Menu Monday + How I Meal Plan {5.2.22}

I asked on Instagram if you all had any questions after reading my DITL post. I thought these two questions would be perfect to answer in today’s Menu Monday post!

• How far ahead do you meal plan?
• Do you meal plan before the week so that you already know what is for supper?

I plan meals for one week at a time, and I always have the weekly plan in place by Monday afternoon. Here’s what I do:

On Friday I look at what I have on hand and come up with a list of meals I can make with those things. I have my Pinterest “Main Dishes” board organized by protein. This makes it easier to come up with a meal idea using what I have on hand.

Sometimes there are meals on the current menu plan that I didn’t end up making, if we went out to eat or had extra leftovers. I’ll move those to the next week – it’s kind of nice when that happens!

I fill my online grocery cart (either Instacart for Aldi or my local grocery store) with the things that are on sale and the other things I know I need. Those items usually help me come up with the rest of the meals for the week including breakfast and lunch.

When I get home from the grocery store, I finish filling out my menu in my planner. Sometimes I have to rearrange or change meal ideas if the store is out of stock on certain things.

As I’m cleaning up the kitchen after supper, I’ll look ahead on my planner to see what I’m making the next day. This helps me to remember if I need to take meat out of the freezer that night or put something in the crock pot the next morning.

I look at the menu again when I come home from work. Most of the meals I fix on weeknights only take 30 minutes, but I like to make sure I’m prepared if something takes a little longer.

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On The Menu

Breakfast:

• Greek Yogurt/Granola/Strawberries
• Breakfast Sandwiches: English Muffins, Eggs, Cheese

Lunch:

• Mom’s Taco Casserole – this reheats really well
• Carrots and Hummus, Cheese and Crackers, Fruit

Supper:

• Scalloped Potatoes and Ham (with leftover Easter ham)/Salad
• BBQ Pork Chops/Mac and Cheese/French Peas
• Monterrey Chicken/Yellow Rice/Salad
• Spaghetti/Caesar Salad with Pickled Red Onions/Naan Bread with Italian Seasoning and Mozzarella Cheese (heated in the oven)
• Ina’s Roasted Turkey Breast (I used a 3 lb. split turkey breast from Ingles)/Mashed Potatoes/Garlic Green Beans
• Leftovers x2