DIY Family Dinner Menu

We all have a handful of recipes that we go to when making that decision.  Great recipes, but with this New Year let’s broaden our recipe collection and even more importantly REMEMBER and REUSE the those healthier ones the kids seem to like! Make this DIY family dinner menu board to have variety in your meal planning.

How to Meal Plan

Each Sunday, together with the family (or secretly on your own if you wish 😉 you look at the meals options and decide what will be eaten when.  You could start by sharing what proteins you have available or will be on sale.  Even consider what’s going on with the schedules, such as practices, games and other activities. Make a rule that a new meal must enjoyed on Wednesdays and its Daddy’s Choice on Saturday.  Whatever you do, try your best to make it a family decision.

Here a solution to the resolution to help you keep the dinner planning less stressful and healthier this year:

Create a What’s for Dinner? Board

DIY Family Dinner Menu Board

This board displays the dinner menu for the week. It is placed in an obvious place in your kitchen area where everyone, especially you, sees it.  The menu board holds an array of menu items, tucked into a pocket.  These menu items are the tried and true meals that you know your kids will eat. It also has blank ones for new menu items to be added when you successfully get them to try something new!

Making the DIY Family Dinner Menu Board

I made the board using basic materials, nearly all can be purchased at Target or on Amazon.

DIY Family Dinner Menu Board

I used:

The concept is to organize your week by making the decision of what’s for dinner before the week starts. You don’t want to deal with the aggravations throughout the week as you’re fiddling through your fridge trying to see what you can throw together.

DIY Family Dinner Menu Board

Beyond the organization, this chart is useful in reminding kids and adults recipes that are tried and true. We tend to go to same 3 or 4 recipes with kids.  If we want their appetites to extend beyond hotdogs, pasta and pizza we need to regularly incorporate new dishes and use them again.

Hope that this DIY Family Dinner Menu Board will help you become a Smart Mama!

Pre-Made Menu Boards

I certainly understand the demands of a mom’s day. Making a menu board, although cute and fun, is time consuming. There are several menu boards to purchase that are as functional as the one I shared. Below I share some of my favorite. (Affiliate links to support SPM are included.)

 

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