I usually plan meals for my family for two weeks at a time. By consolidating my menu planning, I tend to make fewer trips to the grocery store. Don't underestimate the time it takes to plan healthy meals. I typically spend 30 to 45 minutes creating a menu and generating a grocery list, once every 2 weeks.
I recommend that you create a list of healthy meals that your family likes to eat. There are a lot of different ways that people organize their recipes. I like to type my recipes, put them in protective sleeves and clip them in a binder. I have a pocket at the front of each binder section for magazine clippings or recipes that I have printed from websites that I want to try. If you are just getting started on your recipe collection, feel free to use recipes from my recipe index or check out my favorite recipe sources.
I usually try and plan our dinners around this schedule:
Monday: Fish
Tuesday: Chicken or Turkey
Wednesday: Soup, Salad or Sandwiches (including some lean protein)
Thursday: Beef or Pork
Friday: Pasta or Pizza
Saturday: Chicken or Fish
Sunday: Breakfast for dinner night
In any busy family, there are bound to be days when this schedule is just not applicable. Some weeks I have to shuffle the meals around to make it work. As long as I can fit them into our menu at some point during the week, I know that we are eating a well balanced diet.
