I cook for a family of 4 (two young children, my hubby and myself) – and I usually get home from work at 6pm – the kids are in the bath by 7. You see that I don’t have much time to cook and for our family to eat – so menu planning is ESSENTIAL for us to function with low stress.

I have not been great about planning meals, but in the past few months I have started getting into it full swing. Here’s what I do: One one of the last days of the month, I will get my recipes out (I go through the month and print off recipes off of various websites that sound good, as well as recipes out of cookbooks that I have) and organize them. I try not to repeat proteins (like have 2 beef meals in a row), and I always leave Fridays open (although, if we eat out on Tuesday, I just shift that meal to Friday). I like to plan for a month, because we grocery shop at the beginning of the month for all main staples. I print out a blank monthly calendar from Outlook and I pencil in meals in the weekday slots first. I also try to use the crockpot at least 1 time a week (usually more often). I look at the prep time/cook time before putting it on the menu – since I only have 30 minutes from the time I walk in the door to the time I want us to sit down to eat) to cook – so if the recipe calls for 1hour to bake – that won’t work for us (well, I will just use those recipes on the weekend when I can devote more time to cooking). After I have made up the monthly plan, I put the recipes into sheet protectors (one for each day) and pop it into a 1/2 binder. The calendar page goes in a sheet protector, as well, and it goes in the front. This way, I have the whole month planned, all the recipes in one spot, and all pages are protected from cooking. I can carry my binder with me to the grocery store – if I need to – I haven’t created my shopping list yet, but if I get this planning online, I can just print the list and bring it as well.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments.

It’s a family activity focused meal plan system. Check out and let me know what you think. thx! Betty http://www.gourmetbetty.com/mealplan_system.htm

You can also put the meal planning widget right onto your iGoogle page, iPhone, or whatever other blog/page you have!