Planning and preparing meals for your family each day can be a daunting task, but planning ahead makes it so much more manageable. Last week I talked about making each month run more smoothly by using a calendar and jotting down a dinner plan for each night of the month. Then making a grocery list of all the non perishables that you can buy in one shopping trip, and then finally, separate lists, one for each week of the month for more perishable items.
Need a way to come up with a whole months worth of dinner ideas?
Sit your family members down and give each one (those old enough to decide and write), a piece of paper and a pencil, and set a timer for 10 minutes. Have each one list their favorite 7-10 dinners/suppers. Ideally in a family of 4, each gets to choose 7 meals, but have each one write down 8-10 of their favorites This is because some of their choices will overlap with others, and you want to have enough extra ideas to eliminate the duplicates. When looking over their ideas, keep in mind any allergies that certain family members may have!
Your goal here is to come away with a list of 28 dinner meals that pretty much everyone in your family will eat and enjoy.
To get you started with some tasty dinner ideas, is this group of meal planners. 🙂
Hamburger Steak with Onions and Brown Gravy from New South Charm
Southwest Stuffed Peppers from Jonesin’ for Taste
Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas from Tastefully Eclectic
Cheddar Croque Madame Waffles from Cooking with Carlee
Hamburger Pasta Casserole Bake from Recipe Treasures
For dessert, how about some big delicious cookies?
Gluten Free Monster Cookies with M&M’s from A Day in Candiland
If you’d like some assistance with menu planning and grocery shopping, be sure to check out my free printables:
Dinner Planner and Grocery List Printable
Weekly Meal Planner
Printable Grocery List
Hope you have a great week!