Monday, January 16, 2012

Menu Planning {Step #1}

If you read my post on Goals and Plans, you saw that my first goal for the year is to come up with menu plans for the week.  SO what I've decided to do is to take my goals one at a time and figure out how to accomplish them.  Once again, easier said than done, right?

So the first thing I decided to tackle is to come up with a list of recipe categories.  Here's what I came up with so far. (and if you have any more, I would LOVE to hear them)  I happen to be a vegetarian (no meat) so that's why that category is missing from my list!
I have some substitute things I use for meat dishes so it's really no big deal, but for those of you that eat it, that can be added to this list in its very own category.


Breakfast 
Cereals (hot or cold) 
Fruit and Parfait 
Eggs 
Casseroles 
Pancakes and Waffles 
Bread and Pastries 
Potatoes 
Soups

Lunch
Pasta and Rice
Casseroles
Beans
Sandwiches
Patties/Meatballs
Savory Pies/Pizzas
Soups
Skillets

Supper
Soups
Salads
Sandwiches
Fruit or Smoothies
Crackers/Breads

I am putting Desserts in their own category because you can have them any time {whenever} along with any of the meals. :) I love desserts WAY too much anyway. HA!

Desserts
Pies
Cakes
Puddings
Ice Creams
Pastries
Cookies and Bars
Candy

To get lots of variety, I am going to try to make something out of each category before I can go back and start all over again!  We'll see how that goes.  It's just SO easy for me to make the SAME things over and over if I don't have a plan.

That's step #1...easy enough I think. Breaking tasks down into small parts can make accomplishing the BIG goals SO much easier!!  I already feel better!

Any other ideas you talented ladies can add to this list are much appreciated!!  Thanks for stopping by! 
   
And since I haven't had time to do the rest of my menu planning I think this will be the plan for TODAY...


How do you think THAT will go over? {grin}

3 comments:

Caren said...

Good job, lady! I have serious cooking issues, and I'll be interested to see what you come up with. My house is full of very picky eaters (except me & the baby, who is right now at the "garbage disposal" stage - he'll eat anything!). My menu planning looks more like this: hmmm...what will everyone eat? Pizza, hot dogs, meatballs, and noodles. That's about all they agree on. Oh well. Maybe some day we'll get more variety. For now there's always peanut butter & jelly! :)

Katie said...

I love that sign! I try to plan a menu out each week, because I would very happily eat the same thing every day, but AJ will not. Plus, having a menu up is so much easier for the both of us, I don't have to think about anything when I get home from work, and AJ is able to plan his breakfast and lunch (which he makes before I wake up) without waking me to see what's for dinner! I'd love to see what recipes you use, we are always looking for something different!

Crafty Mischief said...

I so need to start doing this! And I need that sign! :)

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