As a continued organization effort, I decided to make a monthly lunch menu. I was sick of standing in front of the fridge wondering what to serve up to the munchkins or worse asking what they wanted for a response full of “no, no, no thanks, no.” I decided that to cut out the guess work, have a more balanced diet, and prep the kiddos for having a set menu at school having a monthly menu would be a great idea.
We’ve only done it for three days, but so far it is a total success. I know exactly what to make and the kids don’t argue.
I just wrote down all the things I could think of in four categories: entree, side, vegetable, and fruit. If I thought of something we did not have at the time, I wrote it on the grocery list.
Once I had our list, I printed out a calendar and got to work filling it with a menu. If the entree had tomato sauce or something vegetable like I would pair it with a fruit. I made sure that each day we had at least one fruit or vegetable. I realize it is not the healthiest menu on the planet, but I’m feeding a 4 year old and a one year old. They aren’t going to happily eat swiss chard.
I had just gone grocery shopping, so I just put the things on the shopping list at the end of the month. Easy peasy, I had most everything on hand and we aren’t eating the same thing twice!
edit*: Just heard about this adorable free printable lunch menu on Anything But Perfect and it is so perfect!
What’s your lunch routine? Any ideas to share?
P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.
We have decided to truncate our feed to help protect against stolen content. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please love us anyway. 🙂
This is so adorable! I think this is a fantastic idea and I so want o do this when i have kids!
I love this! I work to plan my kids lunches the same way – I made a list of the foods I KNEW they would eat and came up with about 3 weeks worth of main course lunch ideas; then I did the same with fruits, sides, and veggies. Like you, I try to put at least one fruit or one veggie on the plate. It is also a great way to introduce new food – a lot of time they don’t eat it but I keep doing it on a daily basis and sometimes, just sometimes, they taste it HA !
Ok, I think I need to do this. Do you know what my kids lunch menu is? PB&J, cheese, apple, milk. That’s it. Every day, I swear. I get so tired of fixing crap they won’t eat, and that they will, so that’s what they get. The quandary I’m in is that they are perfectly happy with it, so do I switch it up because I think they need variety? They get a good variety at dinner all the time. Hmmm, I’ll have to think about it. Maybe I could just do a weekly menu.
Ok, I’ll stop rambling and thinking to myself in your comment section! 🙂 But I’m glad you posted this. Got the wheels spinning….
I LOVE THIS! I think I’m going to pick 7 lunch meals that I KNOW my picky picky kids will eat and go for it! Thanks for sharing!!
xo, Mallory @ Classy Clutter
Great idea! Wish I’d had this years ago!