Menu Planning Once and For All ║ Large Family Organization

After failing at menu planning over and over, I finally came up with a simple plan that does the job once and for all! Our family of 10 gets so much variety in our dinner meals and the system only cost about $2 in supplies. The best part is that I never have to make a decision about what to cook for dinner again. (Link below for the playlist showing all of my menu cards.)
Menu Cards Playlist: • Menu Planning
Our Pantry: • Our Pantry - Large Fam...
How I Prepare for Monthly Shopping Trip: • How I Prepare for My M...
Organization Begins with a Vision: • Getting Organized Begi...

[@analizcutie123]

I need her to write a book about how to be an organized adult because her ideas are AMAZING

[@Petruskinhap972]

I remembered this video from years ago and now that I’m revamping my meal prep menu, I decided to rewatch it. What a precious gem she was! ❤

[@dianabanana9474]

Tom, this is an awesome plan that Andrea left. You have probably already referred to her menu card list. She is deeply missed. Praying for you all! 💕🙏💕

[@candicegolden8859]

She was so pretty inside and out. I enjoy rewatching the videos. I'm still learning from Mrs. Andrea.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

+stlilymov4 I was just thinking that you could write all-season meals on white cards and then use colored cards for seasonal meals- maybe green for spring, pink for summer, orange for fall and blue for winter. Then each season you could mix that season's meals into your cards. At the beginning of the next season it would be easy to pick out the ones that need removed and mix in the new ones.

[@DanaLynne]

excellent idea!

[@hairdebi]

This is an awesome idea I will have to try it

[@elizabethmoore2353]

You could write list of ingredients on back of cards so easier when making grocery list

[@pinkmissmuffett]

Check my comment for a great biscuit recipe. (In Australia we call cookies biscuits, so I guess it's a great cookie recipe 😀)

[@stacysfarmhouselife5845]

Elizabeth Moore that would be an awesome idea. That way you don’t have to go looking for your recipe , plus that would save you time

[@ProudAuntieEST2016]

I still love this video so much and it helped me with budgeting just for myself as a single broke college kid. I used colored index cards to organize meals by breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks and it was so helpful and it still is.

[@_GiGiBloom_]

She was so efficient! I love her ideas 💝 I wish I had someone like her when I was raising my kids! I agree with someone making a book of her ideas🥰

[@mimir3070]

I am watching this again since her passing. Sigh, I've been a follower since this video was new. Constantly praying for her family. She was an amazing lady.

[@Ngem68]

Hi Andrea, I wish I had told you before you left earth. But, I was waiting till a year passed using the cards. I love this system! I've been using it for about a year and a half. It has helped me meal plan and grocery shop better. I buy on sale and some items in bulk. So, I shop my freezer and pantry first. Thank you for coming up with this system.

[@samanthanofal9554]

Such a smart idea!! She had the sweetest most calming voice ever. She was so beautiful!!

[@cindylee218]

This is amazing! I wish I could have thanked Andrea for this (hopefully she knew how many people she helped with her videos.)

[@sharonlevy4033]

She was just so sweet. I miss you Andrea 😕❤️

[@AWanderingEye]

Minimom's channel sent me! Thanks for this resource!

[@brittanytolley8843]

Omg! We are a large family and I've tried so many ways to meal plan and this one seems to really fit my personality! Awesome! I'm about to sit down and start!!

[@CookieCrumbFun]

My favorite is that you added the side dishes!!!!! I may do something like this just to have the meal ideas on hand to plan the dinner menu not use as the menu. Breakfast is my biggest brain drain here. I need to do it for breakfasts. Another awesome Vlog!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!

[@kaylamac2513]

I love how you take organization to the extreme. my husband sometimes picks on me about my organizing and how I can be so OCD when I clean. but as a mother of 5 and growing up in a large family myself with very little space I just preferred to be organized over living in a pile of clutter. I don't go quite as far as you with color coordinating everything but I respect your efforts. it feels good when everything is in it's place. now if I could just get all my kids and my husband to feel the same way I'd be set lol. we have a rather large space now and it feels good to not be so on top of eachother all the time. but when u don't have any other option keeping tidy is a must!

