Menu planning

Today I have a download for you ... but I will get to that later, because this is not only a blog post about boring chores, but also procrastination.

There are any number of things I put off. I don't want to put them off, but I just do it over and over. One of those things is planning a weekly menu. Years ago I did menu planning and I think it saved me money and time, but I just haven't spent the time in years to develop a menu and shopping list based on my menus. I also don't always have the ingredients for a great new recipe I just found and that drives me crazy.

I do try to keep a well-stocked pantry, but in spite of good intentions, we do tend to have the same things over and over and I have two problems with that. One, it is boring and two, it is healthier to vary the things you eat.

Today, I decided to make myself sit down and do the planning and instead of racking my brain to come up with new recipes I have decided to take recipes out of a cookbook I like, make sure I have the ingredients on hand to cook each recipe and if we like it, I will put it on my menu for another week. If not, we will never use that recipe again.

The cookbook I am starting this plan with is Quick-Fix Vegetarian by Robin Robertson. Obviously I am trying to have a more vegetable-based diet, though I am not trying to eat all vegetables. This book really helps because we can plan vegetable meals and then add meat for those of us who must have it. I will choose the recipes I like, mark them on my menu (with a page number included) then add the things I need to my shopping list from the recipe.

I think that sounds like a good plan so, hopefully, I will not procrastinate any longer on this task. I will be trying out all the interesting recipes I can possibly try -- and I love new recipes -- and will finally have a menu.

So back to the download. I want to share the PDF I made to help me plan my menus. I am planning to start a notebook using these pages that include weekly menu plans and shopping lists and I thought I would share the page I created because it might be a useful tool for you, too. Just click on the link below. I am hoping my procrastination about this issue coming to an end and let me know (if you download the page) if you enjoy it.

Download your menu planner here.