I grocery shop weekly. That used to mean that I would menu plan weekly too. You know the dreaded menu planning routine– flipping through cookbooks and recipe cards, penciling a few ideas on the back of a phone bill, and frantically glancing at your calendar hoping to avoid planning a meal that you won’t have the time to cook. And THEN you need to make your shopping list which means more flipping through your recipes to make sure you don’t forget anything like Worcestershire sauce. (Spell that three times.)
I got so tired of reinventing the meal… I mean wheel. After admiring several different menu boards on Pinterest, I decided to take what I loved about each one (i.e. what I thought would work for me) and combine those aspects into a menu board that would serve my needs perfectly. And thus The Ultimate Menu Board was born.
What I love about this particular design—
1) It’s weekly. I shop and plan my calendar weekly. I can adjust for company, evenings out, leftovers, etc.
2) Ingredients are listed on the back of the meal cards which measure 1 ½ by 4 ¼ inches. Hello shopping list! Sources such as recipe card, cookbook and page number, or binder are also noted.
3) Using the two pockets (made from 16 count crayon boxes,) I can store all of my meal cards right on the board. With a rotating system, I start with all the cards in the lower box. After we have a particular meal, I place its card into the upper box until we go through the majority of the cards. Then, I start over choosing from all of them again.
4) Clothespins mean no slipping of the laminated meal cards and no pin holes.
5) The base is an 11×14” picture frame, so it’s a cinch to hang. Using two nails keeps the board from tilting under its lopsided weight.
I shared my finished board on Pinterest and was surprised at how many sweet ladies sent me a note to say they couldn’t wait to make their own and start using it. (Hooray for making life in the kitchen a bit easier on busy mamas!) Along with the notes came inquiries about exactly how I set up the meal cards and what I was serving each day. (Many would be disappointed to see my recipes like this one for spaghetti- brown ground beef, add a jar of sauce, boil noodles, and mix. Several meals are that easy.)
At the end of this article is a one week sample of what I am currently serving along with a few favorite recipes. However, I want to share what I think will be even more valuablel—not what I serve, but how I go about planning it. The key is themes! Assigning a different theme to each day of the week helpfully narrows your focus as you plan. It also ensures that you have a nice variety of foods without similar repeats during the week. A different color of cardstock for each theme’s meal cards makes choosing meals for the week even easier.
The key to having themes that will work for you is to choose themes that go along with what your family already eats on a regular basis. I suggest brainstorming and writing down all the meals you regularly serve (or even keep track for a month as you go.) Then, look at your list and see what types of themes are already represented. Eat a lot of fish? (Me neither, ha.) If you do, you could have “Seafood Night” or “Under the Sea.” Do you have several pasta dishes? “Pasta Night” or “Mambo Italiano” might work well. Love to try new recipes? Assign a day to do that. The recipes that you try and love can be added to the rotation of another night. Do you typically have leftovers? Make it a theme. Some people plan by what type of meat they serve– chicken, beef, pork. It can be that simple. The important thing is to choose themes that will work for you and your family. After you identify your themes, try to come up with 4-5 different meals per theme. This is going to take time. It is an investment that will eliminate hours of busy work and stress once you get your themes and meals into place.
The themes I use right now are–
Monday- Mambo Italiano (pasta dishes like spaghetti, chicken/broccoli alfredo, etc.)
Tuesday- Dicksons’ Diner (quick and easy stuff like hamburgers, grilled cheese and soup, etc.)
Wednesday- Crock Pot (I love the crock pot! In fact, I use it twice a week. I try to choose a chicken meal for one day and something else for the other while also considering what I am serving on the days next to it.)
Thursday- Fiesta Ole (burritos, quesadillas, etc.)
Friday- Homestyle (meat and potato types of meals like baked chicken, steak, etc.)
Saturday- Eat out
Sunday- Crock Pot (yes, again)
When you assign your themes to the day of the week, think about your family’s typical schedule. For example, a crock pot meal is perfect for my family on Sundays because I can start it before we leave for church, and we get to come home (starving) to something good to eat. Plan simple, quick things on the nights you know your time to prepare will be limited. Does hubby work late every Tuesday? Make it “Kids Stuff” Tuesday. You get the idea.
