I'm a stay-at-home Mom and I would have killed my DH if he gave me a meal plan to follow! ;-) If you are making a list for the au-pair that would make sense, since many are pretty young and might appreciate some feeding guidelines for the kids.

I don't and never did plan out my kids' meals for an entire day. I don't know how old your kids are, but mine usually would tell me what they wanted for breakfast or lunch based on a staple of choices. It's pretty much still the same way at ages 8, 10, 12 & 14 though they mainly fix their own breakfast/lunch these days.

I do go through fits and spurts of doing a dinner meal plan though, mainly because our afternoons/evenings are quite busy with a variety of sports practices to transport my kids to. I find that we eat much healthier and have less waste I plan out the week's meals in advance. I usually look at our schedule and plan meals according to whether they need to be something made ahead of time, something that can be prepared and eaten right away, etc. It also helps me balance how much we are eating of fish/meat/poultry in a week. For instance, on Mondays, I have to pick my dd up from soccer at 4:30, drop younger ds off at friend's at 5pm to go to his soccer, then pick him up/drop older ds off at soccer at 7pm. This is our crazy night so I usually plan something that can be made ahead, and eaten in shifts - like tacos or pulled pork sandwiches. On a night like tonight, where just one of my kids has practice, I can do a sit down meal we all eat together like chicken parmesan with pasta and salad. I then create a grocery store list based on the menu for the week, so rather than just buying a whole bunch of meat/fish/etc and fresh produce, I buy exactly what I need for the week, limiting the possibility of produce going bad before we use it, etc.

For example, here is my meal plan for this week:

Tues: (Dh golfing and not home for dinner): roasted chicken with red potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash

Wed: Greek chicken with orzo salad, green beans w/pine nuts

Thurs: Fish tacos with black bean, avocado and red pepper salad, cantaloupe

Fri: (dh out of town for weekend): homemade calzones with a salad

I havent used any sort of app or software as of yet but at some point I'd like to be organized enough to do that. For now, I just sit down sometime over the weekend, look at our schedule and write out the menu, then I just create my grocery list from there. I usually make the list on my cell phone in Notes.

Does your au pair do the shopping or do you?

Good luck!

I am laughing Chispa. I should have said they have requested it! DH for sure, and our current au pair finds it easier if we have written things down. I do sound like an @ss, huh? this is not my idea. :)

I think planning simple menus for when you will be away is a good thing to do especially if you ensure all the necessary food is in the house. However I know what would have happened if I had done this with my DH and kids back when is that they still would have ordered pizza or take-out sometimes!

IMO there is no need for software, altho that is likely available. I would just make a list of the menus, print it out, stick it on the frig, inform them of this, hope for the best, and not worry about it.

I happened across this comparison of various menu planning software and thought I'd post it for you.

http://meal-planning-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Software Reviews

Thank you all for the feedback so far! :)
My kids are 17 months and 4 years old. Of course I should have added that too.

I usually leave at 7:30 ish and dont' get home till around 6:30, sometimes later and that is their bedtime. DH has been asking me for this for probably 3 months. I am a slacker.

I started with the schedule (for special preschool, gymnastics, naps, music, playground etc) which is something else they requested. Now I have to move on to the mealplan.

I think that my youngest is old enough to eat what the 4 yr old eats so that should make things simpler too. We also want to start being a bit more structured (a la Dr Furhman - if they don't eat it they dont get anything else) which doesnt work as well when they are not eating the same thing.

luckygal that is totally true and another reason why we want to do this. The scales are tipping in favor of more unhealthy eating (we both agree on this) and we need to move that back in to tipping the other way.

Not for kids but for us old folks!

I have a whole routine that I do right before my major grocery store trip:

1.) Clean out fridge/freezer/pantry and at the same time create an inventory list. Not really of everything just the major stuff meals are centered around.

2.) Create a meal plan based mostly off of food stuff I already have.

3.) Create a grocery list off of the meal plan. At this point, I might have to recheck to see if I have enough of specific ingredients.

I do it all on paper. I tried using a spreadsheet and software but nothing worked as good as pen & paper.

I used to do this in the dark ages (1980s and 1990s) by hand. I made an open grid and photocopied the blank sheet and wrote in the menus, which were then put on the refrigerator door. Basically, we had a list of "acceptable" breakfast choices, and they could choose based on preference or available time. Lunches were either sandwiches (at home or sack lunch to school), or leftovers from dinner. (No hot lunches at my house, unless they were heated up leftovers or soup was included.)

Dinners were always one protein, two vegetables or veg and fruit and occasionally a grain, usually brown or wild rice. They had whole wheat bread for sandwiches and oatmeal or whole grain cereal for breakfast if they were eating fast.

Salads at least three times per week, no funky veg like parsnips or turnips. We had meat of some sort 5 days out of seven ( no one in our family eats fish or seafood). It was easy to plug in the veg and fruit.

