Do you know what’s for dinner?

How often can you answer the question “what’s for dinner?” when you haven’t even started? If you are a meal planner, this should not be a problem at all.

Meal planning is not going to stop the question, it is just going to give you the ability to answer.

Planning for dinner

I have been meal planning for a while now and I even write the weekly plan on the board in the kitchen and, yet, invariably I still get asked ‘what’s for dinner?’ by at least on family member on an almost daily basis.

Meal planning boards

My family know that I update the board every Sunday and that it not only has what’s for dinner but also, what the school lunches are for the week and what the lunch when they get home is going to be and yet they still ask.

In the past the answer was usually, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it yet’ or ‘it depends on what we have in the cupboard/fridge/freezer’. Life is so much easier on all of us now that we know what will be served.

It is not always so easy though as with a family of 6 there are times where at least one or more is not happy with the option of what’s for dinner.

It’s a family decision

Since I included my family in the meal planning decision when I first started and got them to tell me what they would really like to eat, I often try new recipes which the family then votes to decide if we have this again or not. This way everyone gets to eat at least on meal a week that they really like.

I do have some standard meals that I have every week and month, such as spaghetti bolognaise, spaghetti and meatballs, tuna/vegetable lasagne, cottage pie, tacos, sloppy Joe’s, chicken stir fry and every now and then I cave in and add probably the easiest recipe ever – spaghetti, tomato sauce, cheese and tuna. This is one of my children’s favourite meals.

I also us a template to help with the meal planning. this tells me what types of meals I am making on a particular day i.e. fish, meat, chicken, mince, vegan/vegetarian.

Do you know what’s for dinner in your home this week?