My 6 Week rotating dinner menu!

I know this is completely unrelated to quilting (unless you consider that doing this might give me some peace of mind and more time to quilt LOL). But I wanted to share anyway.

I have done this before, a few years ago, but I only had 3 weeks worth of meals at the time. I guess we've tried some new things since then because I now have 6 weeks worth of meals that I make and my family likes. And we tend to not like having the same thing too often. So I decided to put together a rotating calendar with all the meals my family likes, and this way we will not have the same thing for dinner more often than once every six weeks. AND it'll make it easier to do the grocery shopping, and to get things out to thaw.

Each meal is written on 3M Post-It tape, which resembles masking tape but the adhesive is the light stuff on the back of a sticky note. That way I can rearrange or replace meals if necessary, without having to use white out, or completely start the calendar over (since it's just written on paper in markers). I also have a little piece of this movable tape marking which week we're in on the left side of the calendar!

Next thing I need to do is do a weekly starter shopping list, that will have all the items I need for each week of dinners. I can then add the other non-dinner items, or scratch out the stuff I already have in the house. That way I won't forget anything!

And guess what?? Someone liked my idea enough to feature it on her blog! Thanks for the boost! Be sure to head over and check it out :)
   

UPDATE: I'm now in week 6 of my calendar. I'm discovering that I need to do some rearranging! I had originally put the more time consuming meals on the weekends because I was still in the mindset of a working mom. But now that I'm home during the day, and we're doing family stuff on the weekends, I need to reverse that mentality. So after this week is over, I'll be moving some things around.

 

I have also updated the location of this calendar, it's on my refrigerator door instead of on the side of the cabinet next to it. Since it's on the door now, I can use a circle magnet to circle what's for dinner that day, and my son likes to be the one to move it to the next day. He seems to like that he can just look at the fridge and know what to expect that night!