set up a weekly menu plan.

I went to Allrecipes.com and found a bunch of recipes I wanted to try. You can then add the ingrediants to a shopping list. I love it! I pick 7 dinners and take my shopping list to the grocery store so I know I’ll have everything for the week. It’s so helpful. It has certainly reduced the eating out and fast food.

We are still using menu plans. Saving Dinner is working great for us. I usually print out the menu and shopping list and post it on the fridge and go day by day with each menu. My husband has been feeling better and I enjoy the variety. Incidentally, we use the regular menu mailer (has kosher and vegetarian options). This goal is not complete yet, because I would like to refine the menu a little bit more…reference my control journal, have it posted on the calender etc. At least we know what we are eating every day, though!

I formatted a nice plan, print it and placed it on my fridge. Now, I just have to look at it twice: (1) for grocery shopping (2) when it is time tp prepare my dishes

I want to have some flexibility in this plan. So it will not be detailed by day.

Breakfast_
dry cereal OR
cooked oatmeal OR
egg on wheat
tea OR
orange juice
fruit
multivitamin

Snack
fruit salad OR
rice cakes OR
yogurt
water

Dinner
veggie salad OR
veggie stir fry OR
fish with rice or potatoes OR
3 bean salad OR
pasta dish (ziti etc) OR
noddles OR
cole slaw OR
homemade soup
fruit

Today we used our first recipe from Saving Dinner. It was chicken (faux chicken for me) seasoned and served with yummy beans (mixed with onion and salsa), corn and a salad. Keith and I both loved it! Very filling and worth the time (it actually didn’t take that long to prepare). I’m looking forward to the rest of the week-if this works, I’ll know to stick with it!

I’m a FlyBaby (see http://www.flylady.net) and I heard about this great service called Saving Dinner:http://www.savingdinner.com. It’s $9.95 for three months full of breakfast, lunch and dinner menu plans. I found a plan that offers “regular” meals that can easily be vegetarianized (works for myself and Keith). I printed out the plan and showed it to him; he actually seemed rather happy about it. We’re going to try it this month and see how it works!

What do I want to ensure is on my menu:

fruit salad
veggie salad
tuna (pan seared?)
bread
potatoes
beans (3 bean salad?)
pasta (lots of possiblities)
turkey
fish ( is there something that says fish makes you smart?)
brown rice
soup
noddles
cole slaw

...need to start using it. i use cooking sw for this goal and it is fun.
i think to plan main couses is enough; although, it is reccomended to lay out all meals. will see… baby steps…

My week is so much less stressful when I have a plan in mind! I stopped for a couple of weeks, and ended up taking the kids out for dinner way too often!! $$$
Now that my husband is working out and eating like CRAZY, it helps to have a meal plan and to plan out who is taking the leftovers for lunches. It is so much more healthy, and less expensive as well. It also forces me/reminds me to get the food out of the freezer that I have lovingly packaged up in there…

So it WAS going well until my two year old decided that she didn’t want to share me with the kitchen at dinner time. I took a day off from work and made enough “make ahead food” for one month and put it in the freezer. We will see how this goes as many of the meals are quite… “Hamburger Helper”. I planned out my menu for 3 weeks so far, and have more food than that. I am feeling good about it.