[@jasminedrawhorn2234]

I am a twenty-something and a newlywed, and your organization is incredible! We don't have kiddos but I LOVE structure. Thank you for all of your awesome ideas!

[@elizabethkenyon1263]

This was a brilliant idea. I would LOVE to have seen every single card for meal ideas.

[@lisablackman2168]

Love this. Tom i hope you were able to find Andrea's Menu box this was an awesome idea and would be great to help you our. If you have found it i would get the cards laminated to keep the cards from getting messed up.

[@fleurmp3820]

I've just finished my menu planning box, with all my families favourite meals. I can't wait to start using it!

[@kawaiikowai08]

What a great idea, so sad she’s gone, she seems so lovely ❤

[@onelittlemiracle241]

Watching again. I sure miss you and your wisdom!

[@kennedisly8210]

I have a much smaller family with only four of us. I do a monthly menu. We have cut our spending at least in half by doing this. I base it off what we have going on that month like this month we do Monday is pasta Tuesday is pork Wednesday chicken(normally a crock pot meal because of soccer practice ) Thursday beef and Friday is either fish or what I call I freebe because every other day I need to plan enough for my husband to bring leftovers for work but Friday can be something easier. Before we would end up eating the same meals every week but now I'm encouraged to try something new. I have anxiety and planning has helped so much now I don't get stressed trying to find something to make at the last minute.

[@homeschoolramblings5280]

I too used the large print off of the week and would be so frustrated trying to think of meals I hadn't made over and over again. Love your idea and I'm going to start working on my cards this weekend.

[@mariannemckinnon689]

Love watching your videos! Finally watched this one and wrote down my meals on paper and will transfer to cards in the am I got 16 so far, but a good start Our 19 year old son lives w us and I sometimes cook for my married daughter. It makes my heart happy (she's 30) And on occasion my parents I make a few things and let her know to stop by after work to pick them up I make my own pizza / bread dough so I make 2 batches and I let her know "there's dough to go". LoL My son in law just put in a request the other day! Your idea is great, and it will force me to reach beyond my "current rotation" Thank you

[@donnakerstiens9899]

Absolutely love this! Never heard of it before...This seems like it may be one of those life changing ideas! I’m going to try it this week!

[@hena1937]

If the cards start getting annoying, it may be good to get the book rings and punch two holes in them to keep them organized. I like the system!

[@lifewiththevincents8059]

yes! what a great idea!

[@n.a.garciafamily]

LOVE this! So excited to implement!

[@melissaodom9003]

Thank you for this great idea. It will make the menu & shopping list so much easier.

[@Pps985]

This is a great system, Andrea! Thank you for sharing it. Plotting meals out on a monthly chart is daunting, to me. THIS is very do-able. I can't wait to put my Menu box together & start putting it to use! I'm pretty sure that in addition to the convenience aspect, it may also save us some money on our groceries. Thank you!!😊

[@SammiGoRawr16]

This is absolutely brilliant! Thank you so much for posting it.

[@debradacosta832]

you are so organized. ..love it!!

[@IntoTheMysticTarot]

I'm definitely going to try this! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@acavaness]

So smart! Thank you! I really appreciate your style of organizing and view that it can work and not look like a magazine.

[@robbien.3964]

Brady Cavaness Amen! Magazines aren't real life. It gives me a twinge of sadness when people apologize that their spaces aren't magazine (or Pinterest) worthy.

[@jennilulu6692]

Thanks for the idea! I love index cards and wonder why I never did this! ;) I too hate to plan it out only to have one day not work out, then it seams as though I failed and food could spoil...this is genius!

[@devonlee1]

LOVE THIS 😍😍😍 I've been trying to meal plan but it just doesn't work and falls through. This is such an easy care free way to meal plan. Definitely going to be trying this out!!!

