Every Sunday afternoon I sit down and complete the same task, a menu for 7 days worth of meals & a grocery list of the ingredients that I will need. I have a kitchen cabinet full of cookbooks and still find myself rotating through the same meals every couple weeks. Today I had an idea. For 30 straight days I will not repeat a single dinner. I'm hoping that this will encourage me to venture out and try more of those cookbook recipes!
Because I know that I'm not alone in repetitive menu planning, I'd like to challenge my readers to join me in this 30 day adventure! Each Sunday for the next 30 days, I will be posting my family's dinner menu. If there's a dinner that really sings to your belly then please comment and I will be happy to share the recipe with you. I would also love to see your menu plan for that week. It may give others participating in the challenge some dinner ideas.
Rules & Tips:
- Do not repeat any dinner for the entire 30 days.
- Eat each meal as a family at the table!
- No dinner distractions. Turn off the TV, leave work at the door, and enjoy this time with your family.
- Menu plan so that you aren't rushing to throw dinner together at 5:30.
- Allow yourself 1 break each week. Hey, nobody's perfect. This could be dinner out, pizza, or whatever your heart desires, just no repeats!
- Share this challenge with your friends! Everything is easier with a buddy.
- This isn't a gourmet Iron Chef contest. Relax and dig in!
Good Luck! Bon Appetit!
7 comments:
What a fun challenge! Can't wait to hear what you got in store!
As always, perfect timing! I need a challenge to break out of a rut. Thanks! Looking forward to checking out your daily menus!
Neat idea! The only problem I would have with doing it is that I intentionally make meals that make lots of leftovers...to make a second meal and sometimes to have enough to even freeze for a meal for another night the next week or so away.
I do post our meal plan online (except for the last week due to company and illness). http://daisyryanadkins.blogspot.com/search/label/meal%20plan
But I'm guessing I wouldn't qualify for the challenge since we rely on leftovers so much.
I'm looking forward to seeing your menus, though! I'm always interested in new meal ideas, and I love seeing what others are eating. :)
Maybe you could do the leftovers for lunch, Daisy? Or if you have deep freezer, freeze the 2nd portion and then you'd have a whole month of meals for May! :)
Yes, but I also do *not* like cooking every night! Haha! I really like cooking very large meals that will actually make 2-5 meals...for leftovers, lunches, freezing. Anything to help me be a little lazy some nights. Plus, with soccer, watching another child some days, and other scheduling issues, cooking every night is just exhausting and sometimes not possible. I don't see how others do it sometimes! More power to you. Really! :)
Another part of it for us is the budget. Our grocery bill is one of our largest b/c of our dietary restrictions and buying mostly organic. Ryan would flip if I tried to buy so many more items instead of relying on leftovers! Ha!
It is something to consider, though. Not doable this month, but I'll keep it in mind for when I do want another challenge. (On top of everything, I'm on a gluten-free diet again, and we're slowly transitioning into that - slowly meaning buying things to *make* gluten-free items a bit at a time b/c they are so much more expensive!) And I'll definitely keep reading for some new menu ideas!! :)
I can relate to every bit of that, minus gluten-free. But, here's a great blog that a friend of mine writes that is full of delish gluten-free recipes. www.glutenfreemommy.com I hope you find some great resources there.
Thanks for the link! I'm definitely checking out her site! :)
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