I think I have to start planning my menus on Friday or Saturday. By the time Monday comes around I usually have no idea what we’ll be eating and it’s also grocery shopping day, so it sometimes makes for some not well thought out dinners and hectic Monday mornings. 🙁 When I do plan our menu on the weekend, it’s much more pleasant and makes me feel like Monday is going to be a great day!
So, with some inspiration help from those over at the Simply Frugal Facebook page, here’s what we’ll be eating this week:
- Vegetable Beef Soup (I’ll be using ground beef instead), biscuits
- Spaghetti, salad
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Beef Tacos
- Out to eat on Friday
A lot of beef this week, it seems! When you’re needing some menu inspiration where do you typically look for ideas?
I love the cookbooks written by Sandi Richards “Cooking for the Rushed”. She does an awesome job of creating simple to prepare recipes that taste delicious. Best of all… all the ingredients are easy to find in your local grocery store because she is from Edmonton AB. You wont find any swordfish recipes in her cookbooks. If you want you can even use her cookbook and shopping lists as a meal planner!
My inspiration far-and-away comes from Allrecipes.com. It’s a FABULOUS recipe site with things categorized in lots of handy ways. I also like that each recipe is rated and reviewed by people who’ve actually tried it out. Most times I modify the original recipe based on the recommendations of the reviewers. And then I can (and do!) save recipes I like in my virtual Allrecipes recipe box. I can also save my notes to say what I did to modify the recipe.
…and no, I have no financial stake in Allrecipes. 🙂
I just wrote a post on this topic today. We have a soup night, a beef night, a chicken/pork night, a pasta/vegetarian night, and a fish night each week. You can read my post here is you like:
http://applevalleygirl.blogspot.com/2012/01/5-easy-steps-to-meal-planning.html
Wishing you a wonderful week! Angie xo
i like this – right up my alley – have to start planning too…