permanent weekly menu

In an attempt to help simplify our lives, DH suggested we create a weekly menu that does not change (ie- mon is pasta night, tues is hamburgers etc) so I never have to spend time searching online and in cookbooks for recipes/ideas and so we always have the same shopping list

SO....

if you had to create a permanent weekly menu for your family, what 7 dishes would you cook every week?

Re: permanent weekly menu

Pasta night
Pizza night
Steak night
Chicken night
Seafood night
Ethnic night
Free choice (leftovers, take out or try new recipe)

Is that what you mean?

Re: permanent weekly menu

Tuesday Taco night!!!

Re: permanent weekly menu

I tried to do this, but we end up with too many leftovers and tend to have leftovers once-twice a week

I also wouldn't limit myself to one dish .. i.e, Tuesday's is chicken parm

Instead, I would do more general categories:

Monday...pasta
Tuesday...chicken dish
Wednesday...beef dish
Thursday...mexican night
Friday...pizza night
Saturday...leftovers/wild card
Sunday...soup/sandwich night

Re: permanent weekly menu

Re: permanent weekly menu

If you're going to pick specific meals rather than a generic "night", maybe do it for a 2 week period so you don't get bored and can alternate. For example, this Tuesday can be tacos, but the next Tuesday would be fajitas, then back to tacos the following week, so you're only eating that meal 2x/month instead of every week.

Re: permanent weekly menu

I couldn't do it. Even on a diet, I need a variety - I have about 5-10meals for each breakfast/lunch/dinner that I rotate.

My aunt actually had a GREAT system that she still uses even after the kids are grown. She does a monthly calendar of dinners. None of them are hard but she has a plan all month - so she can do a big BJ's run once a month then shop weekly for the fresh items. Saves her a ton and there is alway variety, plus there is no "what should I make tonight?"
Some examples from what I can remember:
Monday 1/1: Taco Night, all the fixings, Yellow Rice & Beans
Tuesday 1/2: London Broil, Baked Potatoes, String Beans, Green Salad
Wednesday 1/3: Broiled Flounder, Sweet Potato Fries, Glazed Carrots
Thursday 1/4: BBQ Chicken Legs, Rice Pilaf, Bean Salad
Friday: English Muffin Pizza's, Veggies & Dip

You could pretty much stock up on all the meat, frozen food, starch, juices, etc at BJ's, then weekly get your fresh vegetables/milk, etc.

I work nights and when I am able to plan a menu, I am able to prep early in the morning, cook midday when the baby naps and have dinner ready for everyone when they are ready to eat later. Those days are so much easier then the days I am home and have no plan at all and cook last minute.
It's hard to keep up though.

Re: permanent weekly menu

If I had to pick easy meals that I could eat every week...some ideas that come to mind would be:

Lemon chicken with rice pilaf and steamed broccoli or green beans

Pasta with meat sauce and green salad

Chicken chili with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream

Homemade pizzas and salad

Burgers, either beef, sausage, or turkey with baked beans and corn

Re: permanent weekly menu

When I was younger and lived at home my mom would always ask the same question...What do you want for dinner? And the two of us (my stepfather is pretty easy with food) would sit and stare at each other with no ideas. We ended up making a list of foods that she cooked and we liked and she numbered them. Each month we would print out a calendar and then put numbers in the days and she would know what to make. We also did that so that in case something came up on sale at the food store, she would make it a point to use the sale to our benefit and make something that used the sale item.

Good luck!

permanent weekly menu

I just started doing something like this. Eating the same thing every week would drive me crazy, so I started with all of our usual dinners, just made a list. Then I made 4 weeks of menus (I used categories, like others suggested - pasta one night, beans another, etc.). I'm working on adding more new recipes to expand it to 5 weeks without repeats. When I'm done, I'm going to make a grocery list for each week and I won't ever have to think about dinner again!

ETA: I'm putting all of the recipes in a binder, organized by week, with our entire menu and, eventually, the grocery lists. My goal is to make "what's for dinner," a thing of the past.

Message edited 7/23/2012 12:43:05 PM.

permanent weekly menu

We did this growing up. It really helped my Mom a lot, who was a FTWM...it was important to her for us to eat dinner together every night but hard for her to plan between work and shuffling us around to activities.
Monday was pasta, Tuesday chicken cutlets, Wednesday breakfast for dinner, Thursday burgers/meatloaf, Friday pizza, Saturday takeout, Sunday fish.
Things were changed up a bit with different sauces, cheeses, condiments but that was basically it.

Re: permanent weekly menu

I don't think I could do it. I like variety too much.. BUT if pressed:

Sunday: Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Green beans tossed in olive oil and garlic OR roasted Brussels sprouts, rice, gravy

Monday: Pasta with red sauce, garden salad, Italian bread OR garlic bread, chicken sausage

Tuesday: Grilled or Fried Chicken Cutlets, Broccoli with lemon, Corn on the Cob

Wednesday: Turkey Tacos with lots of toppings OR breakfast for dinner

Thursday: Homemade pizza with choice of toppings, salad

Friday: Seared Cod or other firm white fish, Sauteed spinach, wild rice

Saturday: Beef Stew with noodles OR Roast beef with brown butter noodles, gravy, red cabbage and mixed veg.

Re: permanent weekly menu

Re: permanent weekly menu