menu planning

I was in Wal Mart the other day, when I found this magnetic dry erase board.

I had an idea for it, and so far, it has been working pretty well.

It is now my menu planning calender.

5:00 is the bewitching hour at our house. My husband isn't home from work yet, kids are getting hungry, we are doing homework, and getting ready for any activities...it is just crazy.

So now when I meal plan, I do it by my calender. For example:

Mon & Tues are pretty quiet days around our house. We do have family night on Mondays but unless we are going somewhere, it is not a rush. So I will plan something more "time consuming" for dinner.

Wed & Thurs are very busy. We have evening activities and run around like crazy. My boys also get out of school early on Thursdays. They are just busy days and leave me tired. So on those days I use my crockpot, a freezer meal, or something rrrreally easy like soup & sandwiches, hot dogs...

Fridays are a total relax day. We are all kind of doing our own thing and so it is usually a pizza night, leftovers or kids pick their own.

Saturdays are...well whatever works.

Sundays we don't get home from church until 4:30 so I try to do a crock pot meal or a freezer meal. We are all starving by the time we get home & no one wants to wait very long!

So I have started using this board to plan my menu's. Ben & the kids check it every day to find out what we are having. Even though I don't follow it perfectly, it is nice to have it down. I can also use my previous ideas if I am having a hard time figuring out what to serve.

I told the kids (and my hubby, of course) that if they have any requests to write them down. Well one day as I was walking by, I found a lot of the things I had written down, replaced (in my kids handwriting) with McDonalds or Panda Express.

Everybody is a comedian (;