What I love about The Ultimate Menu Board is that it is super flexible. Let’s say I notice mid-week that we have plenty of leftovers to feed the family for one day. I can slip the “leftover” card on top of Friday’s meal and just plan on doing the original meal the next week. And it’s not a problem to make a change. I can flip flop nights if I want. Life happens and it always threatened my carefully planned and printed “monthly menu.” No more. Want to add something new to the rotation? Simply make an additional card.
I hope this menu board and the tips on planning with themes will make time in the kitchen a little more pleasant and much more efficient for my fellow creative mamas.
If you still need a little inspiration, perhaps the following examples will help you get started.
One Week Meal Plan
Monday- lasagna, garden salad, French bread (wheat)
Tuesday- grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup (or ramen or ravioli)
Wednesday- garlic chicken, roasted zucchini, pineapple and cottage cheese
Thursday- burritos, corn, tortilla chips
Friday- party chicken, baked potatoes, honey mustard salad
Saturday- eat out
Sunday- mushroom and onion pork chops, brown rice, mixed veggies, rolls
Mom’s Lasagna-
Make sauce mixture using 1 lb browned ground beef, 1 can tomato soup, 1 can cheddar cheese soup, 15 oz tomato sauce, 1 T Italian seasoning and 1 tsp onion salt.
In a 9×13 pan, layer boiled noodles (9 in all,) sauce mixture and shredded mozzarella cheese three times.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches-
For an extra special sandwich use sourdough bread, three cheeses (a spread of cream cheese, a slice of American, a slice of provolone,) and slices of tomato and red onion.
Ella’s Honey Mustard Salad-
Combine lettuce, chopped apple, red onion, shredded cheddar cheese, sunflower seeds and bacon bits. Top with your favorite honey mustard dressing.
Happy planning, shopping, cooking and eating!
Clair Dickson is an Army wife, mother of four, and family portrait photographer. Formerly an art teacher, Clair continues to enjoy being creative through writing, homemaking, and teaching new ideas and skills to others.
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Donna - Wowza, what a terrific post! I appreciate all the time you put into sharing your menu planning. I currently have no set weekly menu’s for dinner planned in advance. I do grocery shop weekly and have a general idea of what meals we can put together. Meals usually involve a theme as Mexican is a weekly favorite. Since all these meal ideas are in my head as I do most of the cooking, this board would be awesome for my husband! lol If he beats me home, he can start preparing dinner! That is a good thing!
Cynthiasolc - I love the craft board idea! I try to save some weekly plans online so I can just access them when I don’t have time to plan.
Plus, I also added a “Convenience” night whenever I go grocery shopping. I could buy a cooked item from the grocery store and just add a veggie or a side
Alissa H. - I have seen about a million menu planners that are supposed to simplify my life. I’ve even paid for some services that tell me what to buy and what to cook. Seriously, I’ve tried them all.
But for the first time ever, I think you’ve created something that will *actually* simplify my life AND fit my family. It seems so simple I have to wonder why I didn’t think of it myself. However, I didn’t and I’m so thankful you did. And that you shared it.
Give yourself a little hug and know that someone out there thinks you are a genius and appreciates you! What a blessing this will be.
I’m off to start collecting my list of what my people actually like to eat so I can make my board in about a month.
Cheers!
Kim D - Clair!! This is amazing. I struggle with making “the dreaded list” each week. I think this is something my kids would even enjoy. Thank you!! xx
Stepanie - this is SOOOO awesome! Thanks! Even though I love to cook I get in a rut every week about what to make. This is a great idea, many thanks for sharing!
Stephanie Edreich Piscitelli - PS: my friend does something similar by putting little sheets of paper with dinner ideas in a bowl and then picking 5 each week. It would be great to get 10 options from 5 friends and have even more option to mix it up!!
Nora - L-O-V-E this idea of the menu board!!! I can’t wait to make my own!
Michelle - Thank you so much for this! I made the menu board this weekend and I’ve been so excited about using it already. This will just make it so much better!
