Coming up with menu plans week after week that please everyone was making me fully understand the phrase, “I would rather stick a needle in my eye!”
There’s also something about 5 o’ clock that triggers everyone’s internal alarm clock (at least in my house) to immediately start screaming, yelling, or whining about EVERYTHING! To make matters worse, when I try to hide in my closet with a bag of KitKats and the I-Pad, the kids hunt me down, scream that their hungry and hold me hostage until they finished off my secret stash!
If you already know what’s for dinner every night and have a system that works for you, GREAT! (Gold star for you!) For the rest of us, you might want to check this out! I’m finally getting dinner made (before the screaming starts), and no one is asking me the dreaded question, “What’s for Dinner?”
I went ahead and coordinated the meal plan to go along with my food storage to help me rotate it, but you can suit it to fit your individual needs (or for the screamers in your home).
MEAL PLANNING SYSTEM:
First thing, you need to figure out what YOU like to eat!
Breakfast:
I have 10 different breakfast meals that I multiplied by 40. It’s a little more than a years worth of breakfasts, but I’m all about making the math as EASY as possible!
- 10 Breakfast x 40 = 400 Breakfast Meals for the Year.
Lunch:
If you really were living off your food storage, you probably aren’t going to be making 3 large hot meals everyday. You will be lucky if you can get one done!
For lunch I made sure to have enough ingredients to make bread at least once a day. You can use the bread for pb&j sandwiches, rolls with leftover meat, toast, or whatever else your imagination can come up with.
I would also rather die than not have dessert, so I made sure to add about 3 deserts a week! It’s a good idea to have some comfort foods and snacks in your food storage too! Plus, desserts count as a meal right?
- 1 loaf of Bread x 365 = 365 Loafs of Bread
- 15 Desserts x 10 = 150 Desserts
Dinner:
I have 4 different categories for my meals:
- Soup, Salad, & Appetizer Meals
- Beans & Mexican Meals
- Rice & Chicken Meals
- Pasta & Italian Meals
9 Meals of Each Category x 4 = 36 Different Dinners
36 Dinners x 10 = 360 Dinners
I try to make at least 2 meals out of my food storage a week so my food storage will be rotated every 3 years. All of the ingredients I store have a minimum 3 year shelf-life, most have much more, and so rotating the food this way ensures that hopefully nothing will go bad.
People always seem to wince and ask me if I really eat my food storage, and the answer is “YES!” This isn’t hard to do, because I LOVE every meal that I store! Food storage doesn’t mean just loading up on wheat and beans, it means learning to store and be efficient with what YOU enjoy eating!
Sides (Fruits & Veggies):
I’m impressed with all the people who tell me they only eat fruit and vegetables, and therefore can’t do food storage. Well, here are a few suggestions for you self-controlled health nuts (yes, I’m secretly jealous of you):
- LEARN TO COOK WITH BASICS – I would still highly recommend learning to cook with wheat, beans, or other staples that last 25 plus years and put them into your food storage. You don’t have to eat them on a daily basis (even though they are very healthy for you), but you at least have them if you need them.
- BECOME A CANNING NUT – Learn to can all the Fruits and Vegetables you eat! When making your Food Storage plan, you can also factor sides of green beans, peaches, or other favorites.
- TRY OUT FREEZE-DRIED FOODS – A great option is trying out the many Freeze-Dried Foods that are now available! Freeze-Dried Foods keep most of their original nutritional value and store for over 25 years! Check them out HERE and order some small Pantry Cans to sample!
- GARDEN – You may want to consider eventually having some type of garden. It can be a matter of just having a few containers and sprouts, or transforming your entire backyard. This skill is crucial if you want to sustain your lettuce eating habits. Another option is to buy a can of SEEDS. They will keep for over 20 years in the freezer, so if you don’t have time to garden now, you will at least have seeds if you need them.
MEAL PLANNING BOARD:
Now the fun part! Once you have your meals figured out, it’s time to put everything together. Meal planning for the entire month only takes about 5 minutes now, and then I never have to think about food again, unless I’m eating it :)
Feel free to steal this idea (that I stole from BH&G), or come up with your own!
Gather Your Supplies:
- Magnetic Board – I got mine at Office Depot
- Calendar – I found one at Target
- Magnetic Paper – You can purchase some at Hobby Lobby
Make Labels:
- Open – Menu Board Labels, or create your own if you know how to do fancy stuff like that (Send me a copy if you do :)
- Label with the meals from your food storage plan!
