Sunday, October 11, 2009

Strategizing a Menu Plan


After last weeks grocery shopping trip(s), I decided it was time to take a different approach. I sat down with my computer and my cookbooks and determined to create 8 weeks of dinner menu plans using recipes that are already tried and true with my family. My goal was to come up with 56 dinner ideas without repeating any single menu. I did it.


Now for the reality. My family loves spaghetti. They really aren't excited about having to wait 2 months between spaghetti dinners. So here's the plan--if I'm faced with a dinner on my menu that requires more time than I have or just doesn't sound appetizing, I'll just break out the Prego and Pasta. Voila! Problems solved. Spaghetti isn't the only food that falls into this category of things the family enjoys and actually want to eat often. Those will be the fall backs in the plan.

Now part of the problem with this plan is that I'm not working the sales. All I have to say is ... oh well. I've decided not to lament over this. I've also decided that I will shop the sales for other weeks. For example - London Broil is on sale. London Broil isn't in my menu plan for this week. Guess what? I'm still going to buy London Broil this weeek. Why wait? In fact, I'll get two while their on sale and then I won't need to buy them the week that I need them because I'll have them in the freezer. Yeah, Yeah--I know this isn't rocket science. But this is progress for me.

Now the next challenge is keeping my freezer organized and keeping track of what is in there so I don't overbuy. I don't have a separate freezer, it's just the left side of the fridge. That's not much space. There isn't a lot of room for extras. I think I have a plan for this. I'll report back in a bit about whether my plan worked.

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