Menu Planning for Newbies At Menu Planning

For many of us, menu planning is an overwhelming task.  You may be a college freshman away from home for the first time.  Or a new bride with no experience in the kitchen other than helping out your mom.  Or long-time married and tired and broke with take-outs and home deliveries.  If you feel it’s time you need to plan your meals, read on.

Think.

Have a seat and think of your family’s favorite recipes.  You may scan cookbooks or cooking websites for inspiration.  Narrow down your list to 5 or 6 recipes which seem easy enough for a start.  Veteran meal planners suggest that you plan for just 5 days of cooking.  Relegate one day for dining out and one for cooking up leftovers.  Try not to be too elaborate or you’ll only be overwhelmed.

Look around.

Quickly skim through the lists of ingredients in your recipe list.  Try to remember them while looking around in your ref, pantry and cupboard.  Now make a grocery list containing all the missing ingredients.  Don’t forget to include other essential items which may not be in the list such as milk, bread and juice.

Shop.

With list in hand, hit the groceries.  Try to stick to your list.  Do not go impulse-buying or you’ll be left with too much leftovers over the weekend.  There are exceptions of course—as when there are meat products for sale at unbelievably low prices.  You can just use them for the following week’s menu.

Cook.

Post your 5 or 6 meal list on your ref or kitchen corkboard and just follow through the week.  Each night, before going to bed, look up the list and thaw the meat for the next day’s meal. 

These are just the very basics of meal planning.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.  Better have a plan than to have none at all.  In no time at all, you’ll get the hang of it.  And you’ll wonder how you ever got by without your menu.

Stick with these basics for awhile  before moving on to advanced meal planning courses.  Keep posted!