Menu Planning
Menu Planning Basics
Our friends at Cooking Matters have come up with a few tips and resources to help you incorporate menu planning into weekly routine.
Plan ahead to create healthy, budget-wise meals. Making a menu can be easy. Try these tips:
- Check what you have at home before you go to the store. See what needs to be used up in your cupboard, refrigerator, and freezer.
- Don’t focus on the details. Start by writing down ideas rather than specific recipes.
- Think about small changes you can make to recipes to use ingredients that are in season, on sale, or on hand.
- Pick out ingredients that can be used in more than one meal.
- Think about ways to use leftover ingredients in other meals. Don’t let them go to waste.
- Check store fliers, and ask farmers about any deals. Look for sale items you could use in your meals.
- Create a shopping list to make sure you buy all the items you need.
Cooking for picky eaters? Use these strategies to plan meals that appeal to kids:
- Include foods that vary in shapes and tastes.
- Introduce new foods with familiar foods that kids already like.
- Vary the foods you use and how they are prepared.
- Choose fruits and vegetables of many different colors.
Related Resources
Recipes
Looking for healthy recipes your whole family can get excited about? Try these delicious recipes:
Other Resources
The new Cooking Matters app for Android makes it simple to feed your family healthy foods, on any budget! Visit CookingMatters.org/app to plan meals with the touch of a button.
Exploring Food Together is a Cooking Matters toolkit of simple activities that adults can use to help kids learn about new foods and start building the skills to make healthy food choices.