[@thisrandomjourney7103]

What a great idea! I think I might actually have to try this out.

[@DarklightAmy]

I've been pondering for quite some while how I could come up with a meal plan. I live part-time alone and parts of the year together with my mum and planning out meals can be really stressful. Your system sounds so neat though!! I like how it lists everything with side dishes already. I think I'll take inspiration from you and tweak it a bit to fit my lifestyle :) Thank you!

[@angelovestea]

I just found yr channel and I must say I LOVE IT! I also have a big family. I just gave birth a few weeks ago to my 7th child and I homeschool as well. I live in the country and have a few animals on my land. I am working my way through yr videos and am LOVING yr birth videos

[@galady8632]

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. This is awesome and so flexible.

[@sallyfaulkner9066]

THis is like the looping schedule we hear so much about lately! Brilliant!!!!

[@deedee200]

Rewatching the videos.....xoxo DeeDee

[@JustAGirlNamedJess]

What a brilliant and easy idea. As a small family of four this will still be extremely useful! P.S. Just discovered your channel today and have watched a few videos. So fun! You have a lovely family!

[@bethgordon7386]

Awww...I just declutterd my file box because I had not used it for a few years. I really like this idea. My most recent menu plan stopped working for us once summer arrived. I think I'll get another file box and try this idea. Thanks for sharing.

[@oneatatime8677]

Such a smart idea. I have a list but I like the card idea to help rotate the meal ideas. Thank you for sharing. Please update in a month or two to let us know how it is working.

[@c.willie]

I watched another of ur videos that mentioned the meal cards and this is the second week that I’ve used them. As someone who hates shopping and cooking, this is great. It helps me know what goes on my shopping list for the week and organize meals so that I’m not making the same thing everyday. So far I have enough meals to go a month before having to repeat. Also using the Out Of Milk app has been great. Thx

[@foxtailfarm9440]

This is a wonderful system. Thank you so much for sharing. ❤

[@ultravioletpisces3666]

I love the way that you did all the thinking and decision making ahead. Of course you can follow this and make last minute changes if you want to, dont have to follow it slavishly, but the point is the plan is there to fall back on. I also love the way you mentioned several things at the end like having more than one card for favorite meals and more than one card for the same main dish with different sides... and using school menus. I've been hoarding those up for a while for inspiration. But finally with this method have a great way to implement it. I think for me, I would like one box for dinner and one box could be for both breakfast and lunch. And of course you can be flexible. Like... if your card says fresh fruit but on a certain day you dont have any (let's say it all got eaten up ahead of schedule), you can always substitute canned or something you have on hand. I really love this, and the way you explained the extra tips for using it... one thing I thought of while watching was that you could use a highlighter along the right side, say pink for meat heavy, yellow for pasta/rice, blue for soups, etc... and then label "chicken" "beef" "lo mein" "gumbo" for quick reference....🤷🏼‍♀️ RIP dear sweet lady. And much love to your family.💗

[@dlfancher874]

I love love love this idea. Its perfect for me

[@fruitfulmommy3227]

Love it! And so simple!

[@dawndeline5453]

This is an absolutely brilliant idea!!

[@lindamcclellan8434]

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to do this. Thanks...I am going to put the recipe on the back.....Great idea

[@lynnmartin8718]

Thank you I'm so going to do this and I love the season colour idea - meal planning is sooo daunting 😀Xx

[@Mimsy827]

I am going to try the menu cards! Brilliant!!! ♥️ I read about the pantry principle years ago in The Tightwad Gazette. It has served my family well!

[@TinaThevarge]

This is brilliant. The minimom sent me here with a bit of the background story, thank you for keeping the channel going so newbies can learn this awesome technique. I will be watching more videos.

[@karty645]

I absolutely love this watching you organize keeps me sane 😂😂

[@leahc9723]

This is absolutely genius. Granted I only have one child, but we tend to get in food ruts all the time. I'm going to do this on my tablet and make a digital file for it. Thanks!

