How to Plan a Household Menu and Grocery List
A Step By Step Plan to Help Families Save Money With Menu Planning
Nov 22, 2008
The increasing cost of food coupled with parents and children becoming involved in more after school and evening activities often result in parents feeling at a loss as to how keep on top of evening meals. Taking some extra time every couple of weeks to devote to a specific menu planning strategy will give the household chef more control over the pantry as well as help the family to spend more wisely.
Make a Meal List
Take half an hour or more with the family to brainstorm all the meals each family member enjoys. Include everything from favorite foods to fast foods to five course dinners. At this point it is important to not veto anyones choice. All choices go on the list regardless of how many other people agree with a choice.
Decide on Duration of Menu
Think about how long the menu plan should last for. Are there enough meals listed to stretch over a two week or four week period before repeating? The longer the menu plan lasts for, the more variety the family will have in their meals during that time. If only seven meals end up being listed in the first step, the menu plan should repeat every 7 days.
Assign a Theme to Each Day
Designating a specific theme for each day of the week will make it easier for the chef to designate meals to a particular day. Take into consideration any days that are extremely busy and days that certain family members are not available. Quick and easy meals could be assigned to busy days and smaller meals assigned to days when only one or two people are home.
A sample menu theme could be as follows:
- Monday: Pork
- Tuesday: Chicken
- Wednesday: Heat and serve casseroles (kids sports activities all evening)
- Thursday: Beef
- Friday: Fast, Fried or Fish
- Saturday: Cooks Choice (could be anything from leftovers to new recipe's)
- Sunday: Five Course Family Dinner
The chef then divides the meals from the list into the categories assigned to each day. As in the example above, all chicken dishes would be assigned to a Tuesday, any casserole type meals would be assigned to the Wednesday and foods that fit into the categories of fish, fried foods or fast to make would be assigned to Friday.
List All Meal Ingredients
At the start of each menu rotation sit down and write out all the ingredients needed for each meal. Then go through the pantry, cupboards and fridge and cross out anything you already have that will last until you make that meal. Transfer all remaining items from the first list onto a new sheet of paper.
Shop By Food Category
Preparing the grocery list by categorizing your food items as the grocery stores do will make the shopping much easier. Divide the list up into sections as follows:
- Produce
- Dairy
- Meats
- Canned
- Pasta
- Ethnic/Foreign
- Condiments
- Beverages
- Breads
- Deli
- Frozen
- Snack Foods
- Household Items
- Miscellaneous
Place the ingredients from the list into the appropriate categories. This will decrease the amount of time spent revisiting aisles.
Shop In Bulk
For those who have a few extra dollars that can be spent on groceries, it will save money in the long run to buy extra when items are on sale or available in bulk quantities. This should be done on a regular basis if possible so that a small storage of non-perishable food items can be built up in case money is short at a later date.
Post the Menu List
After the shopping is complete and all items are put away, the chef should post the menu in a place where the family can see it. This way family members are aware ahead of time what meals are coming up and the chef is able to make any preparations the night before without having to spend hours wondering what to make.
This method of menu planning and grocery shopping will ensure that families will have all the necessary ingredients for an entire menu rotation. Following this method reduces the number of trips to the grocery store by limiting mid week trips to the buying of perishable items. In this way, impulse buying is reduced and families will save more money.
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