Menu Question...

[SilverSabre25]

if you have a menu that repeats, I have questions--

1) how often does your menu repeat (every week, every other week, etc)

2) how often do you repeat a given food within your menu?

3) do you ever change it up (add new foods, remove old ones)?

4) anything else?

I'm working on making a 4-week rotation of breakfast, lunches, and snacks.

[DCMomOf3]

I only make a true menu for lunch and I modify it every month so it's never 100% the same. I don't ever repeat a main dish within a 5 week period although 80% of my meals will repeat some time within the next month, while a few new meals are added and some that aren't going over well are taken away. Veggies and fruit typically repeat once every 6 or 7 days,

[kitkat]

1. I have a 6 week menu rotation, but only for the main dish. Veggies and fruit are my choice.

2. I try not to repeat a main dish, but I do have a different version for pizza that repeats. One week it might be pizza, another it could be pizza dippers, Grands biscuit pizzas, or pizza pockets in the sandwich maker.

3. Yes, I do add new things every now and then.

4. I do not have a snack menu. Each kid gets assigned a snack day and they pick on that day for morning snack. DS gets to pick all pm snacks since he's at school during the day.

[heyhun77]

I have a 3 week rotation with no main dishes that repeat except our family's friday night homemade pizza night. Our daycare lunches are our family's dinners. I don't serve a morning snack but I do plan our our afternoon snacks.

This is our current rotation. I change the rotation about 2 or 3 times a year to account for changes in season (temps and fruits/veggies).

I do swap things out on the rotation when we want to try something different or when we have special meals/snacks or when we get to go out to eat (pretty rare).

About every 6 to 8 weeks I'll do a "use it up" menu to clear out the pantry/freezer. Usually I do that on short weeks so I don't have to redo my shopping list so much (I have shopping lists that go with each week's menu so I can just cross off what we already have on hand).

Michelle

[cillybean83]

i'm working on menu planning too. I keep a separate menu for my family (dh, ds, and me) and for the daycare kids (i include my 13 month old in this menu because he eats the same foods as the other toddlers, but i don't include his meals in my standard meal deduction paperwork)

family menu includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, night time snack. Breakfast and lunch don't vary much... cereal, eggs, bagels, waffles, etc ...lunch is sandwiches, soups, pizza rolls, etc. for dinner we each pick 2 meals for the week, and on the 7th night we eat out if we can afford it, or eat leftovers...it ensures that i'm not making 2-3 different meals a night (my son and hubby are PICKY eaters) and each week we're guaranteed to get get 2 dinners we know we'll enjoy. The rule here is if you don't like whats on your plate, make yourself a pb sandwich.

daycare/my toddler menu is simpler...i have picky kids and don't follow the food program so i might not be including things that the food program requires but it goes something like this

b-
fruit cup, toast, juice or milk
yogurt, waffle, juice or milk
scrambled egg (if over 18 months), toast, juice or milk
pancakes with fruit cooked in, juice or milk
oatmeal, fruit, juice or milk
dry cereal, fruit, juice or milk
mini muffins, fruit, juice or milk
l-
chicken nuggets, corn, milk
cottage cheese, peaches, milk
peas and carrots, hard boiled egg, milk
black beans, diced tomatoes, milk
turkey stew with crackers, milk
grilled cheese, cucumber, milk
tostada with refried beans and avocado, milk

s-
fruit
goldfish crackers
baked snap pea crisps
1/2 bagel with cream cheese
dry cereal
almond butter w/ crackers
cottage cheese with fruit preserves
graham crackers w/ applesauce
"pumpkin pie" (canned pumpkin mixed with a little soymilk, a pinch of splenda or brown sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon) spread on a piece of toast

d-
mac n cheese
raviolis
baked sweet potato chunks
veggies and rice
quesadilla
spaghetti
stew
cheese pizza rolls

that's all i can think of off the top of my head, and i got a little lazy at the end! I just make a sheet for each week, put it in a plastic page protector, and switch it out every saturday night, I have 3 sheets, so my toddler menus repeat every 3 weeks.

[cillybean83]

I have a 3 week rotation with no main dishes that repeat except our family's friday night homemade pizza night. Our daycare lunches are our family's dinners. I don't serve a morning snack but I do plan our our afternoon snacks.

This is our current rotation. I change the rotation about 2 or 3 times a year to account for changes in season (temps and fruits/veggies).

I do swap things out on the rotation when we want to try something different or when we have special meals/snacks or when we get to go out to eat (pretty rare).

