![easy menu calendar easy menu calendar](https://easyfairsassets.com/sites/84/2022/08/iStock-530202858.jpg)
As long as I have the basics to work with, I have an idea of what I will do that day. My habit is to pull out a variety of frozen meats at the beginning of the week and then go with the flow on a day-to-day basis. I am lax with my Evening Meals section and usually fill it in as I go. On the Weekly Menu Outline side of things, I plan for 2-3 soups a week (our lunches during fall, winter, and spring), then plan or record all the various “extras” I do in the kitchen, from making kombucha, soaking grits, or soaking beans, to making tapioca pudding, paté, or rendering lard. I always stay on track with the “two page” method for each week, very clearly dated, and often add other pages as I go (always double-paged to keep my weeks “open faced”): seasonal lists, packing lists, records of family or health issues, brainstorms, chore revisions, and so forth. And of course, little kid scribbles, quotes, ideas, weekend lists, food and drink stains, stickers, etc. I love the physical nature of writing things down, keeping track, and having a tangible record to reference in the future. The right side is my “Week of” running list of Events, Goals, Chores, To Do. Each week is two pages: the left side is my “Weekly Menu Outline”, where I list Soup, Extras, Evening Meals, and Garden. I keep a paper notebooks and do a bullet journal of sorts. This menu plan template and master pantry resource will help streamline your kitchen. This system means I need fewer brain cells for planning, shopping, and cooking on a day-to-day basis.
![easy menu calendar easy menu calendar](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a1/38/57/a13857b41d104f05d98c3e680a11231d.jpg)
So life happened and I served a short-cut, plan-B meal instead of the plan? Just drag that meal to tomorrow or next week! Tonight’s dinner had a bunch of leftovers? Just move tomorrow’s dinner plan to the next day or next week! Forgot to soak the beans? Just start them now and swap tonight’s meal with tomorrow’s.Īnd I would be remiss if I did not here mention my own menu planning solution: Simplified Dinners, which makes planning and preparing dinners a breeze. My favorite feature of the online calendar for menu planning, though, is the ability to drag and drop dinners. Then, when the after-Thanksgiving recipes started coming out, I chose one per turkey as a big-freezer-batch plan, and added that to the calendar after the turkey day and subsequent turkey-broth-soup day. I bought two extra extra-cheap turkeys at Thanksgiving time and spaced out on my calendar when I would cook them. Menu planning on the calendar has had a couple unforeseen advantages: When I buy something that has to be used within a certain amount of time, I just put it on the menu before that time. The great thing about using an online calendar for menu planning is that I don’t have to type out “oatmeal” or “granola” a zillion times, because I can set it as a repeating event.
![easy menu calendar easy menu calendar](http://www.jenniferpwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Monthly-Dinner-Menu.jpg)
It helps to see that meals are planned, so I don’t have to think it through over and over again.
#Easy menu calendar full#
My plan for the day includes all necessary eating, and I’m not left at a loss pre-coffee in the morning, when noon strikes after a full school morning, or when 4pm sneaks up on me. My Menu Plan calendar usually has all three meals planned out, because then I don’t have to think about it. I like to set up each of these as separate calendars so that they show up in different colors and they are easy to toggle on and off individually. Of course there is the obvious use for calendars, but you can also set up calendars to use as journals, menu plans, blog planning, birthday reminders, and even school calendars or schedules.