You know Momma is all about meal planning. But let’s be real, it can be time consuming and absolutely exhausting. What if I told you that I have a solution to that particular problem?
It’s called the Rotating Menu.
What is this magical menu and how do you produce it, you ask? Lemme walk you through it.
Essentially what I do is sit down and make a list of meals that I know how to make like the back of my hand. I don’t need to check the ingredients list, the preparation methods, measurements or cooking time. I know these things. (And if you don’t have a repertoire of Go To meals, that’s okay! Pick one, learn it well, then pick a new one.) From there, I shuffle them into Breakfast, Lunch and Dinners. You want roughly 14 of each, although If you don’t mind apple-cinnamon oats or eggs and toast every morning, you don’t have to have a unique breakfast.
What we’re looking to do here is to plan out our meals for two weeks. Have a planned leftover day, maybe on the weekend, or shopping day. The menu reboots every other week, and because we went with foods we know and enjoy, we’re not gonna get tired of eating them. We might use some dinners for lunches later in the week. If we make 4 servings of chili in week two, but we only need two servings, we freeze the other two for the next time and free up some cooking time down the road. We pick up a rotisserie chicken on shopping day, have it for dinner that night, use the cooked chicken in our salads and wraps later in the week.
The Benefits
#1 No Food Boredom.
One of the benefits of this form of meal planning is that you don’t get tired of eating the same meal four nights in a row. I intentionally make a rotating menu planning to use similar items in different ways. Roasted potatoes with the chicken, and then mashing the rest of them to go with the meatloaf. Less food waste and less boredom! To help combat boredom, I also tend to switch up the menus as the seasons change, to account for in-season produce. Roasted Acorn Squash in the Fall, Parmesan Roasted Asparagus in the Spring.
#2 Consistent Grocery Bill.
Another benefit is having a grocery list that is a known commodity. Sure if egg prices shoot through the roof again, you might experience some sticker shock at the register. But by and large, you should be clocking the same amount of money spent on your food, which makes it easier to budget your groceries. If your shop comes in under your planned budget, use the extra to pick up a new spice, a fruit you haven’t tried before, snagging that 69 cents a pound chicken bag.
#3 No thinking.
The best benefit, in my opinion, is that I Don’t Have To Think. I know which meals are coming. I know exactly which groceries I need. I don’t come home after a long day, melt into my couch, and then have to ask “ugh, what’s for dinner?” Because it’s already planned out. It’s already shopped. I already know that my Sundays are going to be busy, so I have a 10 minute dinner tucked in the rotation. Tuesday night’s Family Game Night? That’s the Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken Wraps night.
I’ve covered the pros. Let’s address the potential cons of adopting a Rotating Menu.
The Hiccups
If your work is on an irregular schedule, you might find this is a difficult method to follow because one week you’re off on Wednesday and two weeks later, you’re pulling a 12 hour shift. In such a case, scheduling the meals around your schedule is possibly too hard. I’d advise a variant of the rotating menu by meal prepping the coming week on your day off. Everything is still planned out and rotating, just you’re doing the prep in advance.
If you are the sort of person to cave into craving and grab chicken fingers on your way home from work because you’re tired and don’t want to cook what’s on the list… ehh. To this I say “know thyself.” Be realistic about your impulse control. If having a set menu is going to whip up your rebellious streak and cause you to blow money on unplanned drive thru runs after you bought the groceries? Mmm, gonna suggest this might not be the best tool for you. And that’s okay.
If you really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes and ingredients, the thrill of the creative venture stirs your soul? This might feel a little too dull for you. The work around could be that you pick your day off as your Food Fun Day and that’s the day you spend trying out new recipes, with a day or so after with some slots worked in for leftovers of the successes.
The Freebie!
I’ve provided a sample 2-Week Rotating Menu based on what I personally enjoy, and happen to fall back on when I’m in a busy season of life. Feel free to use it as is, or adapt it to make it your own. Add the foods you like and remove the ones you don’t. You’ll find Fruit listed often, but usually unspecified. Fill that with whatever fruits you like, whether fresh, frozen, dried, or canned. Click the graphic below to download the menu for free.
Leave a comment and let me know which meal is your favorite in the meal plan! And while you’re here, don’t forget to pick up your copy of my FREE guide: 30 Best Foods on a Budget.
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