Weekly Dinner Menus - Stop Wondering "What's For Dinner?"

Every mom knows the frustration of hearing "what's for dinner?"

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If you've ever wished you could stop hearing that phrase, I've got news for you.

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You can't stop hearing it. But you can stop feeling frustrated.

And it's easier than you think.

Using easy tools like weekly dinner menus and menu planning you can change dinner time from a chore into a pleasant time of day for your whole family.

And that's not all.

-- Saves money

Using a weekly dinner menu saves money. Period. Try it for yourself. Menu planning has been proven again and again to be a tool that gets results when you need to save money on your groceries.

The reasons are easy to see. Planning your meals means fewer shopping trips, less impulse buying and less food waste. All of these add up to more money in your wallet. Every month.

-- Saves time

"But planning a weekly dinner menu takes time!" I can hear the complaints rising. If that's what you think, you have never REALLY used a menu planning system seriously.

I have added it up in my own weekly schedule. By taking an hour upfront to plan my weekly meals, I save 30-60 minutes each and every day of the week. Once I started using a menu planning service, I saved even more time! No matter what your math skills, that adds up to significant time savings.

-- Cuts stress

So...if I no longer have to be wondering for half of my day what's for dinner, I can focus on other things instead. This really works, folks. And if I KNOW the answer to "what's for dinner?" I don't have a problem hearing the question.

No stress. No frustration.

-- Great teaching tool

Getting on top of your weekly menu planning in this way means you can teach your kids how to avoid this frustrating trap altogether. Train them from the get-go on menu planning and they won't have to un-learn the habit of not knowing what's for dinner when they grow up. Nice.

Simple tools like weekly dinner menus are amazingly powerful when used consistently and flexibly. Customize these ideas to fit your personal family requirements and you'll be pleased with the results.

And watch a precious thing show up in your family that is almost a lost art these days.

Dinnertime.

Weekly Dinner Menus - Stop Wondering "What's For Dinner?"

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Weekly Dinner Menus With Total Family Flexibility

Weekly dinner menus are such a serious time saving device in a family's life it's hard to imagine the downside of using this simple tool.

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For some of us, however, the perceived lack of flexibility trips us up.

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Here are some ideas to vaporize that unhelpful thought.

-- Busy schedules

This is where menu planning really shines. Got soccer two nights a week? Those are the nights for freezer meals, leftovers or even take out. Don't straitjacket yourself. Use your weekly dinner menu to give you choices of meals and feel free to move them around like pieces on a chessboard.

-- Using leftovers

So you follow your menu-planning chart for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, you look in the fridge and see it is bursting forth with leftovers. Don't panic! Simply move Wednesday's meal to the following week and get a jumpstart on next week's menu plan. Or, if the ingredients won't wait that long, move your perishable meal to the following evening and move *that* meal into next week.

You're flexible, remember?

-- Company

What to do when unexpected company shows up? This happens frequently this year in our home, with a daughter in a local college and many new friends who don't have family in town. No problem. Take a look at your weekly menu. Is there a side dish you can pull from another night that perhaps had a dish too many? Can you simply add another portion of meat and veggies to your planned menu? Are there leftovers that can be added to the meal? Perhaps you can switch meals with another night that has larger portions? Flexible, pre-planned and stress-free.

-- Change of moods

Well, I know I've done this one! That Mexican dish looked really tasty when I put it on the menu last weekend, but now I'm simply not in the mood for that type of food. Switch meals. No one knows but you. That's the beauty of being the chef!

Remember, using weekly dinner menus is all about adding to the flexibility of your busy life, not detracting from it. The bottom line is that when you menu plan, you're always ready to put a yummy meal on the table with a minimum of time, money and stress.

Sounds like something we all can use.

Weekly Dinner Menus With Total Family Flexibility

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Weekly Dinner Menus - Put Your Kids in Charge

Are you tired of figuring out what's for dinner each night? Get the whole family involved using weekly dinner menus and fun training.

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Kids need to know how to run a household efficiently and effectively. As their parent, you are their first and best teacher. Learning how to plan out a weekly dinner menu and follow through on all the resulting steps is an excellent life skill that can benefit almost any age of child.

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-- Planning

Start with the menu itself. Using recipe books, recipe websites, or a menu planning service, determine what your next seven days of food will look like. Point out to your young teammates any busy schedules that may mean less time for cooking as well as dietary requirements or existing food on hand you want to use.

Making a list of your family's favorite meals is usually helpful at this point. One or two of your favorite meals will be welcome on your weekly menu. Make your grocery shopping list at this time.

-- Shopping

Plan a time and grocery shop with your child. Depending upon the age of child, you can teach price comparisons, serving amounts, and nutrition information. Plan on taking your time in the store, especially during this first shopping experience.

The real plus to this method is that as your child grows, you will eventually have a child who can shop on his own and make wise food and pricing decisions. Which is exactly what you want BEFORE you send your child off into the big wide world.

-- Cooking

Now it's time for the main event. Again, depending upon the age of your child let them cook and you supervise. Certainly plan to work alongside of them at first. Even very young children can sort and open packages. Older kids can prep ingredients and use the kitchen appliances (just remember adult supervision and safety first).

Talk about the chemistry involved in cooking. Where can efficiency be improved? What flavors work well together? Is measurement important in cooking? Why? Cooking together as a family is a rich resource for relationship building.

-- Cleaning

Well, that tasty meal is cooked, eaten and a memory now. But there's a bit more to do, isn't there? Again, teach valuable cleaning methods. There's nothing like cleaning up a meal to open eyes to better and less messy cleaning techniques! Let your kids have the satisfaction of learning these vital lessons.

You're going to eat anyway! Why not involve the family and teach your kids the invaluable skills of knowing their way around the kitchen. Using simple tools like weekly dinner menus, grocery shopping lists and your irreplaceable parental involvement, your kids can begin to take on some of the more mundane but important responsibilities around your home.

And, sometimes, you can let them decide what's for dinner.

Weekly Dinner Menus - Put Your Kids in Charge

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