About every 6 to 8 weeks I'll do a "use it up" menu to clear out the pantry/freezer. Usually I do that on short weeks so I don't have to redo my shopping list so much (I have shopping lists that go with each week's menu so I can just cross off what we already have on hand).

Michelle

every 3 months i have a "use it up week" my family lovingly refers to it as "famine week" because it's every man for himself

[Abigail]

I never get around to the "use it up" week because it's usually too late before we realized we had it. I obviously eat out more than most. This week I have eaten at home everyday except for Subway twice.....that is probably because I had the flu. LOL.

I want to see what else others have for menus. That is something I need to work on in the future.

[Pammie]

I don't make a rotating menu for daycare - because whatever the kids have for lunch - is leftover from my family dinner the day before. I just cook extra at dinnertime (or put extra in the crockpot), and then just reheat for lunch for the dcks - it makes lunchtimes a snap for me

I personally like a lot of variety in my meals - and I like to serve the dcks the same. I think that too many eating issues with kids are because they get used to eating the same things all the time and grow resistant to trying new foods. JMO.

[SilverSabre25]

I don't make a rotating menu for daycare - because whatever the kids have for lunch - is leftover from my family dinner the day before. I just cook extra at dinnertime (or put extra in the crockpot), and then just reheat for lunch for the dcks - it makes lunchtimes a snap for me

I personally like a lot of variety in my meals - and I like to serve the dcks the same. I think that too many eating issues with kids are because they get used to eating the same things all the time and grow resistant to trying new foods. JMO.

What people think of serving dinner leftovers as daycare lunch was going to be one of my next questions! I've been thinking of doing that eventually. Pammie, I've been thinking the same thing about the eating issues with several of my kids. I've noticed that if I serve something that's even slightly out of the ordinary, a couple won't eat it. One is just starting to eat new things after being served them 15 times or so. I'm kind of hoping that this meal rotation will both make things simpler for me over the next six months or so, as well as get my kiddos used to some things (well, sort of, 4 weeks is a long time in a kid's life) and then we'll start branching out. I need to get them eating veggies and proteins and things. They're young enough still that it should work...I hope!

[heyhun77]

every 3 months i have a "use it up week" my family lovingly refers to it as "famine week" because it's every man for himself

LOL. We get that on the weeks that my dh works late hours because that's usually the week that I don't have anything left in me by the time the last dck leaves.

[jessrlee]

I have the best luck with my "try it" rule.

Most of what I make is very different for the kiddos (I have a ton of fast eatin' fools! Lol!) so what I do is sit at the kid's table and chop raw veggies and let them sit next to me to try them, or give "samples" out of the crock pot. (use seperate spoons for each kiddo) I know it seems like a lot of time wasted but they are so receptive to trying out new things when it is "special" that I just waste the time ! I also tend to do a lot of meal prep while they are watching, because if they see a favorite food go into the pot suddenly the "new" food isn't so scary (I just did this for tortilla soup)

[Little People]

All of my dck's are friut eaters. What I have started doing is when i put something new on their plates and they just look at it like it was going to jump up and bite them ::. I go get the fruit and set it beside me and tell them "when you please take 2 bites you can have fruit! Works every time for me! And then we try that same food again the next week and they are learning to like a few new foods! Right now, I don't have picky eaters, they are really good, it is just when I try something new and there not sure of it.::

[SilverSabre25]

I have the best luck with my "try it" rule.

Most of what I make is very different for the kiddos (I have a ton of fast eatin' fools! Lol!) so what I do is sit at the kid's table and chop raw veggies and let them sit next to me to try them, or give "samples" out of the crock pot. (use seperate spoons for each kiddo) I know it seems like a lot of time wasted but they are so receptive to trying out new things when it is "special" that I just waste the time ! I also tend to do a lot of meal prep while they are watching, because if they see a favorite food go into the pot suddenly the "new" food isn't so scary (I just did this for tortilla soup)

I'll have to remember that for the future. Right now my group is very young (of the daycare kids, there's one uber-picky 2. 5yo and the rest are under 2) and I don't think they'd buy it!

[countrymom]

I think we need to a group meal menu, I'll find my book and i'll start it. I find that I fall in a rut too. So if I have a large list it would be great.
I wish I had leftovers, my kids eat everything for dinner and if there is leftover then dh takes it to work or I pack it in my kids lunch. We have a rule in my house that if I call you (this is mainly for dh) and you don't come for dinner when I call you, I can't gaurentee there is going to be food left for you.

[cillybean83]

yeah, my family rarely leaves left overs