Mama Knows Best

I was reading a blog posting by SimpleMom about how to menu plan. She mentioned that she uses Google Calendar to plan all her meals. Now that is genius, or at least a fabulous tip for the visually stimulated like myself. Also, she says that Google Calendar can be set to email you reminders, links, etc for things you write down in there. Now, that is a trick I need in my bag.

So, I went into my Google Calendar where I already have my events, income, and expenses calendars and added a calendar for Meals Planned. SimpleMom also gives a great tip where you do not have to think of meals for 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year. Simply create a menu plan for two weeks (14 days) and then have each meal recur every other week (aka every 2 weeks). Voila. Done.

Now you don’t have to keep it that way, it’s just in there so you don’t always have to think of new ideas if you don’t want to. Simply edit single entries if you want to try something new, or delete an entry if you are eating out that night.

This comes in handy for your grocery list as well. I go shopping every Sunday, and so I would look at the meals that I intend to cook all week and write down all the ingredients I will need. Next, I take off the list items we already have so we are not overspending.

*I also had an idea recently to create an Excel spreadsheet where you could choose from a drop down list meals for the week, and they will automatically be converted into a shopping list for the ingredients you need to make it. Has anyone seen or made a template like this? If so, would you be willing to share it with us? Or if I was to create one, who would be interested in it? Let me know in the comments section below.*