WAHM Tip Wednesday: Menus

I love menus. Restaurants make them look so easy to put together. The pictures of the food make the dishes look mouth watering and, when I read the description, the ingredients seem somewhat simple (okay, we’re talking Denny’s not the Russian Tea Room).

And then I think to myself: I bet I could do that. I know I’d save money if I had a plan of attack, so to speak, when payday comes around. All I need to do is sit down and write it out!

And then I get home and two seconds into the meal planning process I give it up as hopeless.

Meal planning can be tough! Who’d a thunk it, right?

So, for today, I’m going to talk to you (and hope that you listen) about the ins and outs of menu planning and how it can benefit you, the working parent.

For starters, knowing what you are going to eat for the next two weeks (more or less) really helps keep down the whining and pestering around 4 pm.

“Mom, what’s for dinner?”*

Those are words you may never have to hear again. All you have to do is point to the refrigerator where the menu is posted, which your child may or may not be able to read. If they can’t, direct them to their other parent or older sibling for translation services.

Then there is the money saving aspect. If you know what you are going to eat, when you take your weekly jaunt to the grocery store all you have to do is purchase those ingredients for your menu. This saves on money because you aren’t buying generalities (gosh,  I think I’ll need 5 dozen eggs as opposed to I know I need 2 dozen eggs).  Just as long as you aren’t buying esoteric items, you should keep your purchases down to a manageable level. If you use coupons and sale items for your menu, you’re ahead of the game! As a side note, I’ve learned that you have to add in your snacks, too, or they catch up with you at the check out line.

With a menu plan, you keep the trips to the grocery store down to a minimum. So, if I know what my ingredients are, I can purchase them at one time and not have to make a run to the store every few days for items that I “forgot.” The only exception to this is milk and fresh veggies. We go through both pretty quickly so I always keep a bit of cash on the side to make sure I can purchase these each week (we only shop every two weeks).

So, what are the down sides to menu planning? Well, you have to actually create a menu. And, as I mentioned previously, it’s not an easy task. At least it wasn’t for me. You see, I get tired of baked chicken and salad. Or spaghetti and salad. Or pork chops and salad.

Do you sense a theme here?

When I think of menus, I think of a restaurant menu that has a plethora of interesting choices that are not found in the typical kitchen. This is my downfall. However, when I pick myself up off the floor and return to reality, I realized that I don’t have to spend hours pouring over my recipe box or allrecipes.com to create the perfect menu. There are plenty of alternatives available from the library (gasp!) or on the Internet.

Let us speak first of my friend, the library. How I love her! She is generous with her possessions and stern yet gentle with her reprimands (25 cent late fees, anyone?). Go to your nearest library and look up the following books:

• Saving dinner : the menus, recipes, and shopping lists to bring the family back to the table by Leanne Ely
  • menus planned out by the week and season; be careful though if you live in an area where fish tends to be on the expensive side since at least one to two dishes per week are fish (found that out the hard way!)
• Dinner survival : cooking for the rushed by Sandi Richard
  • haven’t used this one yet but it got good reviews on Amazon
• Rachael Ray
  • particularly her Yum-o! the family cookbook and Rachael Ray 365: no repeats: a year of deliciously different dinners
  • neither gave grocery shopping lists and the recipes have are a bit on the esoteric side; that being said, much of the ingredients can be subbed with stuff that is a) cheap and b)actually available at your grocery store (this is assuming you have time to do that!)

Not into reading cookbooks and copying out your own menus or grocery lists? Me neither. There are other options that will send to your email a list of weekly dinners and accompanying grocery list. Just be aware that these options cost money, typically, and are only for dinners. You’ll still have to plan out breakfast and lunches (the Yum-o! cookbook has many recipes for breakfast and lunch).

• Menus4Moms Basic Weekly Menu (free for basic menu)
  • added bonus of Grocery Deals, a free way of finding the sales in the grocery stores nearest to you
• e-Mealz ($1.50 a week, payable 3 months in advance which works out to about $15)
  • recommended by Dave Ramsey
• Meals Matter (free resource to create your own menu plans from pre-existing recipes or add in your own; simple and easy to use!)

The other option is to use a menu building software that will print out a grocery list for you. There are several available ranging from free to quite expensive. This is a good option if you want ultimate control over what you eat, particularly if you are on a specific diet.

• Living Cookbook 2008 (costs about $35)
• MasterCook Cooking Light 6.0 (costs about $60)
• Cook n’Recipe Organizer 8.2 (A Cnet Editor’s Pick; be careful though since it has mixed reviews; free for trial, $70 to buy)

As a final note, these menus are for dinners only. You’ll have to come up with your own ideas for breakfasts and lunches. Ray’s Yum-o! has lots of kid friendly breakfast and lunch ideas that adults will enjoy too. My kids particularly like the breakfast cereal parfaits!

