Menu Planning

Although I love to cook, I do NOT love to plan for it! I am trying out the meal planning suggestions from Home Sanctuary to see if Rachel's method will work for us.

To start with, you have to pick 7 categories of meals, and then write down 4 options for each category. Then you pick one night of the week for each category, fill in the meals on a calendar, and there you have a month's worth of dinner! I like the idea of being able to plan ahead on stocking the pantry, and also on when to cook certain meats in larger quantities to help with a meal later in the week or month.

I just did the main dish for most of the nights, I figure I can work out the sides later on, maybe weekly. Or nightly! ;)

Here is the list I came up with:

Categories

1-Salad
• Cobb Salad
• Beautiful Salad
• Broccoli Chicken Salad
• Italian Penne Pasta Salad

2-Try Something New
• Italian Chicken Sausage Risotto
(still working on this, I want to include some Halloween recipes!)

3- Convenience
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Fresh Pasta
• Frozen Pizza
• Sweet & Sour Meatball Simmer

4 – Crockpot
• Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
• Crock Pot Pulled Pork & Coleslaw sandwiches
• Crockpot Horseradish Garlic Pot Roast
• Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

5 – Grilled
• Tangy Sirloin Strips
• Grilled Pizza
• Garlic & Onion Burgers
• Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken

6 – Quick
• Greek Beef & Pasta in a Pot
• Baked potatoes with broccoli, sour cream, salt, and bacon (Chicken?)
• Seared Chicken w/Apricot Sauce
• Creamy Butternut Squash Risotto

7 – Classics
• Chili
• Spaghetti
• Fried Chicken
• Shepherd’s Pie