It is no secret that planning your menu in advance helps save  you money at the grocery store. I go through periods of being good at this and not so good. I wanted to try something new to see if it works for us.

Many times I have heard of a menu organizing idea where you pick "themes" for the evening and then plan your dinner accordingly. Things like Mexican, Pizza Night, Pasta, etc. I have done many different menu organizing methods in the past and today I decided to give this one a try. I need to get back on track with having a planned menu!

So the kids and I sat down at the kitchen table yesterday and decided on the categories we want. Then we decided that we want some variety. So we put together two different rotations. Then we will alternate using them. We also picked out certain days for fun: for example, the 2nd Saturday of every month will be breakfast for dinner night. The 1st and 3rd Saturdays will be Kids Choice, and they get to take turns picking.  (I’m sure those dinners will end up being things like homemade mac and cheese, grilled cheese and soup, chicken strips, etc.) We planned the rest of January and into February.

Just so you can see a visual, here is our February calendar:

We will see if this works. If we like it, I will go into the rest of the year with my calendars. Besides the menu themes on my calendar, I also have these other ones that I will plug in as needed (depending on the month) or if any of the above categories don’t work as I planned:

Grill Night (summertime)
Special Dinner Night
No Rules Night
Casserole
Tried and True

The next couple of days I am going to fill in the actual meal idea on the calendar. I want to have at least two weeks planned at a time. I did that method last year (two weeks at a time) and I loved it. (Just in case someone else might want it, here is the idea and form I would fill out and use for my two week menu planning last year. It worked for me for quite awhile.)

I am putting together a small binder with the calendars and other info for the menu planning. The kids are so excited  for this and can’t wait for Kids Choice night! I hope it works.One thing I know: when I involve my kids and make it fun and special they always go for it and are excited.