I have the week off, and have been wanting to get into the habit of making dinner at least 5 nights a week for my husband and I, so I thought this would be the perfect time to start. This will prevent us from spending so much money on going out to eat at night and fast food at lunch time for my husband because now he will have leftovers. And hopefully, the meals I cook are much healthier for us than all those restaurant meals! I have always loved the idea of having your menu for the week planned so you can buy the groceries needed for those meals and not spend money on food you're going to throw away, or end up scrounging for dinner ideas when it's 8 o'clock at night.
So Saturday afternoon, I went through my Pinterest recipes and wrote on recipe cards 5 of my favorites. I did notice however that most of my board consists of Mexican recipes. Oops! I planned out what would we eat each night and what nights it was ok to eat out or order in, based on our schedules. And I tried to mix up the types of meals we had each evening, so no chicken 2 days in a row, or soups everyday of the week even though it is technically winter.
Without having to spend money on supplies for my menu board (or get out of my pj's and leave the house), I used what items and resources I already had in my house, and this is what I came up with. It's not the fanciest and takes up counter space, which I have plenty of, but it works for us and works for now.
I had some clear plastic photo frames leftover from our wedding decor, so I took some scrapbook paper and cut it to the size of the large frame. (Yes, I realize my cutting is bad in the bottom left hand corner.) I then used some sticker letters I had laying around for the days of the week. I was out of "S's", small and large, but I figure that can be a reserve night a week we go to dinner, or leftovers. Or if something comes up earlier in the week and I don't make what was planned, I can make it for Saturday. The recipe cards I had were the perfect size to fit in a 5x7 clear frame. I write the actual instructions for the recipe on the back, so having a frame that is clear on both sides is a great way to keep my recipe cards free from food splatters. Of course I did make the mistake Sunday night when trying to make Chicken Fajitas that when I would flip the frame over, I was reading the instructions for Black Bean Soup, because I had the recipe cards for the entire week in the frame. So, now the recipe cards for the entire week go in the back on the large frame! Now I just need some new dry erase markers and maybe glue a little ribbon around and it will be perfect, or at least good enough until I feel like doing something better with it!
