A New Menu Planner
I'm always on the quest to keep things organized. Lately, I've been wanting to get back to planning my meals out on paper, in a more organized fashion. Usually, I brainstorm our basic meals on some scratch paper and then make up my grocery list from that. However, sometimes I get lost in the shuffle of life and forget what I was planning or use up an ingredient that was meant for something else. I had decided that I would just get on the computer and design myself some sort of menu plan sheet to print off post in my pantry. Then I decided to just give a quick look online and see if there was something already made (and free).
Sure enough, there are quite a few! Then, as it turned out I found a free menu planning spreadsheet (here), complete with drop down boxes and such. I was impressed! It's very easy to use and covers all the bases for me to make an intelligent grocery list. Shopping for a family of 7 is not something you can do off the cuff!!
This is a screenshot of what it looks like, although I don't know if you can actually read it well.
I don't actually use the section titled "Grocery List" and am probably going to delete it off mine altogether, but it's there for others.
So, I just thought I'd share what I found, since I think it will be useful to me, maybe it will help you too! Let me know what you use, and if you like it better, why? I know, I'm probably talking to myself though, since I rarely get many people who talk to me here through the comments. A faithful few who let me know they're out there....sigh. :)
Sure enough, there are quite a few! Then, as it turned out I found a free menu planning spreadsheet (here), complete with drop down boxes and such. I was impressed! It's very easy to use and covers all the bases for me to make an intelligent grocery list. Shopping for a family of 7 is not something you can do off the cuff!!This is a screenshot of what it looks like, although I don't know if you can actually read it well.
I don't actually use the section titled "Grocery List" and am probably going to delete it off mine altogether, but it's there for others.
So, I just thought I'd share what I found, since I think it will be useful to me, maybe it will help you too! Let me know what you use, and if you like it better, why? I know, I'm probably talking to myself though, since I rarely get many people who talk to me here through the comments. A faithful few who let me know they're out there....sigh. :)
I used to live by www.mealsmatter.org, but lately I've been just waaaaandering around the store and getting home with, you know, whatever sounded good. Then I stare blankly at the pantry every time I need to prepare a meal.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't working well for a family of 5, I can't suggest it for a family of 7!
I don't know why I've been doing this to myself actually. Writing it down is making me feel pretty bad at my job as shopper and chef!
Cool! I am going to try that link... but, so... do you have to have a certain program to open it and use it? For our meals... we use a lot of the same staples, so we always keep those on hand, and we buy many of them in bulk. So, when a bulk item runs out, it goes onto the Costco list. Bulk items would include things such as: 25 lb. bags of flour, 5 lb. sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, salad dressing, toilet paper etc. We always buy the Costco frozen chicken, the tortilla chips, the tortillas, salsa, cottage cheese, sour cream, BBQ sauce, and many other staples we keep on hand. I make many of the same meals... but I don't repeat them often. Sometimes I menu plan... but to be honest, when we buy our usual staples (which includes vegetables, etc), I can make many, many meals from those. I hope that made sense.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, I always have the things on hand for tacos. We often also use tortillas for quesadillas at lunch time. Every month I buy at least one roast beef. If makes a Sunday roast and then beef stew later that week. So... I kinda don't menu plan, but I can certainly see how I could benefit greatly from it! It would take all of the guess work out of what to prepare for the whole week! Hope I made sense.. I'm super tired right now! Lova ya! Bye!
I had one that I made with a ruler & pencil, but I think the online one looks a little more polished. I'm interested to hear how this works for you!
ReplyDeleteJenny...this opens in MS excel.
ReplyDeleteI too have shopped like you with the basics of bulk, etc. It works usually, but since I like to make new things quite often I have to make sure I'm set up for it ahead of time. I HATE having to "run to the store" to pick up something I forgot.
Charlotte...a ruler and a pencil? Surely there's an iphone app. out there! Say...maybe if you planned your menu better you'd have 8 HOURS to make some apple pecan cobbler/cobblestone?