Carol Mihlfeld - I love this idea – I currently do a monthly menu plan – and this would work perfectly as I could put the menu cards for the month in the bottom container and then move them up as they are used. My husband has been after me to do something like this, but I just couldn’t come up with something that would work with my monthly plan and his recipe card idea. This is perfect – Thank you!
jill - would love to make this. did you put the glass in the frame? how did you affix everything? did you glue the clothespins as well? Thank you so much!
funk50@charter.net
Clair Dickson - Hi Jill
Yes the glass is in the frame. The decorative paper and the “menu” title are behind the glass. The pockets are hot glued on top of the glass. The clothespins are also hot glued along the side which worked well with the wooded frame. Another type of glue might be needed to adhere to something other than wood.
Isabel - I’ve been following this blog for some time now. I love the ideas and the talent and good taste you put on them all. I’ m portuguese and I live in Lisbon. Thist post made me think how life can be so different 7000Km apart and yet so similar. My homecooking has nothing to do with yours but the struggle to decide what to cook each day is the same.Thank you for menu plan!
marci goodwin - This is awesome, Bree!! I am inspired to do something a little different with my menu planning!
Carey Penton Vorholt - What a fantastic idea!
Natalie - This rocks! LOVE THE IDEA, thanx for sharing!
Natalie
http://www.projectdowhatyoulove.wordpress.com
MR - Such a great idea! What did you use for the meal cards? Did you type it out and print onto the card?
Clair Dickson - I made a 2 column word document. On the left I typed the meal, on the right- the ingredients for that meal. I fit about 5 meals on one page. I cut cardstock down to regular print paper size and ran it through the printer. Then, I cut the cardstock into 1.5″ strips, folded them in half (giving me the meal on front and ingredients on back,) and then laminated them.
Maryanna Russell - I love this idea!
Jennifer Brinkmeyer - Someone may have already asked this or you may have explained, but do the different colors of cards represent the different themes you use or do they represent a certain day or do they have no meaning necessarily? My husband and I currently take turns cooking dinner and so I think that if I give him his “colors” to choose from every week – then he would be just as likely to use this board as me. GREAT idea – I love it!
Clair Dickson - Yep, my meal card colors are determined by the theme.
Jennybradford1975 - Love love that I found this!!!!
Julie - I am so excited about this idea! I saw it on Pinterest and I immediatly got the supplies to make my own. I am very hopeful that it will save me lots of time and frustration. I’ve finished the board and clips( Not nearly as cute as yours)… now to make the cards. Thank for sharing your idea!
Sarah - Truly useful and easily adjusted by other families – congratulations! Like other commenters, I have seen many suggestions, but none which are as comprehensive and straightforward as yours.
Jennifer - Genius! I Pinned it and Facebooked it. Now to plan one!
Jennifer - I also included your site address.
FDand R - What a fantastic idea! I love it! I
Jennifer - Finally a menu planner that is simplified! I have tried all different ways of meal planning for my family and I LOVE this! Thank you for sharing…I can’t wait to make one!
Heather :) :) :) - This is a fantastic idea!!! I saw the link to your site on The Grocery Shrink website
I’m going to share this on my Facebook page, too 
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 
Rachel Sanford - I love this and you are a beautiful person for thinking of it! I have just started menu planning and it seemed soooo stressful, but you just eased my anxiety. THANK. YOU!!!!
Schappell1085 - This is the best thing ever! I am going to make one, hopefully I use it! lol
Rebecca Nash - Oh My Goodness! Where have you been all my life? I absolutely love this idea! It makes life so much easier planning this way. I’m starting on the meal cards right now! Thank you for sharing your ideas for all of us to benefit from!
Nicole - OMGoodness! I love you! Happy Valentines dDay and Thank you
Racheal Fick - This is such an amazing idea!!! Thank you for posting your ideas about themes! I have been trying to come up with something like this for awhile and just keep failing!!! I can’t wait to start mine!!!
Kimberly Graebner - This is absolutely adorable!! How did you attach your clothes pins to the menu board/frame?
Sambiagio - you are a GENIUS!!!! I love this
Thank you!
Bobbi Jo Fleischman - My favorite family menu planner EVER!
Victoriagrace - I strongly believe that you should sell these. I love the idea and thought but just do not have time for it! Very, very cool. xXx
Erratic Momma - I love this idea! I’ve wanted to try meal planning for a long time but get overwhelmed with the idea of it. This is something I might actually be able to talk myself into trying. Thanks for posting, I can’t wait to look at more of your blog!
