by Sharon Bohdan

Created on: March 22, 2007   Last Updated: May 07, 2012

Everyone is familiar with those handy menus that are available in popular women's magazines, such as Women's Day, Good Housekeeping and Family Circle.

With a little bit of organization, planning and a desire to simplify that universal question of, "What's for dinner?" - anyone can do a monthly menu tailored to their needs.

First, a grocery list is done. You can do it by aisle at your favorite store or by category. I do mine by categories - meats, fruits/vegetables, dairy, beverages, etc. I break my list down further, by having one for spring and summer and the other for fall and winter. When you are ready to go grocery shopping, just highlight what you need.

Second, you will need a place for all of those recipes. This will take some time initially, but once its set up, it will make the process much easier. I have two binders. One is for tried and true recipes and the other is for new recipes. Within each binder, I have the recipes divided by season. About twice a year, I look through all of them and weed out the ones that I know I will never make, which makes room for new recipes.

Third, a monthly calendar is needed. If you don't want to spend time printing one out, you can write one out by week. For example, menus for the week of April 1-7, and so on. I do a calendar and post it on the fridge, so I know exactly what needs to be thawed out, etc.

The process of creating menus for one month from start to finish takes about an hour. I usually do 2 months at a time, so that takes a bit longer. Basically, I will look through all of my recipes first and then start to build the menus from either what is on sale or what I have on hand. On Sundays, I make a nice dinner and weekdays are usually something relatively easy.

Here's a sample from an April menu:

April 1: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables
April 2: Spaghetti with meat sauce, breadsticks
April 3: Mixed salad greens with chicken strips, rolls
April 4: Sloppy Joes, rolls
April 5: Leftovers from previous days

On my menus, when I choose to try a new recipe, I mark that with a *, so that I know that I need to get that recipe out. I keep all of the menus and recipes in a big folder in the kitchen, where it is always accessible.

Although menu planning takes some initial time in the beginning, it becomes much easier the more you do it and certainly eliminates the "What's for dinner?" question.

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