[@jcalexander5530]

I did this for years, when the kids were still at home. It is a mind saver! The only thing I did different was to put sides on their own cards. Always had salad, so no card there. I also had dividers with the days on them :)

[@StephanieMT]

what an awesome idea. ill have to do this for all three meals.

[@eclecticjill2422]

Great idea! I am going to do this!

[@tishalou8591]

I've been binging your videos for two days. I love them!! I think I'm going to try this. Thanks :-)

[@sandymaldonado2192]

Maybe use different colored cards to differentiate. Like green cards for holiday items, yellow for breakfast, etcc.... I really like this method though.

[@CatJackon]

Your idea is absolutely brilliant! I love the no decision each night, just once at the beginning. I also love how it incorporates buying on sale and using that for the meals. Can you make a list of all your meal ideas including side dishes? I really struggle with side dishes. Keep up the awesomeness!

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I've been making videos showing that week's menu. I'm only 3 weeks into it, but here's a link to the playlist so you can see the cards I've shown so far: kzbin.info/aero/PLd2pt5YWp66CaNpNm-9lFh9ln5ci0af8M

[@angiew1367]

fantastic idea for the "meal cards"!!!

[@freebygrace18]

This is a really great idea!!! Monthly charts drive me insane and I never follow through. This way just might work. Thank you so so much.

[@gemmaparnell6027]

I LOVE this!

[@JenninKanata]

I like your take on your menus plan. I might be copying some of that for my own..

[@rca22]

This is such a good idea. I am so going to do this. I love the idea about the color coded seasonal meals. I am definitely going to do that. Living in the south in the summer it is miserable to turn the oven on. I was going through my recipe binder the other day and found some 3 x 5 cards that I had wrote the recipes along with the price lists(that isn't the same anymore sadly). I was wondering if it would work out to print the recipe on the back to maybe make things easier. I also love how jen does it's recipe binder. She made a master list in the front seperated by categories and that has been so helpful for me. I think this will work even better though. Thanks again for another great video. I have been enjoying all the extra videos you have put out this week. It makes me so happy. I am so grateful Just so Trish told us about your channel. :)

[@halalyumboxlunch3482]

I am definitely gonna start doing meal cards we also tried writing weekly menus but with it not having much flexibility it didn't last more than a few days this seems it would work pretty well in our family too.. 😚

[@DanaLynne]

I'm loving this! I too, attempted to write out a menu every week (I even purchased a small white board for our fridg)

[@LethiaPage]

That is really a smart system. I like simple solutions the most too, they tend to serve best and be most flexible. In time you might want to write your recipes or at least ingredient list for each meal too...then you can use your cards to build your shopping list. It seems like it would save lots of mental energy to have that written down.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I think so, too! I may get to that one of these days.

[@chrisadams1379]

Awesome ideas

[@sandicolee6087]

Ohhh I love this idea. We are only a family of 3 adults and 1 minor (and 3 dogs that I cook fresh food for :)) but I hate always deciding what to cook for dinner. This will work so much better than me asking my family what they want for dinner and getting "I don't know" or "I don't care" responses and for the most part always having to decide myself. Thank you for sharing this idea.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

I think making the decision is 75% of the battle when it comes to cooking dinner and it seems like no one wants to tackle it sometimes. I've been using my cards for almost 6 months now and I'm so happy with how my little system has worked out!

[@_GiGiBloom_]

Yea, 2nd post lol... Hey Tom, you might want to watch this 😊 I’m glad she decided to write it in her writing, these would be great to pass down to the kids along with the idea

[@PopFizzPaperDani]

I'm totally going to try this for dinners! I like the flexibility of it and I think it would work for my fam. Thank you for sharing! I was thinking you could also write down or paperclip any recipe to the back of the card so you wouldn't have to hunt for it. :)

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

Great idea!

