Don’t forget the ingredients needed on the back. Step 8: The Magic of the Spiral Menu Planning Kicks InĪs you go through the month and have meals that your family really likes, immediately transfer the recipe name, page number, and book name in a square on the next month’s page calendar. The items crossed out are items I still had in supplies so didn’t need. My highlighting colors correspond to Costco, Walmart, and Winco for this last month. It all works it’s magic for a better grocery day. I routinely go to 3 stores so each store gets it’s own color of highlighter. Extra points for highlighting which items to get at which store. If you don’t want to copy it, you can take a picture of it on your phone or take the whole notebook with you. I usually copy this grocery list and take it with me. Now, to go shopping– check your cupboards and cross out anything you don’t need to get if you already have enough. Viola! The setup is done–you have your meals planned out and your instant grocery list. Step 7: Ready to Shop for This Month’s Spiral Menu Don’t duplicate items, just write an additional number beside an item already listed. This last month’s focus book was Instant Pot Miracle Step 6: Add Numbers to Duplicate Items on the Meal Plan IngredientsĪs you fill squares with a recipe name, immediately turn the page over and write the ingredients needed on the back in the appropriate sections. To be honest, most days need to be quick and fast but you get my drift if you have to be out the door for an evening event. For example: I am SO not into cooking a hugely complicated meal on Saturdays, so I pick easier/ faster meals on those days. Keep in mind days that you may typically need to have quicker meals or are going to be gone from home. List a side to go with it in the same square. Flip through it and jot down do-able and realistic recipe names and pages in a day square on the calendar. Write the name of the cookbook on the top of your calendar page. Pick one cookbook or Pinterest board (more on using Pinterest in a bit) that interests you for this month’s focus. Step 5: The Cookbook of Choice for this Month’s Spiral Menu Planning Writing the ingredients in sections will help you be streamlined at the grocery store. Turn this menu page onto the backside and immediately write down the ingredients needed for these recipes one at a time. Step 4: Ingredients needed for this month’s spiral menu planning If from a cookbook, note the source and page or Pinterest board in the same square with the meal. These can be meals that you have in memory or from a cookbook source. Fill in those meals spread throughout the squares of your month. Step 3: Gather Tried and True Family Favorites for Meal Planning CalendarĪsk your family to name all the good stand-by’s you make for dinner that are tried and true winners in a pinch. There will be some months that overflow into a fifth week so add a row accordingly with extra washi tape. Roughly draw 6 lines vertically for the seven days of each week. Turn it horizontally and draw or washi tape 3 lines horizontally across the notepaper. Step 2: Insert the Weeks for Meal Planning It can be pretty if that helps but you won’t be seeing the cover anytime soon so don’t sweat it. Step 1: Get yourself an inexpensive basic lined spiral notebook. Step 1: The Notebook for Spiral Menu Planning If you are not used to monthly planning, adjust this to be two weeks at a time instead to get your feet wet.ĭisclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using links provided. This stems from having lived at the end of a mountain forest service road with a dubious cliff-edged dirt road. There are small stops as needed but the bulk is planned and done monthly. Just a note: I go grocery shopping for a month at a time. Below are the basic steps with a minimal amount of work in the planning department of my mind. So, I accidentally started to plan meals in what I now call “Spiral Menu Planning”. Spiral Menu Planning for Longer Stretches It now takes me a fraction of the time it used to take in menu planning for dinner. Is this ringing true for you? Read on for easy spiral menu planning how-to’s. Because I’m not a natural cook, the less time I have to spend thinking about and planning meals the better. I don’t know about you, but “What’s for dinner?” is a dreaded question.
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