Do You Menu Plan?

Yesterday, while watching one of my inspiring photographer mentors, Jasmine Star (J*), on a live photo workshop, she mentioned a neat, deep quote that her mother, Mille, always said to her. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This quote really stuck out and I began to realize that this goes in all areas of life. Even menu planning!

I always tried to stick to menu planning, but it wasn’t until I became a health coach that I really stayed consistent with it. I didn’t usually write it down and it always just stuck in my head. Well, ever since having Camille (Mille, we call her this, too! How cool that J*’s mom has this name! I got excited!) a year ago, my brain has turned to mommy mush. So if I fail to plan meals or fail to write them down, I’m usually scrambling around trying to figure out what to have for dinner during the week, which leaves me a little stressed out, and then leads to take-out that I really don’t want.

I like to have 90% of our meals made at home (from scratch). Don’t get wrong, I do eat take-out from time to time. You can’t do it all 24/7, 365 days a year. We also like to go out to restuarants, too! Yummy one’s only! Damian and I will shop on the weekends so we have everything we need for the week. Which helps out greatly!

So here’s how my plan went down yesterday…

I don’t know about you guys, but I have SO many cookbooks and recipes. Too many! These are just a few. I usually pull them all out when I start. I tend to look for quick, easy and colorful meals. I like color, a lot! Especially green! My husband…not so much! Ha!And, I look for meals that I can double quantity for leftovers for lunch and dinner throughout the week.

I accomplished my menu, but after seeing this picture, I think I need to go buy some pretty pens. This black one isn’t doing it for me!I usually just write out the dinners and then on the bottom I’ll write ideas for breakfast, lunch and snacks. It seems to work well for me.

So after creating my list, it looks like Emeril stole the show this week! Most of the meals I chose are from his cookbook that my in-laws gave us this summer. I guess it makes sense since we are living in NOLA now. It’s signed by him, too! Pretty cool! Thanks again, Mom and Dad Yemma!

So what’s on the menu next week? (Oh, and of course, life can get in the way, so sometimes we don’t follow this plan perfectly, but having this list written out and hung up in the kitchen de-stresses this mommy big time!)

Saturday: Grilled Steaks (Damian should win an award for “best steak griller.” It’s that good! Omg! I’m not even kidding!) with Cucumber Ribbon Salad (Emeril salad)
Sunday: Chicken Pad Thai (My mentor, Stacey Morgenstern’s recipe – SO easy and SO good!)
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Emeril’s Shrimp and Pasta with Garlic
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Emeril’s fish tacos with black bean salsa
Friday: Emeril’s kicked up tuna melts or Family Date Night out on the town