Jennifer - I love this. I had thought of having rotating meals (since I read somewhere that the average family only eats about 10 different meals each month anyway), but I had yet to come up with a great way to organize my meals. I can’t wait to get the supplies and make one!!
Henrietta Newman - This is awesomeness <3
Joshandpaige - This is a great idea. I let my kids each chose a meal for one night. They could just go through the cards and pick one…and pin it up on the board!
Lisa Gosweiler - Hey Kim,
I was wondering this also, she answered it a few weeks ago in the comments for jill. She hot glued them to the wood frame. also she hot glued the cardboard boxes to the glass for the frame and not to paper. I thought that was a good idea for extra support. I can’t wait to make this!
Lisa g.
Kristin - Wow! This is awesome! Just wondering if you have all of your meals, ingredient lists, and recipes saved on documents in word or PDF? And if so, would you be willing to share or email them to me? It would totally help me with ideas and a template to use as I add some of our own favorites. Thanks so much!! mysweetheartmoments@yahoo.com
Kimberly Graebner - Thank you so much!!!!
Sandi Sammon - You should sell these on etsy!
marilyn - I love this idea!
Teamlively - I too have tried everything to simplify menu planning. I am so for this idea! I would LOVE more detail on how you created the cards. I’m in Word now and trying to make tables/boxes/text boxes! I’m sure there is a simpler way and I’m just complicating it more. HELP cuz I know I can use this system! thanks
NolaTeach - This is an AWESOME idea!! I’m a teacher so life is very busy all school year long. This would be a great way to avoid the “What’s for supper?” question that Hubby and I struggle with. Thank you sooo much for sharing!!
Kelli - I always have a weekly menu posted on the fridge (handwritten). This gives a more attractive approach for what I already do!! Thank you for the inspiration!
Mittens12h - This is an amazing idea!!!
Lcbodnarchuk - genius!
Gretchen Homan - Thank you. I saw this on pinterest and had to come and take a better look. So much nicer than my white board or peice of paper. Thanks again
Alecia - I love this!! So simple and so perfect! Do you have a tutorial on how to make the board?
Danikrenzer715 - I can’t wait to make my own menu board…dinners are the worst to plan and I think this will make it easier and less stressful. Thanks for the idea
I have a bunch of friends who are making their own too!!
Kmasi33764 - I went to the craft store tonight and got all my goodies to make one of these!!
Ilaj13 - I am totally making one! I love pinterest:)
Unhip Chick - This is BRILLIANT! I love this idea! Menu planning is always such a chore and this not only takes some of the work out of it, but looks great, too! Thanks for sharing.
Janice - BRILLIANT!!! And just simply beautiful! I make a list on a piece of paper & it’s somewhere in the chaos of my fridge… I look forward to getting my supplies & making a pretty board too! I’m going to sit down with the family tonight & start brainstorming more ideas! Thanks so much!!!
Swest101 - Love it ! Working on menu cards now….
Lil2bugs - tHaNk YoU!!!! i love this idea!!! now i can rid my fridge of my “list of things i make”!!!
Lydia Tost - I think I’d like to do a simple magnetic version on the fridge! I might use colored tape to square off a section, and then add magnetized clothespins and little boxes for the cards. Thanks for the inspiration!
Abbie - Love this! Finally a menu-planning board I could actually use!
Heidi (Dearlylovedmist) - My MIL showed me your great idea. I was able to make one the day I read her email since I had all the stuff on hand already. Such a cute project and SO handy! Thank you!
Here’s my menu board: http://dearlylovedmist.blogspot.com/2012/02/menu-planning.html
Brittanyk20 Cato - AMAZING!
Sunshinedd - how are the clothespins attached to the board?
Danielle M Miller - This is a great idea. I have been using a whiteboard for each week but sit and struggle with meal ideas each week. I love the cards with ingredients on the back.
Bonnie - Apparently someone else already is http://www.etsy.com/listing/91227006/menu-board?ref=sr_gallery_16&sref=&ga_includes%5B0%5D=tags&ga_search_query=kitchen+menu+board&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=
Andrea - Just finished mine tonight .. used my fav scrapbook paper which matches my recipe box I made about a year ago. Super cute, thanks for sharing!