- Print off onto Magnetic Paper!
- Cut them Out!
Put it All Together:
- Put the tags you cut-out onto the Magnetic Board under the appropriate Category.
- Write in the Calendar Dates & Month.
- Put the labeled magnets on the day you want that meal.
- You aren’t restricted to just Food Storage meals! Fill in the calendar with when you plan to go out, want to try a new recipe, or days everyone must fend for themselves!
Use It:
- Put it in a place that is easily accessible, like next to the pantry!
- Before I go to bed I try to glance at it so if I need to soak beans or get anything while I’m out the next day I can.
- My dream is to prep meals the night before, or the morning of. Waiting until 5 o’clock is just asking for trouble ;)
ROTATE MEALS:
Rotation is Key!!! Like everything, getting something organized is a lot of work, but keeping it that way is the true challenge.
***Everytime I make a meal I take the corresponding magnet and put it into a pocket in my Food Storage Recipe Book. Once I have prepared each of my meals, I then take all the magnets out of the pocket and put them back onto the magnet board to start over. This way I make sure I’m rotating all the food I have stored and not making one meal 10 times, before I make another meal once!***
Food Storage Recipe Book:
I went ahead and made a separate little binder (I went with a cute one from Hallmark), that ONLY has my Food Storage Recipes and References in it. That way it’s easy to know what I have ingredients for in my food storage and for last-minute meal ideas.
Each year I evaluate my meals so I can change out any that we don’t like, or add new ones that I fell in Love with :)
***Remember you can print off these super-cute
Recipe Cards HERE***
This really has taken the stress out of meal time for me, and I hope it does the same for you. So take those needles out of your eyes and save them for when you have to clean poop and marker off the walls!
Ok, you amaze me! This is fantastic and looks FUN, functional, easy to use, and resourceful all in one. Can’t wait to do it! Thanks for sharing and motivating me!
Thanks for the feedback and making me feel awesome :) I need to come do a post about you and your amazing farm and watermelon growing skills! That puts me to shame!
WOW! There’s just one word for it all…WOW. What an idea….WOW! The person who thought of it….WOW and then actually carried it out….WOW and then shares it so that others can be cool & organized like her….WOW!
WOW! There’s just one word for it all…WOW. What an idea….WOW! The person who thought of it….WOW and then actually carried it out….WOW and then shares it so that others can be cool & organized like her….WOW!
Thanks for all the WOW’s! I’ was like WOW, she really likes this, even if I did talk it up too much :)
You are total awesomeness!!! This is GREAT! Thanks for posting all your amazing ways to ‘do it all’!
It’s so wonderful having a great Mom! No matter what I post it’s awesome :)
great! Just what I was looking for! PS I’m Adam’s sister!
Thanks! :)
I thought you were awesome for leaving a comment, but even more so since you are Adam’s sister :) Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve seen many color coordinated menu calendars that look pretty, but managing it looks like a part time job. This look simple and easy. Going to run the idea by the cook (my husband).
I’ve loved it so far, and I’ve actually used it every month so far since I’ve made it! Way to marry a cook ;)
Will I seem completely desperate if I beg you to post your recipes??? This system looks incredible!
Absolutely not! I’m excited to see when people want to see the recipes! I’m trying to get them up on the recipe part of the blog, but hopefully in the near future I’ll have all the recipes I use available!
I absolutely second the request to see the recipes you use for this ;)
It’ll help with planning out my own choices, and give me more ideas!
Definitely! I’ll get working on it :)
Are all your recipes posted under the “Recipes” on your menu bar? Are they somewhere else? I see only 6 (you said you have 9) under dinner. Just wondering if I missed them or if you are still working on getting them posted. (I know what it’s like to have 4 munchkins at home… so I would definitely not be surprised if you’re still working on them!)
Im still working on them. I’m trying to set up a menu index and get some things working better on the website and it’s taking forever!!!
Im hoping to start posting a recipe once a week once I get things fixed.
I don’t think I could be this organized. I do make a weekly plan and on occasion a monthly plan, though.
It takes a bit of work at the beginning just making it, but after that there is hardly any thought that goes into meals anymore. I’m not organized and have never been able to do weekly meal plans, so this was my way of getting it done for life ;) & it helps keep my food rotated too.
