I generally like to keep a menu planner for our household. It has been invaluable in helping to channel my enthusiasm for trying out recipes in my new thermomix. I was using my DIY Fridge File to write down our meals for the week and all was going well….until……organisational envy hit.
I must admit I have fallen in love with the ‘idea’ of these super organised menu planners from RobbyGurl’s Creations and The Homes I Have Made:
OH. MY. GOODNESS!
Setting something like that up takes some serious time and organisation. I don’t really have the time to invest in creating one of these, especially if I don’t end up using and loving it.
After a bit of internet surfing and a trip to Ikea I decided on a partial implementation of this system. I wanted to stick my toe into the water, so to speak, to see if this would be for me.
Ikea now have these magnetic whiteboards. They costs just a few dollars and it is divided into 7 sections.
I printed the days of the week onto a blank magnetic sheet I found at a dollar store. I also printed some little magnets with codes for our side dishes such as potato, rice, pasta etc.
I cut up a few sheets of cardboard into strips to allow me to write down meals and its corresponding recipe book/pinterest reference. You can read about my recipe organisation here.
Here is the board hanging on the inside of my pantry door.
As time goes on I am building up my stock of recipe cards and getting a feel for whether this type of menu planning suits me. If it does suit me, I can spend the time to make this a grander operation. For the moment though, it has only cost a few dollar and a few minutes to implement the ‘no frills’ version of the system.
If I would just take time to plan ahead, it would save many last minute trips to the grocery to say nothing about the gas and time saved.