Carmie - how are your pins attached to the board? velcro?
cassieun - Thank you so much for this amazing idea! I just finished mine and I love it! You are so creative!
Clair Dickson - with hot glue
Clair Dickson - it’s so pretty! glad you liked it!
Clair Dickson - hot glue
Clair Dickson - looks great! i love the fabric!
Christine - This is my project for this week! So excited to make it!!! But I was wondering, what did you use to laminate the cards?
Jenjen Sf88 - I am SO not crafty… The one on ETSY is nothing compared to the ones on here. Someone wanna make me one and I’ll pay them??
Chrissy Aldean - Your’s is WAY better. You should be thrilled that you made something so awesome that people wanted to imitate it.
Chrissy Aldean - Your’s turned out GREAT!
Taryn Baacke - I love your weekly idea and have been using it at my house… search on Pinterest for crockpot lasagna… i make it almost exactly as I do regular lasagna, only you get to make it in the crockpot on slow cook….. I bet I do a crockpot meal 3x a week (and take the leftovers with me for lunch at work) and it’s always something different: chicken, lasagna, soups, enchiladas… there are just so many possibilities. As a single mom, it’s def easier to have less to prepare when I get home with the kids!
V Kolbert - Oh yeah. I just saw the one on etsy. Yours is SOOOO much better. Just because one company sells socks doesn’t mean that other companies can’t. I think that you should sell away!!!
Eve the Just - Thanks for the awesome inspiration. Here’s my board! I went a different direction with my color coding. We don’t do “themes” but I do like to break up what kind of protein we’re getting, so I have mine as pink for beef, yellow for chicken and blue for “other” (pork, seafood, vegetarian etc.)
Reneeblyth - Fantastic!! Thank you!
BeanBugCrafts - Thank you so much for sharing your Menu Board! I think this size and style is what is going to work in my space! I’ve featured your board here: http://beanbugcrafts.blogspot.com/2012/03/menu-board-planning.html
Kati Resnick - I love this. And I love you: your style, how you communicate, your organizational style, etc. Usually when I read blogs I just critique them. Or, at most, I take away one thing and think the rest doesn’t fit w/ my style. (But different strokes… right!) Anyway, with your piece on your menu board, I was like, “OMG, this lady is IN MY HEAD!” LOL I, too have been trying to find a good idea to copy. But each has things I liked, and things I didn’t like. Yours was the exact “recipe” of things I was going to utilize on my own board! But using the picture frame: genius! I was JUST saying to my hubs that I needed to figure out what I was going to use for the structure. And the way you put the ingredients on the back of the cards: (again) genius. That will save so much time. Thanks. I will continue to read your blog! –Kati
Haps - I’m so excited to try this! I think it’ll be well worth the effort! Thanks so much for giving such great tips!!
Beautiful Descent - This is excellent. I can’t wait to make my own. I’m sick of going to all my recipes weekly and searching and writing out a new meal plan each week too….and the grocery list of re-checking the recipes. You caught ALL of my frustrations!
Except one….allergy issues and the alternative dish for one member. But, I may find a simple solution to that because your board is very user friendly.
Kathryn - This is one of the cleverest ideas I have seen. Thank you so much for posting it! I will be doing this soon
anon - Thanks! I’ve been trying to feed the family using meal planning (because it is efficient, gives us variety, saves money and makes sure we don’t waste food) but we kept feeling like it was too rigid and didn’t allow us enough spontaneity. This idea is perfect! And thanks for your thoughtful explanation of how it works for you.
Jolene - This idea is really ingenious! Thank you! I have the hardest time trying to plan my meals and this will go a long way in simplifying the process! The nice thing about it is that I can add or remove cards as I please and my family can also be part of the process! Thank you so much!
Dearlylovedmist - Thank you!
Heather - Just wanted to show you the menu board I made! Thanks for the inspiration! I love it and meal planning is so easy now. I also wanted to share a trick I used… I printed up my meals on colored card stock (a different color for the main meat in each dish… GREAT idea BTW). Then I flipped them over and printed the ingredients on the back (using Excel ensures the grids line up perfectly). Then I covered the entire page front and back very carefully with packing tape. It took some practice laying the tape in neat rows and avoiding wrinkles, but when I cut out each card, they looked and felt aminated.