I just showed my wife this and she REALLY wants to try this out! However, she would love to see what images (top to bottom) 3,4,5 in a better resolution so she can actually read them (sigh…I failed to figure out a way to blow them up and have them legible).
Possible to see them “in action” for more ideas?
Thanks!
Great suggestion! Maybe I can do a short video tutorial of this in action! I’ll send you the pics too!
You mean to tell me if I follow your plan, I will no longer resent my husband and kids for wanting dinner?? lol.
Lol – Ok, maybe I exaggerated the plan some (or a lot ;)!
What a fantastic plan! Really makes sense. Can’t wait to see your recipes!
Your family is darling–love the photos!
I’ll do anything for people that love looking at pics of my family ;) I can’t help but sneak them in!
I really need to start working on getting recipes up! Maybe I can take a month off from blogging and do it!
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing this! I just saw an idea on Facebook (I’m sure it’s on Pinterest, too.) about spray-painting an old cookie sheet to use as a magnet board. I love your dinner calendar idea! I hope I can be as organized as you one day! Working on it a little at a time ;)
What an awesome idea! I think I’ve seen that on pinterest too, but didn’t think about incorporating the two!
And don’t let me fool you, I’m not that organized ;)
Lots of people searching for plans like this can I refer them to your site . I am selling Thrive Life foods but have not worked on menus. Well website menus but that is different. Great site Jamie
Thanks Bruce! I love Thrive Foods! I’ve definitely incorporated a lot of their foods into my meal plan!
I am so excited to use the menu labels!! I can type in the smaller boxes and add my meals but I can’t change the larger labels. I wanted to have titles like Italian, Mexican…. Etc. I thought I could delete and retype what you had but no luck. Is there a way to get blank larger lables? :)
Eventually I’ll like to make up my own labels, one day ;)
Anyways, I did mine the tacky way and just printed off what I wanted the label to say and taped it OVER what they had!
Awsome idea wondering though do you cook a whole years worth if meals at once? Or do you choose 2 a week and make double or triple amounts?
Thanks
It varies, I usually cook 2 meals each week and try to double or triple them for the freezer. My cousin does once a month cooking, which I may start doing. The less time in the kitchen the better!
Um okay…you are seriously my hero now with this plan…working on doing ours like this now just to see if it works well for us or not. Thanks for the idea!
Yeah Stacy! Glad it like it! I hope it works well for you too! Good luck!
Ok, maybe a TMI question here, but I was wondering if you could give an average price that you spend on a years worth of food + buckets and all the etc. to store it in for your family? I’m curious if it would be comparable to grocery shopping every 2 weeks as my family (same size as yours) does now? I’d appreciate it, if you don’t mind sharing!
No such thing as TMI around here ;)
Eventually I want to get a post up with exactly what’s in my pantry, cost, etc. Until then, I would say I spent about $500 on buckets and maybe $3-4K on all my food storage? That includes all my long-term free-dried foods, etc.
About the only groceries I buy during the year is my fruits/veggies/bread from bountiful baskets (about $40 every 2 weeks), and milk from the store.
Anyways, that’s a total ballpark. I’ll try and add it up one day!
Thanks a bunch! That really helps out!
You are hilarious! I love reading your posts. They are so fun and definitely informative. You make the mundane exciting. I particularly enjoyed how you ended your “Meal Plans For The Entire Year” post.. too true. Thank you for helping our family get prepared and laugh about it all at the same time.
Yeah! That makes me so happy! Glad to see you stopping by the website to say Hi! I missed seeing you this week! Take care!
I can’t thank you enough! You have saved my sanity and my dinner, too! Thank you!
This is amazing!Thank you so much for sharing this! I just have one question. How do you keep your food storage stocked? When you make meals from your supply do you restock it weekly? Monthly? I’m going to tackle this whole years supply thing and is a little overwhelming! I appreciate your help!
I don’t know if I have the best method of restocking, but I attempt to do it in shifts (focus on restocking something every 3 months). I try to restock everything at least once a year:
– When meat goes on sale or Zaycon comes to our area I’ll restock all my meat.
– Once a year I’ll do a bulk order of wheat, sugar, flour, etc. and fill all my buckets.
– Pantry ingredients I restock when I go to the store, but at least once a year I’ll do a more complete inventory and make sure it’s all there.