Menu Plan Monday

One of my 2010 resolutions is to become more organised. As a mum of four little ones, I'm often told, "I don't know how you do it". To be honest, I don't know how I do it either sometimes, but something I have learned is that being organised makes a big difference! Whilst my basic organisation skills are not bad, I know there is a lot of room for improvement. My entire house needs a complete overhaul, which is going to take a lot of time, so I have decided to focus on one area at a time.

The first area I have decided to focus on is my kitchen. My kitchen always looked dirty, even when there were no dirty dishes on the bench. Last week I realised that the reason it always looked dirty was because I had permanent "stuff" on the benchtop (e.g. fruit bowl, coffee jar, plastic drink bottles and containers that I'd been too lazy to put away, etc) and windowsill (e.g. paint brushes, empty vases, etc). So last week I removed all of the clutter, and am exercising a more disciplined attitude towards keeping it clean. This is just the first step, and even though it is a small one, it has already made a big difference to my state of mind. I don't feel embarrassed when I walk into the kitchen anymore!

The next step in my kitchen overhaul is menu planning. There are 3 main reasons why I want to plan a weekly menu:

1. Our family does not eat a lot of meat, so I am always mindful of cooking meals using variety of ingredients in order to meet our nutritional needs.
2. I want to reduce wastage and eliminate the need to go to the supermarket every day or two by purchasing only what we need for the week.
3. I find having to decide on what to cook for dinner every day quite stressful and end up cooking the same things every week (I guess you could say I'm in a mealtime rut!)

For these reasons, I have decided to join Laura at orgjunkie.com's Menu Plan Mondays.

So here is my first menu plan:
Monday: Salmon sushi rolls
Tuesday: Spinach and sweet potato cannelloni
Wednesday: Healthy meatloaf
Thursday: Vegetable frittata
Friday: Chicken Tikka Masala (will just use a ready-made sauce for this and serve with some Jasmine rice)
Saturday: To be decided - my husband's turn to cook!
Sunday: Corn, bacon & zucchini soup

So now I have officially committed to menu planning! Next step in my kitchen overhaul - tidying up the cupboards and drawers...arghhh!

I would love to hear any tips from any of those of you out there who have done something similar.