Menu Planning Tips

I have been in a rut lately for planning meals.  Sometimes it's hard to please everyone in our household when it comes to dinners. These tips are great for bigger families or for family with kids to get them excited about planning meals and eating dinner.

It's easier for me to plan meals if they go with some sort of theme so you could do homemade pizza night every Friday or Taco Tuesdays for example.  I decided just to have 12 or so themes/categories for meals and rotate them on a random basis.  I made menu planning into a fun family game.  I put all our categories into a bowl/hat and then we all take turns drawing for the week.  I say Sunday, then you pull the category, Monday, etc...  I then ask for suggestions for actual meals that everyone likes or wants to have, but if I don't get any I just take it from there and plan.

I post it to our menu board and now everyone knows whats coming up for the week.  This saves money so we don't have to wonder whats for dinner each night and I am loving it because David and Max head out early on Saturday morning to do the shopping while I sleep in.  Win-Win for me.

Here is a sample Menu for this week:
Sunday: Superbowl, we ate pizza & wings at a party
Monday: Salad- Taco Salad
Tuesday: Soup/Stew: Minestrone Soup
Wednesday: Mexican: Chicken Enchiladas
Thursday: Sandwiches: Chicken Pesto Paninis
Friday: Pasta: Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
Saturday: Pizza: Homemade Pizza Night

Do you have any menu planning tips?