wish I could provide 'made from scratch' meals like that for my family but God did not bless me with cooking skills!
Here's how I plan our meals:
I use these cute menu planning sheets to write everything out. Since we homeschool, I try to plan breakfast, lunch and dinner. (I am also not a mom that does hot breakfast. I stay up late waiting for Kyle to get home from work so we sleep in in the morning! The boys must fend for themselves most mornings.) I also try and plan snacks. With 4 boys, someone is always hungry!
I use several sources for recipes. One of my new favorites is Pinterest. SO many great food ideas! Several of the dinner and lunch ideas I have in the photo are from Pinterest. My favorite this month are the pizza rolls (so awesome with homemade ranch!). I also use several blogs, such as Heavenly Homemakers, which has lots of healthy-ish and organic recipes. (I am not an organic mom by any means, but I try here and there to buy less processed food and make more things from scratch). I also like Pioneer Womans website for recipe ideas, like the Marlboro Man Sandwich (which we call Cowboy sandwiches). I also have several cookbooks I'll refer to every once in a while.
I'll just make my grocery list from the recipes listed on the planner and then I am ready to go! I make little checkmarks in the boxes after I have made sure I have written down all the ingredients for that dinner. Menu planning Works for Me!
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