One of the tools I created for myself that I have found makes meal planning a breeze is having a tried & true 30 Day Meal Plan Rotation.
Although it may sound complicated, I promise you it is not. It will however take you a month or two to prepare it.
But once you have it completed you will never need to think about meal planning again.
If you want to know How to Save Money, read more below.
What is a 30 Day Meal Plan Rotation?
Basically you are going to come up with 30 meals that you know know your family loves. I’ll walk you through the process so that it really isn’t nearly as daunting a task as it may sound.
- Print off this calendar template
- Fill in as many boxes as you can with all your family favorites recipes. You probably won’t be able to fill it all the way in and that is perfectly fine.
- Determine how many days you have left and search for new recipes to experiment with and add them to your calendar.
As you try out new recipes, ask your family if it should be added to your regular meals or if it should be tossed out completely. I found that this makes it less of a punishment to try new things if my family knows it will never be made again unless the majority of us love it.
NOTE: It is a good idea to add in new recipes throughout the month. I like to try 1-2 new recipes per week so as not to send my family into shock lol. If it is something we love I add it to my 30 day plan and take out one of the meals that maybe only the majority loved.
Once you have 30 recipes you will have 4 weeks worth of menu plans!
This works great because once you get to the last week everyone will be happy to see the first weeks meals return! No more same old dinners week after week with this plan. Plus these are meals that you already know your family will love.
You might also like to read this post on how Menu Planning helps you save on your grocery budget.
