The goal: is to eat sensibly, keep your food choices more nutritious than not, make portions that are appropriate, and keep some kind of control on the household grocery budget.
But when it comes to meal planning our member's agree almost 100% --- Meal Planning is the job they most wish someone else would do. They don't have the time to spare, or don't have the information to do it right, or just plain don't know why it matters. Everyone would be happy if they could find a book on the shelf with everything already in it.
And there are plenty of books just like that. They all have something different to say, and you can build a whole library while you're trying to figure out which one is going to work for you.
Unfortunately they have to be written for what the author considers an "average" family, and most of us are square pegs in that round hole. Sometimes half the family wouldn't eat the planned meals, and sometimes the cost off the ingredients would drive the grocery budget so far off balance it just wasn't feasible.
Individual families are not "average". Each is unique with different tastes, different schedules, and different budgets that do not fit well in a published book form. We'll all have different tastes at different times of the year. And it's not likely that a family in the Southwest Desert eats the same as a family in New England, or on any of the coasts. Price and availability are as different across the country as are family heritage customs.
So the only way to get a really personal book of menu plans, one that will work for your family's taste and budget, is to make one for yourself. Stay with us in the LLP Community, because we're all going to do it together here.
It's easier that way. And a lot more fun.
Here's the first "DO" suggestion : Grab a notebook, or a 3-ring binder, or whatever you prefer to work on to start taking notes. If you have an empty shoe box handy that would help keep things together until you have time to sit down and organize them.
Because the subject is on your mind, you'll catch yourself hearing and seeing things you didn't pay attention to before. You can remember them again later if you make a short note to yourself. But you'll need a place to collect the notes so they don't get lost.
And here's a "DON'T" suggestion: Don't put your project on the computer, at least not in the beginning. Try to keep it loose, and available; and try not to let the project overwhelm the goal. It's OK to just collect hand-written notes and newsclipping ideas so you can put them together later.
Remember the best "First Step" is anything that gets you going in the right direction.
Next: MEAL PLANNING - THE NEXT FIRST STEP.
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