Pocket Chart Menu Planner

How many times have you faced an empty pot with an empty brain at the end of a long day's work? My kids could tell you they ate a lot of goulash, tuna salad, and take-out during my teaching years because my brain couldn't seem to come up with a variety of meals each evening, much less a home-cooked one. One student told me that his mother never cooked anything at home; they had take-out every evening. Their food budget must've been astronomical. 

And some folks never learned to cook, but like anything else, it just takes a little practice. Some years ago when I was fretting over my lack of culinary skills in the kitchen, a dear cousin (Lee Ann, I'm talking about you) told me, "Just choose a few meals and learn to do them well." That took such a load off my mind to realize that I didn't have to know how to cook everything well to be a good cook.

I created this easy meal-planning kit using a simple pocket chart to display the main meal of the day, which for working folks is usually the evening meal. The cards do the thinking for you, and the ingredients included on the cards give you an easy way to create a grocery list. 

My 14-Day Meal Plan Pocket Chart hangs inside the pantry door

Why plan your meals?

• Saves money - take-out is expensive
• Saves brain power - a meal plan does the thinking for you at the end of a long day
• Saves time - means less time preparing dinner and less trips to the grocery store - I've reduced my grocery shopping to 2 or 3 times a month now, when I used to go every few days
• Your family eats better - you know exactly what ingredients are in the foods you prepare

I keep blank cards on hand to add new dishes when I need to; I color the top of the hand-written cards with a marker to match the type of dish of the pre-printed cards.

You can plan your meals for a week or two weeks, depending on the size of your pocket chart, which you provide. This 22 page digital kit contains: 

• Seven color-coded sheets (105 cards) of main dishes, starch/carb sides, & vegetable sides Basic pantry staples list
• Blank templates for additional cards
• Template for a one-meal card
• Days of the week & reminder cards
• An organized grocery list template - this has saved me so much time in the grocery store
• A cover design that can be personalized, recipe page template, and meal planner sheet for a custom recipe notebook you create that coordinates with the dishes listed on the pocket cards
• Tips for stretching the groceries and time between visits to the store
• Links to good recipe sites online

Spending a little time on meal planning every week or two can help you avoid the frustration of coming up with a home-cooked meal at the last minute, and not having to run to the store for the ingredients. Using a pocket chart system, the meal is already planned, the groceries are already on hand, and you just do it. 

The Pocket Chart Meal Planner is an inexpensive digital file available on Teachers Pay Teachers Web site.