Snacks-- there was a list of acceptable snacks on the schedule as well, and we kept celery sticks, carrots, raisins, mozzarella sticks and cookies on hand for that.

On Friday nights we almost always ordered pizza and the entire neighborhood of kids came over to share it. The older kids brought out all our skateboard ramps from the garage and set them up on the driveway and they all ate and skateboarded outside until it was dark. Sundays after church we usually went out to dinner (lunch) and had potluck Sunday night.

We did this for years and years. I always felt more in control of the process when I planned meals in advance. Whenever anybody asked what was for dinner the answer was always "check the schedule."

In our house, meal planning consisted of Dad bought the groceries and we ate whatever was on sale, and the veggies we ate were what was in season in the garden...

I think the essential thing, especially with kids that age is keep it simple.

One thing that helps for lunches and snacks, if there are any baked goods or prepared items, prepare them (or have them prepared) early in the week to be picked from as needed. If I make a pan of almond butter brownies, I immediately set aside (into the freezer) those that I want saved for later. Or plan to have something to go with crudites every week (tofu-based ranch dip or a white bean dip). Have all the vegetables cut up for the week and ready to serve.

Many kids like repetition, so this should help things out. Here, lunch for the kids is usually sandwiches with seasonal fruit or raw veggies. For hubby and I, there are things prepared early in the week to pick from for lunch, this week it is kale salad, corn and tomato caprese salad and white bean dip. Leftovers are generally not an option here (my kids are 15, 12, 9 and 6).

One idea for snacks that I have seen and like is filling up a muffin tin with a variety of acceptable foods, veggies, nuts, cheese, etc and allowing the kids to pick and choose from there. You could develop a list of acceptable fillers that you keep stocked in the house that people can easily choose from, the only caveat is not to refill certain favorites too quickly or the others will never get eaten.

I just wanted to say to any moms, from 1st grade through 5th, I ate a p& j sandwich everyday, occasionally ham, and a "snack" ( little package of chips or a Little Debbie), a thermos of milk, and a piece of fruit and never craved variety. I probably had 5 school lunch meals during that time and still remember some of them.

Now, so many decades later, where meals are wildly varied, I still remember the security and dependableness of my unvarying lunchbox.

Bumble, so many schools have completely banned peanut butter or any peanut products. Very different times! Luckily our school district still allows it but they have to eat it at a peanut safe table!

Bumble, my kids basically eat the same thing for lunch every day. I always think they must be sick of the same thing but when I suggest to change it up, they don't want to. My oldest eats a turkey sandwich with lettuce (no mayo, no mustard) with fruit, pretzels and water every single day. My others pretty much eat turkey, tuna or pb&j every day. None like ham, roast beef or any other lunch meat (fine by me since most have nitrates and I get turkey w/o nitrates). Every once in a while there will be leftover pizza or some other dinner leftover that one wants to bring for lunch, but for the most part, same thing! Sometimes if Out of lunch meat I'll send yogurt, cheese/crackers. And each prefer different bread! Oldest likes pane bread from trader joes, boys like Arnold 100% whole wheat, youngest has preference depending on whether it's tuna, pb&j or turkey! I'm sick in bed this morning so dh was on lunch duty. I had to give him specific instructions on who likes what, which fruit to give which kid, etc. LOL

When I was a kid I had baloney with mustard every day. I don't think I've had a baloney sandwich since. Yuck! Im fact, I don't really like lunch meat at all (ever since working in a pizza/Italian restaurant and having to slice deli meats--gross!!!!).

This has been very interesting. I couldnt imagine giving them the same thing every lunch, but it makes sense. I think I did the same thing but with junk when I wa sin school. we didnt bring lunch when I was growing up.

When DS1 was going to preschool 5 hours a day we usually packed a water, a veggie (tomato, cucumber, pepper, or carrot) a fruit (a few strawberries, some melon, a cut up apple or plum, a mini corn muffin or some crackers, and a cheese stick or hard boiled egg, or a couple of " chicken " nuggets - that were from Dr preagers) He usually ate most of his lunch and what he didnt eat he had as a snack when he came home. We had little containers that were washed every night and fit in his lunch box. There are no nuts of any kind allowed in his school so not even almond butter or casher butter. I think there is a higher percentage of food allergies in a special ed school, or at least that is what they told us.

This year we dont have to pack a lunch, he will eat it at home.

I found this format on line that I like.

I think I will start with that for now I think. I do like keeping lists on paper (writing them) but stuff like this for some reason I like on the computer. I will give it a shot in Excel or a Word table and see how it goes.

I have procrastinated long enough on this. :)

It is good to hear what others do and I appreciate your feedback and thoughts. I was thinking they had to eat the same thing, or I should push that, but maybe that is not the right answer.I have to think about that.

Haven't seen one in a long time, but I thought family circle and/or woman's day had a month long meal planner in every issue....at least they did in the old days.