• Back-To-School Breakfast Recipes
  • if you add the recipes into your meal planner (like Meals Matter), you can get the ingredients into your over-all grocery list; otherwise, just add them onto the list you already have for your dinners
  • scroll to the bottom of the recipe page to get the links
• Creative Breakfast Ideas (pdf)
  • while I am not endorsing their website, I do find the two page recipe booklet to have some good recipes
• School Lunch Recipe Tips
  • Okay, I do realize it is summertime. However, if you are working from home, chances are you are making lunch for the munchkins anyway.
  • Or you can go right to the Lunch Recipes, if you prefer.

Do you plan your menus? Is this information overwhelming or helpful? Let me know!

* I have yet to hear them ask their father this question and he’s in the next room!

My Opinion Monday

from writefromkaren Monday Morning Meme

What’s something your parents used to say to you as a child that you promised yourself you’d never say — but now you catch yourself saying all the time? Now tell us something that you say all the time that is uniquely you.

“Wait til your father gets home!”

“Maybe…”

“You’ll go blind!”

“Well, you could but then I’d have to chain you to the tree out front.”

and the list goes on. I never really thought I’d end up sounding like my mom and dad. However, I’m glad I did since they’re possibly two of the greatest parents that ever lived. And, let’s face it, as a child we promise never to act like our parents anyway but that usually doesn’t happen.* But that doesn’t mean that I am a carbon copy of my parents. I have come up with some new and catchy phrases, like:

“Fabulous!” (not something you’d ever catch my dad saying!)

“Write me a four page paper on it and I’ll consider buying you a ________.” (recently happened and my 9 year old son got to keep the tortoise that came with our brand spanking new house!)

“Where did your common sense go?!” (happens quite frequently with 3 boys in the house!)

“Where’s your little brother?” (Bit of an issue as the littlest one likes to climb. On anything.)

There are others but I’m only on my second cup of coffee at the moment. I hope that my kids remember these and use them within my hearing when they have kids of their own. I’ll just sit back with a big smug smile and nod. Been there, done that, sugaring up the grandkids and sending them home!

Just like my mom.

* This may not apply to those people with horrible upbringings. So, take that particular comment as a generality and with a grain of salt.

Housebuying…

is not quite as exciting as I thought it would be. Where was the anxious rush to look for houses? The holding of our hands while the agent explained yet again what the difference between living in one area was compared to another? The nailbiting anticipation of getting the loan?

I think we were just way too prepared. Months before we made the final decision to purchase a home, the hubs and I did a lot of Internet surfing searching for information on how to buy a house, get a loan, and what to expect. We attended Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. We had already made the decision two years ago that we would be buying a house even with a bankruptcy on our record.

That’s right: a bankruptcy.

It sucked the life out of us and nearly our marriage but we perservered. We’re stronger now as a couple in the faith we have in God and in each other because of that experience. And it’s taught us a lot about how to manage your money (compared to NOT how to manage it!).

Because we were good stewards, the hubs and I were able to easily procure a loan. Then, we fell for the first house we found (it comes with a tortoise!). It’s been smooth sailing. The loan documents have been signed and we are just waiting for escrow to close next week.

By the 29th, we’ll be first time home owners.

Holy mackeral! That feels good to say. I think I may have a blog party to celebrate…

Vroom Vroom!

What a fun but exhausting day. Our church held it’s first annual car show and what a turn out! And the boys had a blast.

Here they are standing next to our friend Emilio’s car. Notice you can barely see our youngest as he leans against the car. I have no idea how many times we had to tell him, “No! Don’t touch the car!”

And then we wandered over to the drag racers and all  the admonishments went out the window when the owner let them climb into the racecar and turn the wheels. I thought the kids were going to pee themselves they were so excited!

Yessirre bob, a fun time was had by all.

By the way, all three boys crashed, i.e. napped, when we got home…..for two whole hours! Yippee!

WAHM Tip Wednesday: Blogging Topics

Have you ever sat down to begin your blog post and then stop because you had no idea what to blog about? I have.

A lot.

It’s a struggle sometimes to find something to talk about because, let’s face it, we want our blog posts to matter.

Whether you are a mom blogger or own a business and using it as a marketing tool, our blog posts are seen by (potentially) thousands of people. We want those people to at least walk away with a sense of respect (hey! she really knows what she’s talking about!).

There is nothing worse than what I imagine a conversation that my potential reader may have after he or she reads my post, “Gosh. That was awful. Why did I waste my time with that?” Whether they do that or not, I have no idea. I’m hoping they don’t.

