Beyond the Table: Planning the Menu

Achieving a healthy, affordable diet begins and ends with the meal plan. It's usually planned before a week begins then renewed before the week ends.

My plan starts two days ahead, when I inventory the freezer.

I start planning a meal around the protein food, varying the selection with this outline: 

• Beef
• Poultry
• Seafood
• Other
• Eggs
• Vegetarian  

This is 6 meals, allowing an open day for leftovers. Some of the items on the freezer inventory can fill a slot. Those without a match go on the grocery list.

What haven’t we had for a while? Plan for it! 

What are we tired of? Keep it frozen!

Next decide on a recipe. For ground beef, the choices may include meatloaf, stuffed peppers, tacos, chili or lasagna. Pick from family favorites or try something new. Look for inspiration in seasonal magazines, cookbooks and online. 

There are 3 items I plan into my weekly menu: 

• Beans
• Grain
• Flour

I’ve a cupboard of grains and a counter top flour mill, so here is where I plug in a grain I didn't use recently. Sourdough feeding day falls weekly where I plan a recipe to incorporate the discard. Because I make and freeze homemade pasta, I work that into my menu 2-3 times a month. 

Before I match the day with the recipe, I list appointments and activities for each date. On days we’re gone much of the day, I might choose a slow cooker meal, a dinner with eggs or a thawed previously frozen leftover.

Space the entrees so that seafood on Sunday isn’t adjacent to seafood on Monday.

Plan sides to utilize seasonal produce and a large variety of plant foods. (grains, vegetables, fruit)

Gather recipes.

Write the grocery list.

Once or twice a week, cook an entree in quantity and freeze half for later.

Here’s a snapshot of a week of planned menus. Written and planned in a lined notebook where I write many notes and plans for other things in my life. The book is not a keepsake nor a journal- but an organizational tool kept by my side.

March is ©️ National Nutrition Month .