A few of my readers have asked what sort of things are on our monthly menu.
Our monthly menu plan is a bit of a crazy balancing act. Trying to work around day and night shifts, school, kinder (preschool) and all the other things we have on makes things a little tricky at times, but my aim is to make it as easy as possible, which is why I menu plan in the first place.
I try to make nights when I am on my own with the kids as simple as possible, so some meals are super simple. Monday nights we are at dancing till 6:30 so that is always a meal that can be cooked at lunch time and quickly warmed.
I try to cook with what is in season and use what we have in the cupboards so I am not always at the shops. I try to keep a bit of variety in our menu, but I know the kids don’t care if I repeat favourites again and again so sometimes I do.
I try to cook meals that almost everyone likes part of. It is rare that everyone is 100% happy with everything on the table, but when that happens you can be sure we eat that meal at least once a fortnight!
Here are some of the meals that feature on our summer menu plan –
Tuna Bake
Mexi Bake (from Planning With Kids)
Sausages and/or hamburgers and/or Tuna Patties, zuchinni boats and salad.
Chicken, mushroom and broccoli pasta.
Lentil-aise – spaghetti bolognaise with lentils instead of meat.
‘Chicken on sticks’ with salad and flat bread or fried rice.
Porcupine Meat Balls with pasta.
Triangles with chips and salad
Tacos or Burritos
Felafels (recipe coming soon) salad and bread rolls.
Homemade Pizza or Pizza Pockets
Tomato and Zucchini Pasta (recipe coming soon)
Toasted Sandwiches
At the moment I am also cooking lots of pizza rolls for school/kinder lunches, loads of biscuits and cookies and more biscuits for snack and every now and then we treat ourselves with chocolate self-saucing pudding (from Planning with Kids) or Fruit Sponge for dessert.
Ok, so now I’ve shared our menu, what’s on yours??
Hi Kate, Just wondering if you got my email from a few weeks back?
Ruthie
I will definitely be trying some of your recipes, I get so bored with our menu!
I have a weekly planner, but a monthly one is a better idea. I might just use your prinatble! Thanks heaps!
Kate
*printable !
I ran across your site when trying to find lunchbox notes. Love your ones from the past and your new ones from the other day. Surprised myself again when I found it written as a note on my phone tab and wondered what picklebums was. After searching, I was glad to find you again. Love some of your thoughts and ideas. Thanks. Will be checking in often!
My girls would eat some kind of pasta everyday, they love spaghetti andf cannelloni. They also love rice paper rolls and making them themsleves at the table, a bit messy but they do eat lots of salad in them. And it is so easy is 3 out of 3 will eat what I serve – this is rare here too.
So many great idea :)
I do wish my husband and girls would accept a more varied meal plan. The chicken sticks with flat bread idea is brilliant, I do think they would like that so I might have a go at making them :)
I changed around the menu plan and we are having chicken sticks tonight! Kids adore them.
Thanks for the idea Kate. Master 8 just polished off 4 taco triangles. Even Mr Fussy 5 ate a whole one and only picked out 1 pea!
I made the chocolate self-saucing pudding tonight after just finding it tonight, it was easy but did take a little longer then i thought but was well worth it we all ate it, i even let Master 8 eat some just before bed because Master 8 months though he was funny throwing everything off his high chair while making it… Kids. Will be making this one again, Thanks and im going to try the Mexibake next.