How to Make Charts for Weekly Meal Plans
Weekly dinner charts can be a helpful tool for a busy family, saving time and money. Planning ahead will allow you to spend more time with your family instead of searching through kitchen cabinets for ingredients or making unnecessary trips to the grocery store. The chart will allow a well balanced meal to be planned every day, reducing the frustration at dinnertime when everyone is ready to eat but there's nothing planned for dinner. With a simple calendar, pencil and pad for the grocery list, creating weekly meal plans can be fast and easy. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Gather dinner ideas from family members. Write down everyone's favorite foods, listing side dishes as well as vegetable choices.
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Print a free weekly menu planner from a website such as Better Budgeting or purchase an inexpensive calendar with spaces large enough to write down meals. Make everyone aware that the calendar or chart is for meals only and do not include other activities on it.
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Write down a breakfast, lunch and main dinner dish in each box on the calendar for one week. If lunch is served at school or purchased, skip lunch with the exceptions of weekends or days off from work or school.
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Write down a side dish and vegetable with each main dish. Include one food favored by each family member at least once a week.
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List all the ingredients or supplies needed to prepare every meal for the entire week based on the calendar. Check your pantry to see what ingredients you have already and start a grocery list for the items you need to buy.
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Shop for the ingredients needed to make the meals for an entire week. Stick to the list.
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Tips & Warnings
Look through recipe books for new ideas when your family gets tired of the same meals every week.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit meal image by Sonar from Fotolia.com
