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Menu planning

kinkine
kinkine Posts: 119 Forumite
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in Old style MoneySaving
Hi folks, I am wondering if anyone can help me. I have decided to get organised and would like to find a monthly dinner menu planning template. I have spent hours looking on the internet, but they are either printable or they include breakfast, lunch and snacks. I've had a look on the Forum but haven't found anything. Thanks in advance.
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Comments

  • NewShadow
    NewShadow Posts: 6,858 Forumite
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    Why not create an excel sheet with exactly the columns and rows you need?

    If you're not on windows, Open Office is an almost identical suite of programs which includes a spreadsheet tool.

    That way you can make it as easy or as complicated as you'd like ;)
    That sounds like a classic case of premature extrapolation.

    House Bought July 2020 - 19 years 0 months remaining on term
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  • Ilona
    Ilona Posts: 2,449 Forumite
    The old fashioned way of doing it. Get a large piece of paper, A4 landscape, should be ok, ruler and pencil, draw a grid on it. Down the side write in the days of the week, along the top fill in the meals that you want to plan, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper. Fill in the proposed meals in pencil then you can rub them out if you change your mind.

    ilona
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  • iammumtoone
    iammumtoone Posts: 6,377 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    Or a dry wipe board. Use a permanent marker for the lines/days of the weeks etc and a dry wipe marker for the sections that will change every week.
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,234 Forumite
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    edited 8 October 2017 at 1:40PM
    I use an OpenOffice spreadsheet, as NewShadow suggests.

    Column A is the date, B is the meal, C and D are for "notes" - eg is it a special day (birthdays, anniversaries, someone visiting, etc; I make a note if I'm going to have dogs staying, and which ones, as some are a bit of a pain in the kitchen so I stick to simple food when they stay). You could add a Desserts column if you wish, too.

    I have a 2nd page which is simply a list of the meals I can do, in alphabetical order. This is for inspiration, and for Mr LW to look at as I ask him to help meal plan with me (he has to eat what I cook, after all!)

    The 3rd page is my inventory of the freezer and cupboards, so that I know what I have in.

    On the meal plan page, meals in the past are in black; forward planned meals which could be swapped about if necessary are in red, and those "set in stone" ie that is what we are definitely having that specific day, are in blue.
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • tiredwithtwins
    tiredwithtwins Posts: 475 Forumite
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    wow lamewolf that's awesome!!!


    my post-it notes - one with the weeks meal plan and the other with a freezer stock list - scribbled on the fridge door seems to pale into insignificance lol ..


    sue xxx
    wading through the treacle of life!

    debt 2016 = £21,000. debt 2021 = £0!!!!
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,234 Forumite
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    tiredwithtwins wrote: »
    wow lamewolf that's awesome!!!


    my post-it notes - one with the weeks meal plan and the other with a freezer stock list - scribbled on the fridge door seems to pale into insignificance lol ..


    sue xxx
    Thank you. *bows* :D

    I need to be well-organised; I have lupus, complete with the brainfog that is one of the joys of the illness, so having everything easily accessible on a flash-drive means we eat proper meals rather than random things thrown together with half the ingredients missing or substituted because we ran out and I forgot to buy more.

    I also keep a "rolling" shopping list, in two columns (one for @ldi and one for Morries) so that items required can be written on straight away. Not for me my mother's method of sitting down and scratching her head trying to write her list all in one go on Wednesday evenings (she shopped on Thursdays) and invariably omitting something essential. :D
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • jackyann
    jackyann Posts: 3,433 Forumite
    I use a notebook - A5 suits me. As I mostly plan weekly - left hand page menus, right hand shopping.
    I find it rather more flexible than anything computer based, but that may just be my age!
  • iammumtoone
    iammumtoone Posts: 6,377 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
    When I was out of work I used Excel for everything meal planning/budget ect. I treated running my home/budget like a job, it gave me a focus and the sense that I wasn't completely useless.

    Now I work and use computers all day, I much prefer pen and paper at home.
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,234 Forumite
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    As with so many things, it's "horses for courses". :o

    My shopping list is pen-and-paper, because I'm only writing a couple of words at a time, and of course I need to take it to the supermarket with me (I don't have a smartphone); but to do the meal plan etc, I need to write/type for quite a while, and that is a) painful with arthritic hands and b) illegible after the first few words, for the same reason. :o

    There's usually at least one computer switched on around here, and it's quick and easy to just bung the USB flash drive in the hole. ;)
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • MallyGirl
    MallyGirl Posts: 6,611 Senior Ambassador
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    I just write the menu plan out on paper as things change a lot round here - teen daughter with a long list of extra curricular activities and a DH who quite often has to work late.
    The shopping list, on the other hand, is in a phone app called Wunderlist. We all have it and can add / delete items as they occur to us or we buy something. It has a separate list for Costco and general shopping.
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