Things I did different: used a board instead of a frame so more of the clothespin would be in contact with the surface, drilled two holes and hung with ribbon… there’s just enough friction to keep the board from going croooked, and I used Rice-a-Roni boxes instead of crayon boxes… this project is so versatile you can do it with anything you have laying around! Thanks again! You rock!
Anna P - This is amazing. And so extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing this!
Randmlusk - Yes- Claire’s is much more stylish than the one on Etsy. Love this idea!
Sbbegin - Creative – Practical – Fantastic! Thanks for the great idea
Beverly Nataniel - I made my own board as well with inspiration from yours and http://crazyadventuresinparenting.com/2012/02/diy-weekly-menu-board.html. I used an 11 x 14 dry erase board, scrapbooking paper and letters from Michael’s, scrapbooking stickers, 2 small jewelry boxes and day of the week magnets. The recipe cards are still in progress but this is a start.
faerie - how do you make the boxes that hold the recipes? Do you make them yourself?
Kristy Youngblood - I was wondering the same thing!!!!
Kool Beanz - This meal planning board is awesome! I work 4 ten hour days/week…it is well after 6:30 before I get home. I rely on my teen age daughters to make dinner every work night. I usually have to text them my plans for the evening because I don’t really know what is going to be for dinner until after I am at work.
I keep telling my girls that we need to sit down and gather a handful of favorite/easy dinners that we can rotate through. With this board I can see that actually happening. 
Thank you so much for your wonderful inspiration!!
Dawn Burgess - I ran across your Menu Board a few days ago and took inspiration from it! Just wanted to let you know I posted a picture of your Menu Board and a link back to you site!
Dawn
http://www.twenty63.blogspot.com/2012/06/kitchen-addition-menu-board.html
Judyzaccheo - One word….AWESOME!
Pamper3 - Love this!!!! I’m going to make one for meals and one for chores…. Thanks for sharing.
Heather from AZ - I LOVE IT!!!!! I ran out today and made mine. I am so excited. I have been planning meals weekly for a long time now (I’m a planner), but I always seem to forget an ingredient or forget what meals are in our family’s meal database. My 2 issues are thinking of what the possibilities are to cook and forgetting some ingredient (even though I make a list). All I left are to make the meal cards!
Heather from AZ - Your board looks great! You mentioned using Excel to get the grid lines to line up for double sided printing. How did you do that? Is there a template that you used or a command?
Heather from AZ - Did you make your board yet? I was just thinking that you could list on the card with the allergen the alternate dish. So that both are in one place. My other thought was to add more clothes pins.
Hope that helps!
Disubu1 - This is such a great idea. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with an easy way to organize meals and grocery lists so that I don’t have to do it all over again constantly! It takes sooooo long. I will definitely be making one of these in the very near future. Kudos!
7arrows - I haven’t a creative bone in my body, so how are the clothespins and boxes adhering to the frame?
Samanthaw1726 - Here is the one I made! What a great idea, I am always struggling with what meals to make and then trying to remember to get everything at the store! I also added another clip with a D for desert because I always make some kind of sweet every week whether it be muffins or cake or cookies or bread and it last about a week or two! I also made a recipe book using a 4×6 photo album that I got for $0.60 at acmoore to correspond with recipes that I may forget how to make off hand. Thanks!!!!!!!
Samanthaw1726 - Hot glue!!!!!! Works wonders
Just make sure you put hot glue on both the clothes pin and wood or box and glass (even though its the same spot) for some reason it stuck better for me.
Samanthaw1726 - Picture!
Samantha Wendling - Picture! Not posting for some reason?
Samantha Wendling - Here is the one I made! I hope the picture posts…. I added a Dessert Clip because I like to make bread or muffins or something to eat during the week. What a great idea! I also made a recipe book using a 4×6 photo album corresponding to the recipes I need a refresher on!
Kymberly Myers - I just ran across your post last night and made this right away. I didn’t have some of your supplies so I improvised with what I had on hand. I ended up using an old 11″x14″ magnetic calendar whiteboard that was wearing out and covered it with scrapbook paper. I attached my recipes to the board with magnets rather than clothes pins. And used Rice-a-roni boxes to hold my cards based on another post. And matched the color scheme to my country kitchen and rooster
.