[@stlilymov4]

Great video. I hate meal planning and grocery shopping but it is such a huge part of what I have to do to care for my family. I do meal plan to make my life a little easier but I struggle with being consistent. One thing I'm working on is creating a month's worth of meals according to what's in season. So for the summer, I'm working on coming up with 30 dinners we can have that include summer fruits and vegetables. Once fall arrives, would would then rotate through 30 different meals (or same main dishes with different seasonal produce). Anyway, still a work in progress. Thanks for the tips.

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

+stlilymov4 I was just thinking that you could write all-season meals on white cards and then use colored cards for seasonal meals- maybe green for spring, pink for summer, orange for fall and blue for winter. Then each season you could mix that season's meals into your cards. At the beginning of the next season it would be easy to pick out the ones that need removed and mix in the new ones.

[@debraigo1345]

Great ideas!

[@texastiger1210]

Excellent video!

[@pinkmissmuffett]

I have a family of 5. I make a monthly menu plan, but I only put 21 meals on my menu plan, as some evenings we may have leftovers, or if we have had big lunch, we may just have sandwiches. I find my 21 day plan feeds us for 28 days. I usually do what I call a roll over menu plan. If on Monday we have roast chicken, Tuesday we might have chicken and vegetables rissoto using a chicken breast I've saved from the roast chicken, then I save the carcass to make stock, so on Wednesday night we can have chicken soup. I always cook double or triple of any meal which can be made and frozen. This is great for stew, casserole, soups, pasta sauce and lagansa. Having a freezer full of frozen dinners is AWESOME for days I don't get organised enough to cook dinner. Our take away meals are simply frozen dinners. Pizza dough also freezes well. And I often make up little balls of dough to bake. They turn out kinda like dinner rolls or what you guys in the USA call biscuits. Another thing I do is bake muffins and cupcakes for the freezer. I bake a big batch of biscuits each week (what American people call cookies) for kids to snack on. Recently I've started making museli bars (you call them granola bars). This means less chemicals and preservatives in our food. It also works out cheaper. My fave super cheap biscuit recipe:. This makes over 100 biscuits, and you can add chopped dried fruit and nuts or choc chips to vary the flavour. I'm putting measurements in grams and cups. 30 grams is equal to 1 ounce. One cup is equal to 250g. Ingredients 1 X 400g tin sweetened condensed milk 1 cup sugar 500g softened butter (margarine can be used, but butter tastes better) 5 cups self raising flour Method:. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) Cream butter and sugar Add can of sweetened condensed milk and mix for another minute or two. Add flour, one cup at a time Roll into walnut sized balls and place well spaced on a cookie tray Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool before eating. I love to roll the balls into coconut flakes, or sometimes into sprinkles (called 100s and 1000s in Australia) Crushed almonds, chopped dried apricots, coconut and currents mixed through the dough make a delicious variation too.

[@mellyayble]

you have great ideas! i love this so much. i am trying to eat healthier and this will be easy to find recipes and write them down and not have to think about what ill be having each day. i feel like i would want 4 "boxes" with cards: breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinners to help keep me on track

[@TheSueb0154]

mellyayble you could use one box with dividers

[@mellyayble]

TheSueb0154 thats a great idea i dont know why i didnt think of that lol! thank u

[@TheSueb0154]

mellyayble that's why I suggested it...I'm working on a box 📦 for household chores and I figured I could include meal cards with my daily cleaning cards...

[@plussizemommy2B]

Can we get a live Scroll of all of the meals and sides ... I love your kitchen Organization too

[@brendamuschal9104]

I love your card system. Every night we’re trying to figure out what to eat. I think your system will help. On one of the cards you were showing one that had Grandma Fern’s Mac n cheese. Do you give out the recipe? If so, I’d love to have it. I always live to see things that have been passed down from generation to generation. Thank you for having such a great site. I love you all!!!!

[@briannconn2552]

Also just found your channel,love from Alaska!

[@ShannonJFamily]

I love this idea so much. I know this video is over 2yrs old but how did it turn out? Did you decide to continue using this system?

[@lifewiththevincents8059]

this is genious!

