I resisted Pintrest for a long time, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but alas I have gotten some good ideas and this is one that I really, really like.
I first saw the idea here, and liked the ability to pull out a bunch of menu choices and arrange and rearrange them in any given week. We typically plan our weekly menu on Saturdays and Sundays before we go grocery shopping. It involves a combination of what’s on sale that week, what’s in season, and what we have going on that week. For years, I have written this out usually on scratch paper, although there was a brief stint at getting it put on Google Calendar, but despite the fact that we cook at home 90%+ of the time, I still can’t remember what is in my recipe stash.
Source: Uploaded by user via Genevieve on Pinterest
This was a new-sew, no tools project. The board is a framed bulletin board that I wrapped fabric around and hot glued. I then painted clothespins and labeled them with the days of the week and hot glued those on top of the fabric to the frame of the bulletin board.
The pockets and labels are both made out of scrapbooking cardstock and my menu ideas are a combination of handwritten and computer printed.
The original board only had 2 pockets and was designed to help keep people from repeating the same meal ideas constantly. While I like that concept, for us a bigger division is between favorites (things Capone requests mostly) and remember which new recipes I’ve seen and wanted to try. Everything else goes in the center pocket.
Unlike my previous scratch paper method, this planner is much easier to switch meals mid-week if needed. We try to stick to our plan, but occasionally we realize on Tuesday that Rakicy doesn’t need lunch the next day, Capone ate the last of the yogurt I was planning on using in that night’s dinner, or more likely that after working all day I decide whatever I had planned requires more energy than what I have that night. Additionally, 26 weeks out of the year, we get a CSA share from a local farmer. That means our menu frequently changes mid-week to accommodate whichever fresh veggies we pick up on Tuesdays.
Most of my recipes come from only a handful of sources. Those that I can’t make from memory have either the cookbook name and pg number on the back of the card or the blog/web address of the recipe if I found it online. This has been a tremendous help. We eat a lot of vegetarian based recipes and previously I used to spend a lot of time trying to figure out where I saw the recipe.
The bottom pocket is full of mostly blank menu cards because we do try new recipes quite often. Anything I haven’t made yet goes in this pocket. Sometimes we make something one time and decide never again. This helps me separate the things I know we will like from the new recipes and balance how much new cooking/learning I have to do in a given week.