There are a variety of preferences for menu planning. Some moms like to do it all themselves, others want it all laid out for them, while many fall somewhere in between. Whatever your preference, you are sure to find help online. Start with some of the resources below to help you find the tools for your favorite way to plan meals.
Menu Planning Subscriptions
Busy Mom Menu - The time- and money-saving menu based on the Secrets of a Busy Cook, the Busy Mom Menu also includes our exclusive healthy Meal Makeovers, nutritional data and points*, and the recipes and grocery list will be included in the emailed PDF file so you do not have to visit the website each week. Save even more by paying quarterly or yearly.
Frugal Mom Menu - Trying to feed a family on a tight budget? Our Frugal Mom Menu can help you save hundreds of dollars each year by helping you to cut your grocery bill while still creating delicious meals. Each meal will include a cost analysis, and the recipes and grocery list will be included in the emailed PDF file. Save even more by paying quarterly or yearly.
Food Ministry Menu - If you purchase food boxes from Angel Food Ministries™, you will find our Food Ministry Menu a great way to use all of the items in your box. Heather Ortega is a frugal mom who has been using food boxes from AFM for years and she plans these menus with creative and frugal meals to use even the items that would normally sit in a freezer because you don't know what to do with them.
Living Gluten-free Casein-free - Living Gluten-free Casein-free is a comprehensive resource that will help you in your quest to live gluten-free. Perfect for individuals who are either gluten-free or gluten-free/casein-free, Living Gluten-free Casein-free contains valuable resources to help you succeed with your new gluten-free lifestyle. Living Gluten-free Casein-free is the only GFCF menu plan written by a practicing nurse practitioner.
Meal planning articles
Make Meals in 30 Minutes or Less
by Jill Cooper
Why is it that, even though we have faster methods of cooking our meals, they seem to have become more frenzied and hurried than years ago? Then it dawned on me -- With the introduction of the microwave and the idea that meals can be prepares in 30 minutes, most people do nothing to prepare or plan their meals until 30 minutes before they are going to eat. So 30 minutes before dinner you find yourself trying to thaw something, cook it, and slap it on the table and at the same time talk and deal with tired, hungry, cranky kids. Let's not forget how exhausted you are at this time of day, too... Read more
What's for Dinner, Mom?: Menu planning and cooking in bulk
by Stefanie Coutinho
We're all aware of the chaos that a lack of organization around mealtime can bring! Instead of dinner being a time when the family comes together, it can be a time of frustration. For Kathy Cottrell, a homeschooling mother of two teenage sons who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, part of the solution has been planning and preparing meals in advance. For the past 15 years, she has planned two month's worth of menus, cooked the entrees and stocked her freezer with tasty dishes ready to re-heat and serve with ease... Read more
Free Home Planner and Organizer
by Mary Ann Kelley
The Menus 4 Moms Planner is a comprehensive organizer for appointments and family menu planning. It is free for personal use and can be viewed and printed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. .. Read more
Kitchen Management and Meal Planning
by Crystal Miller
Busy homemakers can find managing the kitchen and meal planning and preparations a large challenge. The trend towards fast foods and convenience foods is common today as a solution to deal with this challenge. I walk into a nearby grocery store and find the deli loaded with "old-fashioned" goodies like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, apple pies and any other item one could want for making meal time a breeze. This could seem like an answer to prayer! .. Read more
by Lynn Nelson
I love to cook! But I just don't have a lot of time for it and I suspect that those who hate to cook really have trouble. I want to provide wholesome and tasty meals Monday through Friday, but I don't want to spend all evening in the kitchen. In fact, 30 minutes is my maximum limit for week night meal preparation. I have developed a method of accomplishing this, which I will share with you here. This method actually involves a combination of several different techniques with which you are probably already familiar, so these are not really secrets. But I combine them in an organized manner that makes weekday cooking a breeze.
.. Read more
by Tammy Paquin
It's been at least six years since I balanced working outside the home almost full-time and having two kids. Friends were always amazed that I managed homemade meals on the table each night. Becoming a stay home mom with three kids made meal planning a bit easier because I was home, BUT several of the lessons I learned as a work outside the home mom still apply. I'll give you a sample menu for one week to show how I would pull all these easy lessons together... Read more
Learn How To Plan Your Meals To Free Up Your Time
by Aurelia Williams
Meal planning and bulk cooking are both wonderful techniques you can utilize and modify to fit your families needs. The idea behind this is simple. The principle is that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and then preserve them by either freezing or fridgerating them. Also, meal planning you can cook one large meal and get 2-3 other meals out of it! The key here is to make every meal you cook count!.. Read more
Helpful cooking websites
AllRecipes is another large site that exists mostly as a community to share and review recipes. The site offers excellent search capabilities as well as nutrition information and several printing formats for the recipes. There is a free version of the site, but some of the recipe collections are only available by paid subscription.
Recipezaar is similar to Allrecipes in that it offers a place to share and review recipes and also has both free and paid accounts.
Cut the Hunger is very similar to The Grocery Game but is free. It is not available in all areas, and where it is available not all stores may be listed. This is a section of The Coupon Mom's website. Click on Best Grocery Deals by State to find the recommended purchases.
Meal Planning Software
Mastercook is the most popular recipe software and is a powerful solution with integrated menu planning and grocery list creation tools. Most other software and online recipe services offer the ability to import or export recipes in Mastercook format.
Cook'n Recipe Organizer is a complete system to help you manage recipes, plan meals and menus, import and export recipes, create shopping lists, and even suggest meals based on what you have on hand.
EzyEating is a very affordable meal planning software solution with similar functionality to the more expensive programs. EzyEating offers a free demo version so you can try before you buy.
Make and take meals
A new phenomenon to hit the Pacific Northwest is the concept of make and take meals. You go to a central kitchen where you make meals with other women and bring them home and freeze them. The kitchen provides the recipes and ingredients, you provide the labor. Some of the ones I have found are listed here but if you know of others, please let me know about them. Look for this concept to expand to the rest of the country quickly as entrepreneurs see its potential.
Easy Meal Preparation Association - lists locations of member shops by state
