One of my tasks on Mondays is to sit down with some recipe books and my recipe folders and plan our meals for the week. I realise menu-planning is not for everyone but personally, it has helped me avoid the 'what are we having for dinner dilema' and has helped reduce the amount of food we seemed to waste. It also makes grocery shopping on a Tuesday so much easier, especially with the help of my little notepad from Etsy shop Jot It Down. This notepad has room to list your meals for the week on one side and the grocery items needed on the other and is perforated down the middle so you can take your shopping list with you and put your meals list on the fridge.
Each week I try and include a variety of dishes and one new recipe. I also sometimes make double of a dish so that we have enough for two nights. This week our meals include:
Tuesday – Pastizio (a type of pasta bake)
Wednesday – Paprika beef skewers and creamy potato salad
Thursday – Pastizio (a type of pasta bake)
Friday – Out for dinner
Saturday – Prosicutto wrapped sage chicken and green salad
Sunday – Mushroom and steak sandwiches
Monday – Potato and aspagargus tart with tomato and bocconcini salad
What’s your family’s favourite weeknight meal?
I also do a weekly menu Amanda! I just jumped over to Etsy to grab one of those notepads, but JotItDown is closed for the winter:( I will definitely return to get one, thanks so much for the link and recommendation. One of our families fave summer dinners is a Penne Pasta with Chicken, Cherry Tomatoes & Olives from Bill Granger's Holiday cookbook (it is supposed to use tuna steak, but we use chicken instead). You can download the recipe from lifestylefood.com. Enjoy your yummy dinners this week, they sound fantastic:) Have a lovely Monday - Tx
ReplyDeleteMy Goodness...you are super organised...I may need to take a leaf out of your book...I hate asking the question..what should we have for dinner tonight... :/
ReplyDeleteP.S I LOVE PASTIZIO!!
We adore Spaghetti Carbonara with mushrooms and bacon and cream of course! Hope you had a great New Year and look forward to reading your blog in 2010
ReplyDeleteTina - Your penne pasta sounds yummy! Will definitely have to download that recipe. I had noticed that Jot It Down were closed for a few months but I still wanted to include the link as I think they have great products and are an Etsy store well worth visiting.
ReplyDeleteAnna - I only recently discovered Pastizio in a recipe magazine I bought and I am in love with it too - so tasty!
Simon - Spaghetti Carbonara is a favourite of ours too. Welcome back to blog land :)
Oh your menu sounds positively delicious!. My boys love lemongrass and ginger chicken done in the slow cooker....recipe on the Sunbeam Website. Our life has change since we welcomed the slow cooker. Oh and risotto done in the rice cooker... better than a restaurant... see a theme here?... cookers... they do all the work for me! A-M xx
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, great Etsy shop, thanks for the link, will be using it in my meal planning. I too try and do something new every week which can be a bit hit and miss with my two boys (fussy stage I'm afraid). Two sure fire hits, pork mince meatballs and spahghetti and tuna, mushroom and zuchinni pasta.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Engracia
Wow, you are super organised!! The potato and asparagus tart sounds nice.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I don't have a signature dish though have got into the habit of having a roast on Monday as then we have meat for Lyndon for the next few nights. Too hot for a roast today though!!
Hi Amanda, I'm a first time visitor to your site and glad I stopped by. Feeling inspired to get into the habit of menu planning for the week. Will definitely give it a go, hope I stick to it :)
ReplyDeletegod, you are so organised!!!! If only I were the same. I am too ashamed to admit to what I will no doubt serve up this week. Domestic goddess I am not! Well done, Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI think this scheme is genius! I need to start doing it again...
ReplyDeleteA-M - I don't have a slow cooker as yet but I've heard nothing but glowing reports from everyone who has one. Must invest in one I think.
ReplyDeleteEngracia - thanks for visiting Homely One! Luckily Grace is still on baby mush at this stage so any meals I plan are just for my husband and I.
Amanda, thank you for the sweet comments over at my blog and how inspired I am to see this meal plan organization. I definitely need to sit down and do this every week, I think it'll keep the hubby and I from wondering whats for dinner for so long that we eventually just go and pick something up.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the meals I do through out the week involve a crock pot/slow cooker. It is just so great to through things in and not have to worry about them at all, it definitely provides more time for other things.
wow I wish I was as organised as you are with dinners it would make life much easier, living by myself I always take the quick easy option rather than doing anything terribly fancy and mostly make cakes and sweet things for family and friends. But perhaps I should think about it they way you do and include left overs in the plan!
ReplyDeleteOh i adore a mid week roast! x
ReplyDeleteI love that notepad from jot it down. I popped over to etsy to buy one but they are closed for holidays. I will keep an eye out though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your lovely comments on my blog,it is always so nice to have a bit of feedback.
I'm working on doing this each week, it makes dinner decisions so much easier. I might have to steal some of your menu ideas!
ReplyDeleteAhhh very clever. Thank you for motivating me even more! x
ReplyDelete