The Weekly Song and Dance -or- Menu Planning and Grocery Lists

Menu planning, and the grocery shopping that follows, are not my favorite activities. But, it inevitably comes around once a week when the milk runs out and there's nothing to pack in the kids' lunches.

Just this week I met another mom from my son's class, at the grocery store, just before school started, scanning the Lunchables. Just like me. That was a crazy morning. I had just stopped at the store at the service station and they didn't have a single thing I could put into a lunch sack. So, I ended up buckling and unbuckling the boys in their car seats 6 times before 8:40 in the morning.

I try to minimize things like this. Several years ago I started planning a weeks worth of meals on one sheet of paper. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I plan what I'm cooking for dinner under each day of the week, but I just list breakfasts and lunches at the end and just pick what I want to fix each day.

Then, on the other side, I list the groceries I need to make those meals in the order that I would find them in the store. Sometimes, you can get a copy of the grocery store map, bring it home and make a list aisle-by-aisle. I don't think I'm the only one who hates to get to the end of the shopping list and realize you forgot something on the other end of the store. I've done this too many times.

Here's an idea of what my weekly menu looks like. One sheet of paper, front and back. It goes with you to the store (with your coupons, of course), then onto the fridge until the next week.