Monthly Dinner Meal Plan

Sit back and stay for a spell cause this one is a long one!

Since I have had many inquires about my dinner menu, I thought I would share with you how I do it.

I really got tired of trying to come up with dinner ideas and we got tired of eating the same old stuff all the time. Plus, hubby is very picky about dinner. He WILL NOT eat leftovers. Now he will eat some like chili or lasagna, but not many at all and that is few and far between.

So one day I set out to create my dinner planner. I printed off a bunch of dinner recipes with their side dishes and what not and made hubby go through them. Some of the recipes we had to try first and I had to get his approval on since he is so picky. So far we have about 34 recipes. I am always on the lookout for new ones that are easy and good.

Here is my dinner planner. It is just a 3 ring binder with those plastic sleeves in it. I am planning on making a snazzy cover for the front one of these days. My planner sits on my menu holder right next to the stove. Sorry for the glare of the kitchen lights.

Here is it open to some random pages.

Once I had a bunch of recipes, I sat down with a calendar and wrote down which days we had school, if there was a birthday or holiday coming up where we wouldn’t have dinner at home and things like that. Sometimes I also allow 3-5 flex days in the calendar. Flex days are days where I don’t have a dinner recipe written down. (I usually take them on to the last 3-5 days in the month) That way if we go out to dinner with friends on the third of the month, then the dinners get shifted down one day.

Once I had my month’s calendar ready, I sat down with the recipes and added them into the calendar for the month. I tried to not group the same types of food together (pasta, chicken dishes, etc). Once I had them all down, I passed the calendar on to hubby for his final approval. He usually lets me know if he doesn’t want something specific that month. Like right now he is tried of enchiladas, so we haven’t had them for quite some time. Or he might switch a few days around.

Here is this month's calender on the fridge, right above my planner.

This way, we aren’t having the same thing all the time. We usually have each recipe once a month. A lot of times certain things we will only have once every other month. This whole process has been very trial and error so far.

Some of our recipes:
Nichols Tacos – family recipe
Meatloaf with mashed potatoes
Sloppy Joes with French fires
Stuffed Peppers
Parmesan Garlic Chicken with noodles and garlic bread
Breakfast – hashbrowns, eggs, toast and bacon
Chicken Cacciatore with crusty rolls
Confetti Burritos
Fish & Chips
Chicago Dogs with chips
Turkey/Chicken breast w/ all the fixings – green beans, rolls and mashed potatoes with gravy
Spaghetti with garlic bread
Fajitas
Nichols Chili – family recipe
3 cheese chicken enchiladas with Spanish rice and refried beans
Reubens with fries or chips
Lasagna with garlic bread
Chicken & Noodles with mashed potatoes
Grilled Chicken with Salad
Jambalaya with Cajun garlic bread
Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes
Pesto Chicken Calzones
BLT’s with fries
Steak with Broccoli or sautéed mushrooms and rolls
Brisket w/ fried taters and corn
Hamburgers on the Grill with pasta salad
Ranch Chicken with green beans and rolls
Bertoli meal with garlic bread (this is one of those bag type meals)
BBQ Pork Chops on the grill with Corn on the cob
Little Ceasers (Pizza Chain where the large Pepperoni pizza is $5)
Tomato Soup with grilled cheese
Chili Mac
Bean soup & cornbread
Chorizo Wraps
Beef Stroganoff with mashed potatoes

I also have a few more recipes in the pipeline. Which only means that I haven’t ran them by hubby yet for his approval. Usually, if it is a new recipe, and he thinks he might like it, we will try it. If it just isn’t very good, we will try it again the next month, but make some tweaks to it. Then if it is still not very good, we throw it out. The good ones make it into our recipe binder.

Each week I make up a list of what I need for each recipe for the week. I do my grocery shopping on Saturdays. This way, I have everything I need for the upcoming week. It is easier for us this way. Usually hubby goes with me so that he can pick out what he wants for his lunches for the week. (Did I mention he is very picky!)

What we do for breakfast and lunch.
I have to admit that we don’t do breakfast usually. We have a cappuccino in the morning and that is about it. We are just not big breakfast eaters, unless it is for dinner. Lunches are an unusual affair as well. Hubby was spending his allowance for his lunches while I normally take leftovers or sandwiches. This past month he has been taking his lunch. Where he works he does not have access to a fridge or microwave or anything like that so we have to be somewhat creative I guess. He has been taking cold meat sandwiches, grapes, chips and a couple of rice crispy treats and a pudding cup. Boring I know, but it works. We are now out of ideas for what he can take that he likes and doesn’t have to be heated up.

I hope that this helps explain what we do a bit more. Please, if you have any questions don't hesitate to leave a comment or email me!