But how do I keep a steady supply of blog posts that are interesting?

As I thought about it, I came up with three ideas, that when put together, will give you a full monthly/yearly blogging schedule:

• blogging calendar with a twist
• alliteration
• SEO

There are a few blogging calendar’s floating around the ‘net (type in “blogging calendar” with the quotes on Google). However, I don’t like them. Not that I don’t appreciate the time and energy that go into creating them but because they aren’t in depth enough for me.

For those not in the know, most of the blogging calendar’s are just lists of what months celebrate what events and holidays. For example, March is Women’s History Month.

I can see the quizzical look on your face from all the way over here and I know what you’re thinking: what has that got to do with my blog or my readers?

Depends. How many of your readers are female? You have a 50/50 chance. Well, that isn’t the point of my blog. Okie dokie then. Is there anything in common between the “general idea” of your blog and “Women’s History Month”? Anything at all? Oh, well as a matter of fact, I think that….

Ah. Now we start getting somewhere. You don’t actually have to celebrate Women’s History Month (although it would be pretty cool if you did) but if you can come up with 3 to 4 ideas that are related to women’s history and your blog, you have at least 3 to 4 blog posts. You can even take that a step further and give link love, product reviews, or memory posts (I remember when…) based on those 4 ideas that you just brainstormed. All with that general spark of “Women’s History Month.” And, by the way, you don’t have to use those topics in just the month of March!

Onto alliteration. According to Webster’s Dictionary, alliteration is “the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter.”

Now, I’m not trying to toss out some fancy schmancy English terms at you. I bet you alliterate every day or see it every time you read a blog. Stop blushing. You have a seriously warped mind, did you know that?

Follow Friday? Thankful Thursday? Wordless Wednesday? Meatless Monday? Any of these a-ringin’ a bell? (Thank you, Sid the Sloth, for that line!)

If you can come up with an alliterative theme for each day of the week and then brainstorm 3 to 4 sub ideas for each theme, you have LOTS of blog posts ready to go. Let’s look at an example, shall we? Meatless Monday.

Well, the first Monday we can give out a vegetarian menu for the week/month. The second Monday, we can review a vegetarian book (with a recipe thrown in for good measure). Third Monday might be a guest blogger who talks about vegetarianism or something related to it. Fourth Monday might be the health benefits of meatless meals with the accomanying recipes. You can keep doing this til the cows…oops…flowers…nah, cows come home.

The last idea I had for blog post topics came to me from Twitter’s trending topics (although you can use Google Trends or Google AdWords just as easily). It’s pretty simple actually: see what people are talking about and then talk about it too.

It’s an easy way to find something to blog about that generates traffic to your blog. I know, it seems kind of underhanded, doesn’t it? And it smacks a bit of  “keeping up with the Joneses.” Well, if you feel that way try staying within the parameters of your blog’s main topic or idea(s).

For example, my blog is about working from home. I do talk about lots of other stuff, mostly because it’s my personal blog and not a professional one. If I was desperate for a topic, I could type in “WAHM” into the Google Trends and voila! Literally hundreds of articles from the past 5 years pop up about WAHMs that can give me some ideas on what to write about.

If I use the trending topics on Twitter, I can find related items about working from home and, say, Star Trek. Maybe. If not, I could probably use it as a segue and then brainstorm. Either way, I end up with a blog post!

Or I could run over to AdWords and do the same thing to see what people are searching for. You can use this as a SEO tool but I like it as an idea generator.

I know what you’re asking. “So what?” Actually, that’s a fabulous question. Use it every time you get a trending topic or search term. Then answer it. Then keep asking “So what?” over and over, answering it every time. Do it enough times, and you end up with a viable list of topics for your blog.

So how does this create a monthly or yearly plan of blogging topics? Well, if you do the above three things, calendar with a twist, alliteration, and SEO, you should have at least one thing every day to talk about for a month.

And then you can do it again and again. Mix it up and keep it fresh. I like doing My Opinion Monday and WAHM Tip Wednesday (alliteration). I also add in some SEO and trending topics in there (check out my post from Tuesday). And, there is the events calendar (Mother’s Day, anyone?). In between I manage to squeeze in some posts that don’t have a defined theme other than they are mine and related to me as a woman, mother, and WAHM.

By the way, some people like to use Google Docs spreadsheets as a way to track what they will discuss on what day. *ahem* It’s a useful tool but don’t be married to it. If you find something that is outside of the “blogging calendar” then by all means blog away about it.

It is, after all, your blog!

Do you have any tips or tricks about generating blog topics? I want to know! And more importantly, so do my readers!