How to Teach Daughters How to Plan Dinner Menus, Part 1

I’ve been trying to teach my daughters (ages 13 and 15) how to plan dinner menus.

First, I gave them a blank Weekly Menu Worksheet, and they divided the days of the week between each other so they each created three. (Dad does Saturday dinner). I told them I wanted them to create menus using items in stock at home. Knowing it would be easier to ask me, I soon heard: “Mom, do we have spaghetti sauce?” or “Mom, do we have things to make chicken pot pie?” I was fine telling them if I had the items or not, but next time they are going to have to search for them. One step at a time.

Next, I gave them a blank Grocery List to write down the missing items for me to purchase at the store. The grocery list was actually very small, so I think they did very well using ingredients from home.

This is a beginning, and there will be more steps as I teach them how to plan meals as economically as possible.

Here are the menus:

Monday: Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, grapes
Tuesday: Spaghetti, bread, salad
Wednesday: Chili, cornbread, peas
Thursday: Hamburgers, chips & salsa, lemonade
Friday: Chicken pot pie, fruit salad, bread & butter
Saturday: Juan Pollo type tacos, cake, lemonade
Sunday: Lasagna, bread, salad

3 thoughts

  1. This is good, start young. My mom is still working on us. But it does save a lot of money and time. Especially when you live in a place where the grocery store is far away…

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