I’m back with another month of menu planning!

For those who’ve never planned a month long menu or haven’t read my little posts on them before, here’s the deal: Rather than planning my family dinners night by night, or week by week, I’ve taken the habit of planning out one menu for an entire month. This makes my grocery shopping much easier since I’ve already decided what dinners I’ll be making, I only have to pick up the ingredients missing for that week and the very regular cast of breakfast and lunch foods.

And the looming nightly dinners are now much less intimidating. No longer having to stand in front of the refrigerator scratching my head, trying desperately to figure out something nutritious and delicious to make for dinner? Love that. And by doing this monthly rather than weekly, it leaves more time for life in the days in between. It isn’t rocket science, and thanks goes to Simple Mom who inspired me with this idea.

A few things of note:

1. I’ve incorporated a lot of things in this menu to interact with my weekly lesson plans with MM. Each week we’re learning more about the different letters of the alphabet and I’ve added foods that begin with those letters to different meals throughout the week (some weeks were easier than others). I’ll italicize those foods so you can see what I mean in case you are curious.
2. I like to give myself little themes to work off of when planning my menu. I don’t always follow the theme but it gives me a place to start. So you might notice that almost every Friday we have seafood, Mondays are generally chicken dishes, etc.
3. I frequently change my mind when the day or week gets there, and I’ll swap things out and move things around, but I assure you it’s still easier than flying by the seat of my pants.
4. -update- I had to redo my menu for November because, um, we decided to go vegetarian. There are still a few meat recipes here because we have some old meat to use up, but yeah, major changes.

Here’s my monthly menu plan for the month of November.

Week One (chicken, ground beef, shrimp)

• Saturday October 31st (Happy Halloween): Soup and Sandwiches
• Sunday: Meatball Sandwiches from Copps
• Monday: Shepherds Pie (corn)
• Tuesday: Hot Dogs & Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
• Wednesday: Fried Chicken with carrots and stuffing
• Thursday: Chicken Parmesan with dinner rolls
• Friday: Shrimp and Black Bean Pasta

Week Two (salmon, boca crumbles, boca breakfast sausage)

• Saturday November 7th: Salad and Cheese Ravioli in a tomato sauce
• Sunday: Italian Style Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli (using up leftover ground beef)
• Monday: Breakfast for Dinner: Pancakes with and Fresh Fruit and Boca Breakfast Sausage
• Tuesday: Boca Baked Penne and Dinner Rolls:
• Wednesday: Rice with black beans and veggies – stir fry
• Thursday: French Onion Soup
• Friday: Parmesan Baked (wild caught) Salmon

Week Three: (shrimp, boca crumbles)

• Saturday November 14th: Homemade Pizza (feta with pesto, spinach and black olives)
• Sunday: Eggplant Paresan
• Monday: leftover Shepherds Pie
• Tuesday: Pasta Roll ups and dinner rolls
• Wednesday: Enchilada (made with Boca Crumbles) Pizza
• Thursday: Elbow Macaroni with diced tomatoes and parmesan cheese
• Friday: Coconut Shrimp with carrots & rice pilaf

Week Four: (boca bacon & fish sticks)

• Saturday November 21st Dan’s Birthday: His Restaurant of Choice or Homemade Calzones
• Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner: French Toast with Fresh Fruit and boca bacon
• Monday:Twice Baked Potatoes
• Tuesday: Asian Noodles with tofu & veggies
• Wednesday: leftover Enchilada Pizza
• Thursday November 26th (Happy Thanksgiving): Out to Eat: TBD or Baked Pumpkin with Mixed Rice Pilaf
• Friday: Roasted Pacific Cod (fish)