7QT - Calendars, Meals, and Planning, Oh My!

September 1st is tomorrow.  WHAT!?

Classes started this week for us. I am drowning in my ideas about schedules and plans. I finally got September planned for the house and food.

If I don't plan meals ahead of time, we tend to eat one of two things: pancakes or hamburg stroganoff.  Or worse: we do take-out. Frank is sick of both the cooking choices and our budget is sick of the other choice. With being out of the house 2 days each week for outside classes, and trying to keep up with laundry and dishes, meal planning is a must. It is also important for me to have the house as clutter free and clean as reasonably possible; I do not do visual clutter well - at.all!

So, my September meal plan in 7 quick takes (linking up with Kelly, as usual) (house plans may be in another later post)

1

The whole enchilada. 

In our downstairs hallway we have the "command center" I set this up a while ago. It seems to be working pretty good. (maybe because it is on the wall directly from the downstairs bathroom door, EVERYONE sees it all the time!) Because I am cheap frugal, I hung clipboards on the wall. Some of the clipboards have charts which are laminated so we can use dry-erase pens to check off accomplishments. Each clipboard is for a different thing.
Clockwise starting top left corner:
1. Daily Chore Chart,
2. Monthly calendar,
3. "Catch-all" Clipboard, currently holding the Marine Boot Camp Matrix so we can see the main thing our son is doing on any given day;
4. Menu with shopping lists and recipes;
5. Weekly Chore Chart.
This is the place where the crew can go to see what needs to be done, what is going on, and where we need to be on any given day.

2

The calendar. 

Each person has a color. The dry erase markers on the top have the name of the person that color belongs to. This new magnet system is new. I made an excel sheet of the most common and frequent events and printed it on magnet paper: I LOVE THIS STUFF! Anything new to add can be written on a blank color magnet, or just put down in appropriate color. If it ain't on the calendar, I cannot guarantee it will happen (of course if it is on the calendar, it could get missed as well!)
This needed to be filled in before the next step could take place...

3

The menu: Part 1

I looked through the calendar and figured out which days we would need something quick and easy and which days I could make something a bit more involved. I searched the internet for some new recipes for my slow / pressure cooker (this one was a gift from my Mom and Dad this past Christmas: game changer) I then filled in the blanks trying to make sure I didn't have 2 days in a row of the same protein source: poultry, beef, pork, seafood. (yes, I do like color-coding, thank you for asking.) I did make all Fridays seafood.

4

The menu: Part 2

I sat with the kiddos still here with us and asked them for ideas for breakfast, lunch and snack. The goal is to bake something for breakfast and have eggs with it, as well as a set lunch and afternoon snack each day. I am hoping having this planned will help with more balanced eating and help with the budget as well. No more running to the store for something quick and walking out with a receipt that says I spent $50 for a quick lunch or snack!

5

The menu: part 3

After the lists were made, I filled in my weekly menu plan to put on the board at the Center. I added a starch and veggies for each main meal trying to make sure, again, I didn't duplicate starches or veggies two days in a row. Notes on the bottom to remind me to make something the day before or whatever.

6

Shopping: Part 1

I went through all the main course meals and made a list of all the ingredients, whether I thought I knew we had it or not. This gave me a main ingredient list to go by when preparing:

7

Shopping: Part 2

The weekly shopping list for the menu the following week. I love this list. I have it on a clipboard. This lets me clip the coupons I might have to it. It makes it easy to mark what I need and the children know to check off anything they want me to get the next time I go shopping. If it is not on the list, I will forget to buy it.

And there it is, September meal plans in a nutshell.

Now to head over the Kelly's to check out other Quick Takes