Having a planner or notebook for menus and groceries helps to save a lot of time. It helps you pre-plan all the meals ahead and you do not have to wonder what to cook before preparing each meal.

Here is a workable plan that you can adopt.

To start with, you can have a comprehensive recipe list comprising a variety of recipes for meals.
Have a menu section. Under it, plan meals menu for the week. You can have subsections of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Holiday. Under each of these sub-sections you can place favourite recipes that you use frequently.

On a particular day of the week, probably Saturdays you can look through the recipes and put together a new menu plan for the week. This covers the breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you make use of the plan, you may even adapt previous menus from past weeks or months to plan a new week. It is important to have many varieties so that the meals do not become monotonous. You can develop new recipes monthly or as occasion demands.

Also make a periodical check in the fridge and your store to see whether there are items that must be used up, plan them as part of the meals for the week.



Breakfast Lunch Dinner
Sunday Corn flakes/boiled eggs Jollof rice/moinmoin Boiled plantain/vegetable
Monday Bread/egg/tea Semo/vegetable/fruits Moinmoin/eko/ogi
Tuesday Oatmeal/akara Beans/plantain Spaghetti/sauce/fruits
Wednesday Sandwich/tea Rice/beans/plantain/salad Potatoes/vegetable
Thursday Fried plantain/eggs Amala/soup Ogi/akara
Friday Yam/eggs Beans/plantain Rice/sauce/fruits
Saturday Cereal wheat/moinmoin Porridge/vegetable Potatoes/eggs
Grocery

You can decide to plan your groceries monthly or weekly.

As you go through the week take note of things that are getting finished up, make a list of them. You can use it when you are compiling a full grocery list.

As you prepare the meals, also take note of the ingredients you will need or that you are low on, write them down. You will also add these to the final grocery list.

Have a main grocery list for main staples and other items in the home. Compiling lists through the week and as you prepare meals helps you write down things that you may otherwise overlook or forget which may cause inconveniencies during the week.

At this point, you will probably have a long list. Try to arrange and group items together that belong in the same category. For example non-food items; toiletries, baby things and wares; food items staple foods, dairy and frozen foods. Organising things this way helps to make the shopping easier; you can even write them down in the order in which you will find them in the market or the grocery store. You can tick off each item as you get them.

Also remember to plan the grocery according to budget.

Organising your menus and groceries makes your life so much easier. So, stop racking your brain every Saturday morning thinking of what to prepare for the family…get organising!