[@mrsadept]

Awesome. I actually already have a card box with some recipes - so now I'm going to try what you are doing. Thanks so much. :o) I love that idea, but I DO need to find some more recipes so I have enough variety in there.

[@alliehogan9959]

I love your channel

[@rachelbrain]

Thanks for sharing! I have a hard time with meal planning as well. Since I'm single, I often end up getting delivery or fast food, which is terrible for my budget and my waistline. I'm going to try adapting your menu card system for my personal quirks. Hopefully it works just as well for a family of one :)

[@kerkis7669]

Do u ever have chicken tetrazzini 1 lb boiled spaghetti noodles 1/2 block of velveeta or 1 big jar 16 oz cheese whiz 1 cup sour cream 2 lh chicken breast cut up some garlic n onion powder salt n pepper u can add 1 cup veggies on top I put Parmesan and shredded cheese any kind or sometimes we do sliced deli style provalone

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

My aunt used to make something like that. It sounds good!

[@kerkis7669]

It's very good I forgot to say bake 350 deg til cheese is melted on top

[@swrigley9861]

Haha I totally related to your decision-making dilemmas! When I've tried to actually follow a menu I loved it and thought it was great to always know what needed to be made that day but just like you said, something would throw me off and make me feel like doing it again was a huge project I didn't have time for so I often default to just figuring it out at 5 o'clock and trying to always have a well-stocked kitchen. Growing up, my mom had a 4-week menu that she used for years and years. She had shopping lists that went with each week. I have kind of tried that but for some reason I haven't been able to make it work. Your card idea makes it seem more flexible. Maybe that would help me. I see that this video is from last year. Are you still meal planning with this method? How have you tweaked it? Thanks for sharing! Great ideas. :)

[@TheLilmissSlytherin]

you could also see if your hubby (or anyone good at coding) was able to create an app with all these in and then u could select random, or say if u know u want pasta, meat, bread etc and based on what foods you have In the app, it creates selections based on key words. then saves the weeks choices. it would save room and allow to have hundreds of food if u wanted and you could even then sell the app to others so they could use the system for there own foods. makes money, saves room and makes life easier 😀

[@besaaa9204]

Can you do a morning routine?

[@bonnierodriguez4522]

I love this! So simple I cannot believe I did not think of this. Thank you for sharing meal planning and implementing is my downfall.

[@nmair88]

love this can you get cards in different colours? so you could do breakfast in pink or yellow, lunch in blue, etc

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

You definitely could. I thought seasonal meals could go on different colors, too. We just got home from vacation two days ago and I needed to get groceries to last until our regular shopping day. It was so nice to go to the menu box and and already have dinner plans ready to shop for. It has been such a blessing!

[@Denise63333]

I've done either this for years or a monthly menu based on my freezer/pantry restocking over the the month from the sales. I live near Mexico so fresh produce is available inexpensive pretty much year around. I found it helped if I actually schudeled in an occassional dinner out or even delivery to the house meal. knowing that a treat/break was scheduled and coming up kept me from giving in and ordering pizza or something on hectic nights. (all mine play year around sports. though I am down to only 3 at home now. my nest is emptying I've done my job of raising adults)

[@erinjaa6653]

This is a brilliant plan! I tend to plan my menu based on what meats are on sale that week, but I love the variety and help to get out of the rut that this plan affords. I wonder if I could somehow merge the two?

[@TheMillsFamilyVlog]

We usually buy the meat that is on sale that we like and put it in the freezer. Then when we need it for a meal, we have it on hand. When I shop I always stock up on sale items we like regardless of our menu plus any particular extra items we need for the menu that week.

[@Rmicheals1]

Miss you Andrea 🙏🏻🙏🏻🧚‍♀️

[@catherinepugh3490]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! This is going to help me sooooo much! I'm going to label them so they'll be seasonal and mark some as vegetarian.

[@maelindaseawell5269]

Minimom channel sent me here. Wish I knew about this a long time ago.

[@kathyscrazylife]

I have a bookshelf of cookbooks, and I select a recipe once a week, so we can try something new.