Nta asks…
I would love to menu plan but haven’t had much success with my current method.
Can you suggest a structure that’s easy so that I can maintain it long term?
Self-portrait while on holiday in Ballito
I believe in very loose menu planning.
What that means is that I plan to have meals for about 5 days but I move the days around as things take my fancy or according to the weather.
I do aim to cook 1 – 2 new recipes (from my Pinterest boards) every month but for the most part, my family has about 15 – 20 meals we all LOVE and we rotate these every month or so.
I might have these 5 meals planned:
- M – chicken stir fry
- T – pasta bolognaise
- W – tuna rice bake
- T – sausage and tomato casserole
- F – lentil and vegetable soup with garlic rolls
If Tuesday is particularly cold, I may do the soup then instead of on Friday. If I’ve had to work late on Monday, instead of all the chopping that stir-frying involves, I may do the pasta instead.
The point is to have the freedom within a bit of structure.
This might or might not work for you.
I also like the following idea in theory. I say in theory because I get bored with food very quickly so I need lots of flexibility.
However, you could have a system like this where every week you have a dish from a category:
- M – chicken (plan any of your repertoire of chicken dishes)
- T – fish
- W – vegetarian, maybe with kidney beans/ lentils, etc
- T – pasta
- F – pizza
Readers, do you have any tips or tricks to help Nta?
Have you made your menu plan for this week yet? It’s not too late!
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