I don't know about you all but I was notorious for putting off dinner and feeding my family sandwiches or cereal because by the time I'd figured out what we should have, it was too late to defrost and prepare. That is when I decided to make a monthly menu.

Start off by listing all the meals you and your family like to eat. I have a list of about 50 things and when I try a new recipe and we enjoy it, I just add it to the list.

At the beginning of the month, I pull out our calendar. We have a large calendar hanging in the pantry of our kitchen where we keep track of EVERYONE's doctor appointments, sporting events, meetings, etc ... so it's a general place we can find the "going on's" of everyone in the family. Using my list of meals we eat, I write down what we will be having for dinner for every given day in the month. It makes it nice and easy to plan meals, knowing what was going on that particular day. For example: If Sporty has soccer on Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30, I plan an easy hamburgers on the grill, mac and cheese, and corn for dinner, which allows dinner to be on the table by 7:15 and prevents us from eating at 9pm. I also know when I wake up on Tuesday, to take the hamburgers out of the freezer so they will be ready for grilling. On the days we don't have anything going on, are the days I plan for more time consuming meals.

This not only helps me KNOW what I'm having for dinner each night, taking the guess work out of it for everyone (do you have kids who ask constantly, "What's for dinner?" Now they have a place to look on their own), it also allows my weekly shopping trips to be much quicker, more organized, and MUCH cheaper. Every week when preparing my list, I can run right through the calendar and know what I need to purchase in order to feed my family for a full week. I used to be infamous for buying whatever "looked good" while I was shopping and I would spend a lot of money on things that spoiled and we'd never end up eating.

Keeping a menu on the calendar has been a win win for our family. It works for us ... I hope it works for you too!