Spiral Menu Planning- the easiest meal planning for less stress

I don’t know about you, but “What’s for dinner?” is a dreaded question. Because I’m not a natural cook, the less time I have to spend thinking about and planning meals the better. Is this ringing true for you? Read on for easy spiral menu planning how-to’s. It now takes me a fraction of the time it used to take in menu planning for dinner.

Spiral Menu Planning for Longer Stretches

So, I accidentally started to plan meals in what I now call  “Spiral Menu Planning”. This has helped me keep up day to day. Below are the basic steps with a minimal amount of work in the planning department of my mind.  Just a note: I go grocery shopping for a month at a time. There are small stops as needed but the bulk is planned and done monthly.  This stems from having lived at the end of a mountain forest service road with a dubious cliff-edged dirt road.  If you are not used to monthly planning, adjust this to be two weeks at a time instead to get your feet wet.

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Rather watch the instructions? Click on the thumbnail to go to youtube to watch:

Step 1: The Notebook for Spiral Menu Planning

Step 1: Get yourself an inexpensive basic lined spiral notebook. It can be pretty if that helps but you won’t be seeing the cover anytime soon so don’t sweat it.

Step 2: Insert the Weeks for Meal Planning

Turn it horizontally and draw or washi tape 3 lines horizontally across the notepaper. This will divide the sheet into 4 weeks. Roughly draw 6 lines vertically for the seven days of each week. There will be some months that overflow into a fifth week so add a row accordingly with extra washi tape.

Step 3: Gather Tried and True Family Favorites for Meal Planning Calendar

Ask your family to name all the good stand-by’s you make for dinner that are tried and true winners in a pinch. Fill in those meals spread throughout the squares of your month. These can be meals that you have in memory or from a cookbook source. If from a cookbook, note the source and page or Pinterest board in the same square with the meal.

Step 4: Ingredients needed for this month’s spiral menu planning

Turn this menu page onto the backside and immediately write down the ingredients needed for these recipes one at a time. Writing the ingredients in sections will help you be streamlined at the grocery store.

Step 5: The Cookbook of Choice for this Month’s Spiral Menu Planning

Pick one cookbook or Pinterest board (more on using Pinterest in a bit) that interests you for this month’s focus. Write the name of the cookbook on the top of your calendar page. Flip through it and jot down do-able and realistic recipe names and pages in a day square on the calendar. List a side to go with it in the same square. Keep in mind days that you may typically need to have quicker meals or are going to be gone from home. For example: I am SO not into cooking a hugely complicated meal on Saturdays, so I pick easier/ faster meals on those days. To be honest, most days need to be quick and fast but you get my drift if you have to be out the door for an evening event.

Step 6: Add Numbers to Duplicate Items on the Meal Plan Ingredients

As you fill squares with a recipe name, immediately turn the page over and write the ingredients needed on the back in the appropriate sections. Don’t duplicate items, just write an additional number beside an item already listed.

Step 7: Ready to Shop for This Month’s Spiral Menu

Viola! The setup is done–you have your meals planned out and your instant grocery list.  Now, to go shopping– check your cupboards and cross out anything you don’t need to get if you already have enough.  I usually copy this grocery list and take it with me. If you don’t want to copy it, you can take a picture of it on your phone or take the whole notebook with you. Extra points for highlighting which items to get at which store. I routinely go to 3 stores so each store gets it’s own color of highlighter. It all works it’s magic for a better grocery day.

Step 8: The Magic of the Spiral Menu Planning Kicks In

As you go through the month and have meals that your family really likes, immediately transfer the recipe name, page number, and book name in a square on the next month’s page calendar. Don’t forget the ingredients needed on the back. When your month is up and you start to plan the new month, you will most likely have a few gaps left in the next month so you repeat the process of picking a new cookbook and fill in gaps with new interesting recipes repeating step 5. Since you will have some repeat recipes from this month’s cookbook in the following month, write down the recipe if it’s a library book. As you do this system for a few months, you only have to meal plan a few meals each month. It makes it so much quicker and less overwhelming. I usually spread out meals that we really like among the next 2 months. This just spreads out the frequency of repeating a little bit.

What About Pinterest Boards?

A note on Pinterest boards. You can use Pinterest recipes for this by saving to a board that you create. You’ll have it all gathered in one place. It may take you a bit longer to scan all the possibilities on Pinterest for your meal ideas. If this will overwhelm you, just stick to one cookbook a month to look through. Frankly, sometimes too many choices causes me to over analyze. Help yourself out and limit your choices.

A Few Cookbooks I Have Used for Spiral Menu Planning

Below are a few cookbooks I have used as my monthly perusing choices that may help you get started:

Pioneer Women

Instant Pot Miracle

Well Fed, Flat Broke

Taste of Home

I hope you enjoy your new way of stress-free meal planning! Feel free to comment if you have the name of a cookbook that you have liked. You may be interested in these article: