Creating a Menu Plan for Families
Setting up a Family Meal Plan to Organise Meal Times
Reduce the stress of meal times and the temptation to purchase takeaway food by preparing a menu plan in advance.
Establishing a menu plan brings order to what can be a stressful and chaotic time of day. Knowing in advance what meal needs to be prepared and ensuring that all ingredients are available will make mealtimes easier to manage and more enjoyable for everyone. Planning ahead also ensures that only necessary groceries in the required amounts are purchased, helping to keep grocery budgets under control.
Step 1 – Choose Family Recipes
Write a list of recipes and meal ideas. Search through cookbooks or write the names of dishes from memory. This can be simply divided into lists of mains and side dishes (including snack and dessert ideas if this is appropriate) or further divided into types of main meals (chicken, beef, seafood, vegetarian etc). Online recipe websites are a great resource for meal ideas.
Step 2 – Decide on a Format
At the beginning of each week or fortnight, consider how many meals are needed. Review recipe lists and choose suitable meals. Write a grocery list to ensure that there are sufficient ingredients to prepare all the chosen recipes. The meals can be prepared in whatever order suits, enabling a level of flexibility each day.This menu plan requires less precision and planning and can be adjusted more easily to weekly grocery budget fluctuations.
Structured Menu Plan
It is best to prepare this style of menu in a 4 – 6 week rotation, to ensure that the meals do not become repetitive. A favourite dish can be repeated a few times within each cycle if desired.
Use a spreadsheet or rule up a page to allow a space for four weeks worth of meals. A simple 7 x 4 grid or a calendar page provides a suitable template. Write a main meal in each day. Consider the following points when placing the meals:
- Meals requiring extra preparation or cooking time should be placed on days when there will be sufficient time to prepare them not on hectic days with limited spare time.
- Consider how leftovers will be used. Allow a leftovers day each week or use leftovers from one meal in dinner the following night (e.g. leftover boiled rice used in fried rice the following evening).
- Allow for a takeaway meal or eating out as appropriate for the household budget (eg takeaway once every 2 or 4 weeks).
- Plan easy meals for evenings that are short on preparation time. Simple barbecue chicken and salad or sausages and steamed vegetables are quickly prepared if the ingredients are available.
Because meals are known in advance, other family members can start to prepare dishes according to their abilities or some dishes can be started the night before or earlier in the day when it may be less busy.
Once a list of main meals has been planned, include side dish (salad, rice, pasta, vegetables) or other requirements (garlic bread, sauces) underneath. This will help when preparing a grocery list for that week and will also ensure that meals will work together.
After a plan has been established, place the list in a plastic sleeve in a folder. Layout can be adapted to suit individual family needs - one or four weeks to a page. Recipes necessary for each week can be included in a plastic sleeve behind the appropriate menu plan. Keep the folder in the kitchen and put a paper clip or other marker to indicate which menu is being used.
Establishing a meal plan, even a simple one, helps to create a more organised family meal time. The whole family can contribute to setting up the menu plan and making sure that it works.
