July 8th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

We had gotten into a serious rut lately. I still use and enjoy my meal planner, but I only use that for dinners. That left breakfast, lunch, and two snacks a day up to my imaginative (or non-imaginative) last minute creations.

In other words, we were eating a lot of cereal and toast for breakfast, an obscene amount of peanut butter and jelly for lunches, and we could have taken out stock in Aldi’s graham crackers for snacks.

I had good intentions, I really did. Somehow lunchtime would sneak up on me and I would default back to PB&J. Or I would be in the middle of something consuming and the kids would remind me that it was snack time… and in the heat of an apparently starving 1 year old and anxious 3 year old that we not miss the ever-important snack time, I would grab those stand-by crackers.

So, I decided it was time to sit down and make a breakfast, lunch, and snacks meal plan. The thing is, if I have to plan all those things out for every day in addition to dinners before I go shopping… come on, that’s a drag!

The solution: cafeteria-style rotating menu plans!

I made three master menus. I tried to limit myself to one form of PB&J per week, and I even added in some non-cereal breakfast foods! My plan is to rotate through the three weeks, and it will give us enough variety that we won’t feel like we’re stuck in menu-plan Groundhog Day.

Although, I think AG isn’t sure about this new plan. She, for one, LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and could eat toast with said peanut butter and jelly every day for breakfast. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that’s an appropriately varied diet… even if it is whole wheat bread with all natural fresh-ground peanut butter and freezer jam I made myself. :)

This is working for me!