For years, I have been planning out our family’s meals with a meal plan. It has saved me countless trips to the grocery store, frustration, and given me peace of mind knowing I have the food on hand to prepare.
I recently found a dry-erase magnet board at the dollar store and now I write down what we’ll be eating each week. This has been especially helpful for my kids! They no longer ask that inevitable question, “What’s for dinner?” And if they do, I can just tell them to look at the board!
I know many of you may be needing some extra help in the menu planning department. This is why I have done the research for you! Studies have shown that when families sit down with one another around the table at dinner time there is less likelihood of addiction to drugs and more likelihood of forging stronger relationships.
Recently, I bought the Food Nanny cookbooks. They are wonderful! In each book, you receive hundreds of recipes. Online, they provide a 2-week meal plan for your family from the recipes in their cookbooks: The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again! All you have to do is go to www.thefoodnanny.com and you’ll be able to download your own 2-week menu plan too!
I love the Food Nannie’s approach because they go with theme nights. Each night of the week has its own theme. For example: Sunday is Traditional, Monday is Comfort, Tuesday is Italian, Wednesday is Fish/Meatless, Thursday is Mexican, Friday is Pizza and Saturday is Grill night. You can take from these themes and create your own or you can follow what the Food Nanny has in mind. It’s a wonderful, stress free way to put dinner on the table!”
“Planning ahead will make putting delicious meals on the table so much more simple and enjoyable,” write Liz and Lizi of The Food Nanny.
On Mel’s kitchen Café at www.melskitchencafe.com, you’ll find a great variety of recipes to fit any picky eater. I have been cooking from her website for years now. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll find her weekly meal plan complete with pictures and recipes to click on the links. There are so many recipes it will make your head spin! And just to let you know one of our favorite recipes is Mel’s homemade pepperoni pizza rolls…yum!
Mel says, “My sanity is controlled because I work hard to plan my menus in advance, work simple meals into hectic nights and try my best to be flexible.”
There are benefits to meal planning. Here are 5 of them:
“Keep cooking. Your family is worth it!” say Liz Edmunds and Lizi Heaps of The Food Nanny.