Peggy Garbe - What a fun and easy project!
Jerita - I have tried so many different ways of making meal planning easier. They usually fizzle out. About a month ago, I spent the afternoon making up the cards. I think it’s brilliant to put the ingredients of the back of the card. No more flipping through the family cookbook. I pair this with a master grocery list I keep. It’s so easy to flip through the cards, pick out the meals for the week, and circle the groceries I need. I even have the kids go through the cards and pick out what they want. It’s more fun than going through the cookbook to pick out meals. It also keeps us from repeating the same meals too often. Thanks so much for a wonderful idea that has truly made meal planning easier!
Heather Risdon - Hi Heather! Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I don’t know how to subscribe to threads with Disqus! I got my grid to line up by using the center command in my printer. In Excel 2010 if you click “Page Setup” and then the “Margins” tab there is a box to check at the bottom to center ho
Jen - I attached mine with velcro in case one breaks, it’s easy to replace!
Ivana - La verdad es que de mucho tiempo veo una idea tan original como esta. realmente esta diseñada para facilitar la vida de quien la vaya a implementar un millon de gracias y felicidades por la originalidad
Rochelle - I was so blown away by the creativity of this I went to the dollar store and bought everything to make it tonight! Turned out so great. Thanks so much for the idea!
Lauren @ The Thinking Closet - Joining the throng of inspired folk who created their own version of this fantastic menu planner. Thanks, Clair, for sharing your brilliance with us, and Bree for this feature! I’m in love.
http://thethinkingcloset.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/the-menu-planner-to-rule-them-all/
Sulie - I had trouble getting my clothespins to stick. Neither hot glue nor two sided 3M sticky stuff was working on my very smooth IKEA frame, so my son grabbed me his Gorilla glue, and that is working.
Sara Prickett - I’ve tried using a meal plan several times and never seem to stick to it. I think may actually be able to make it work with this menu board though! What a brilliant set up. Thanks for sharing!
StefanieKC75 - Love, love , love this, we do a weekly dinner menu, but this will make it much more fun!! I love the idea of the recipie on the back of the card as well, makes busy mom’s and dad’s lives a little easier. Thank you for your creativity…I look forward to making one for our family of 5!!
What’s For Dinner? Menu Board Activity For Mom & Giveaway!! — Proverbs For Life - [...] I found “The Ultimate Menu Board and Meal Planner” by Clair Dickson (from The Creative Momma) on pinterest. It did require some time to set it up and create, but once I did it, it simplified [...]
Weekly Menu Board - [...] The Creative Mama 2. Whipperberry 3. Oh So ChiChi 4. Heartland Paper 5. Mom Colored [...]
The Menu Planner to Rule Them All | The Thinking Closet - [...] interested in making your own, I highly recommend you check out her original post as well as this feature from the blog, The Creative Mama. A lot of my questions were answered in the comments on these two [...]
DIY Menu Board | Camp Mommawatchi - [...] I had to suffer through the weekly meal planning, which took way too long! So when I found this menu board from the Creative Mama blog, I knew I had found something wonderful! This board has made my life so [...]
YHL Pinterest Challenge! | The Doyle Dispatch - [...] thecreativemama.com via Dory on [...]
Danielle - THANK YOUUUU!!!! I have been looking for something like this and trying to rack my brain for a way to do this neatly. I’m planning on using this same design for a “task board” for my son who has a little trouble remembering things he has to do each evening. It will have his chores, and a “Done” pocket so that way he can keep up with what he needs to do without me stepping on his toes. Thanks again so much!
Meal Planning 101 « Fit Mom Circuit Training - [...] a system. A blank calendar, an app for your phone, a meal-board like this one also pictured above–a friend posted and then replicated this beautiful and creative idea–this would not work for [...]
The Menu Planner to Rule Them All — the thinking closet - [...] interested in making your own, I highly recommend you check out her original post as well as this feature from the blog, The Creative Mama. A lot of my questions were answered in the comments on these two [...]
YHL Pinterest Challenge! DIY Menu Board Edition - [...] thecreativemama.com via Dory on [...]