Menu Planning

Let's be honest...I am a slacker when it comes to maintaining a blog and I apologize.  I have grand ideas for this blog but lack the energy and desire to share them on a regular basis.  Forgive me.

So, my friend Amanda asked me to share my menu plan.  This plan is a little time consuming in the beginning but makes your life so much easier in the long run.  I basically sat down and made a list of all of the meals that we like to eat.  I broke them up by categories:  ground turkey, chicken, pasta, ground beef, pork, fish, soups/misc and meals to try.  You could also get creative and come up with fun categories:  meatless, crock pot, ethnic, etc. 

Here is just a sample of mine (and does not include all categories/meals):

Pasta

• spaghetti with meatballs
• lasagna roll-ups
• penne pasta

Ground Turkey

• taco salad
• turkey burgers
• turkey burger steaks

Chicken

• shredded BBQ chicken
• Rosemary chicken
• chicken nuggets
• salsa chicken
• Chicken 'n Dumplings

Soups/Misc.

• Chili
• Chicken noodle soup
• potato soup
• Lentil Soup
• Fried Rice
• Pintos

Sides include: mashed potatoes, crock pot mac and a large variety of veggies.

Mr. Clark gets paid every other week so I buy groceries for two weeks.  I sit down before each payday and make a two week menu.  I use the list above to select my meals.  I try to use one meal from each category, that way we're getting a variety of foods and we're not getting bored by eating the same meals over and over.  

It is seriously so easy.  I pretty much remember the ingredients needed for our favorite dishes so making my shopping list is a snap.  You could make a master shopping list for your meals to make it even easier on yourself.

For printable menu planners go here and here.  Have fun ladies - and share some of your favorite recipes so we can shake up our own menu plans!!