Weekly meal plans

A few years ago, I attended a Relief Society meeting where we were taught to build Zion in ourselves, our marriage, our families and our communities. They gave us great ideas for dates, holidays, cleaning and raising children. I want to share all of their wonderful information with you.

"5 quick tips for successful menu planning:

1. How often

Decide how often you want to visit the supermarket, whether it's once a week, every two weeks, or once a month - ultimately it will depend on your schedule, and your family's needs.

2. Number of meals

Work out how many meals you will need in that time frame. Remember to take into consideration main meals, side dishes, dessert drinks, eating out, special occasions, expected visitors, and left over nights. You may want to have a simple list of meals for the week ahead, but rather than assigning a day to each of them, you can choose something from the list depending on your daily schedule. However, if you prefer to be more organized, you could write down exact meals for each day of the week.

3. Menu rotation

You may choose to write up two weeks worth of menus, or you could opt for a month's worth. Remember to leave a few nights blank when you can try out new recipes, or have leftovers, You should also take into consideration the seasons, so that you can buy produce when it is cheaper, and fresher, and include more soups and stews for winter, or salads for summer etc.

4. Dietary requirements

Use menu planning to help you meet dietary requirements, for example including more fish each week, or eating more vegetables each day. To keep your menu varied, try using broad categories as the basis for your menu plan, such as:

Poultry, Fish, Pasta or rice based, Vegetarian, Red meat, Beans, Eggs or cheese.

5. Shopping list

Write down exactly what you will need by using a meal planner and shopping list, perhaps based on categories such as dairy, frozen foods, grains/pastas/cereals, canned goods, drinks, fruit and vegetables."

This is what I am currently doing. My husband and I sit down and discuss what we want to eat for the upcoming week. Then we write down what we need to buy and go shopping. Here is my meal calendar that we keep on the refrigerator.

Here are some websites that I found and I think they will be useful to you:

To see the food guide pyramid and nutrition information click here!

To see what fruit and vegetables are in season click here!

Printable grocery lists here!

Online menu planner here!