Another thing I do - I always choose 1-2 meals each week that can be made with ingredients I already have on hand, just in case our plans change for the week - that way I'm not wasting any fresh food, thawed meat, etc. For example I always have stuff on hand to make soup/sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, frozen sausage raviolis with jarred sauce, etc. These are my "throw together" meals - I can make them in a pinch if I need to last minute (and my kids love them) or if we end up going out, or soccer practice night changes, etc, I'm not wasting something that NEEDS to be cooked on a certain night.
My family (especially my kiddos) absolutely LOVES to know ahead of time what we're going to have (especially when I let them pick their own dinner night!) so I have a menu posted in the kitchen for everyone to see. They love it!
Each weekend (either Saturday night or sometime Sunday) I write in our meal plan for the week. I either go through the sale ads and plan around what's on sale, go through my freezer to see what I have to thaw, or just pick something fun off my idea list to mix things up (I also suggest keeping a list around of your favorite meals - this will help you get out of that rut of making the same foods all the time!) Here's a printable list of menu ideas (all of these foods are a big hit in my house, and they are all pretty easy/low maintenance. Let me know if you have any questions or need any recipes, although most of them are pretty easy to figure out!)
menu_options.pdf |