Right, I’ve decided to get my cooking life organised (the rest can stay a mess for the moment) and get my weekly Menu Plans going again. I used to do this religiously and it was fantastic for organising the family cooking. I’ve regressed to usually having a vague idea of what’s on the upcoming menu, but lately it’s worsened. Sometimes I’ve been finding myself still wondering what’s for dinner at 5 pm. The kids keep asking one of their favourite questions – “What’s for dinner” and my response has been a blank stare, shoulder shrug and feeble “I don’t know yet”.
The thing with Menu Plans is, when they are functioning in my life, everything seems to run smoother. I don’t have the constant backwards and forwards going on in my mind about what to cook. For me, the mental conversation is usually along the lines of “I’ll do pasta, there’s some tuna in the pantry and…oh no, I don’t have the mushrooms for that recipe. OK, I’ll stop and buy some…I don’t really feel like tuna pasta…What else have I got…I guess I could do a chicken stir fry, I’ll just need to grab some greens…but I don’t have any chicken defrosted and I’m not buying any more because I have heaps in the freezer to use first…wish I’d taken some chicken out of the freezer…there is some bolognaise sauce in the freezer, I think we’ll just defrost that and have spaghetti bolognaise (again)”.
So, there is actually a double objective with writing a menu plans post. Firstly, if I make a public commitment to do something resembling a menu plan each week, I will do it. This is a huge benefit to me and my family. Not to mention, it lets me pore through my recipe books and magazines looking for new things to try.
Secondly, I’m hoping there is something my readers can glean from my menu plans. Perhaps you might join in and write your own (feel free to share them with us – just write a comment) or just use mine as a starting point, even if it’s just a couple of ideas to take on board.
Anyway, with all that said, here is my menu plan for this week. I believe there should be some flexibility as not everything will go according to plan, but it gives a great starting point.
Menu Plan #1
Monday – Lamb Shanks with Tomato and Honey (Slow Cooker)
Tuesday – Pasta with Broccoli and Tomatoes (New Recipe)
Wednesday – Pea and Ham Soup (Slow Cooker)
Thursday – Beef Curry
Friday – Homemade Pizza using Easy Pizza Dough
Saturday – Salt and Pepper Squid (New Recipe)
Sunday – Barbecue
Extras – Kiwifruit Microwave Jam, Cinnamon Tea Cake (New Recipes)
This week I have an abundance of broccoli and kiwifruit in the fridge from the markets last week, so I’m trying a couple of new recipes to use these up.
So, I’m a woman on a mission. Feel free to take the journey with me and post your menu plans below.
