A final improvement to my homemaking binder this year was made in light of the fact that I am a horribly awful, no-good, rotten, meal planner. Meat for dinner is usually defrosted in the microwave an hour before dinner after begging everyone to come to a consensus on what I should prepare. The larger our family grows, the more difficult this becomes. By the time dinner is finally chosen and prepared, everyone is usually "starving to death." I've made a year long menu plan, but I struggle with not being in the mood for what is scheduled. You can imagine how bad that gets when I'm pregnant!

And for every bit of a lousy dinner-planner that I am, I'm even worse at breakfast! After all, I haven't had the last 12 hours to think about it- or bug anyone else to do my job for me. It's far too often that my last words to my husband before going to sleep are, "What do you want for breakfast?" Pathetic!

Recognizing this shortcoming, I've purposed to improve my preparations for mealtime by making a commitment to each day's menu the day before. 

I've painted a magnetic sheet with chalkboard paint and placed it on the refrigerator and every evening after dishes, I'll write the breakfast and dinner menu for the following day. The second bird killed by this stone is the never ending, "What's for dinner?" question.


But I also need to plan breakfast better if I'm to kick the cold cereal habit for good. I made a commitment to stop eating cold cereal for breakfast just before I became pregnant with my last baby, Rebekah, and because I had no plan, we quickly slumped back into our old routine. I've been much more diligent about serving a real breakfast over the last couple months and haven't purchased cereal in all that time- a huge savings to my grocery bill! $14 per week- That's over $700 per year!

To help with my weekly menu planning, I've devised a list of our most common breakfasts and a plan of how frequently we'll be eating them. On menu planning day, I'll simply choose the correct amount from each category on the list.

Sounds simple enough to me and I hope that it makes a drastic improvement in my meal planning. I'm cautiously optimistic. So far, I'm delighted with the way that it's working out and on the evening or two since implementing the plan that I've deviated from it, the frustration has been particularly convicting causing me to redouble my efforts.

The categories are Cereals Etc... wherein is the dreaded oatmeal. I've improved the mixture tremendously over the last couple months (ie. when I started to eat it myself). It's gourmet now and about 75% of it is making it down; Meat & Eggs- everyone's favorite category, they'd eat Sausage Gravy & Biscuits every day if I made it; Quick Breads and Muffins; and finally Sweets- my way of saying, "Thank you for eating 75% of your oatmeal this week.



Cereals Etc...


(Twice A Week)
Amish Bake Oatmeal
Apple Cinnamon Pecan Oatmeal
Cracked Wheat
Oats & Honey Granola
Peaches & Cream Yogurt
Toast
Yogurt & Granola

Meat & Eggs


(Three Times A Week)
Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuits
Baked Eggs & Bacon
Ham & Biscuits with Fried Apples
Hard Boiled Eggs
Migas
Potato, Bacon, Egg Scramble
Sausage Egg & Cheese Biscuits
Sausage Gravy & Biscuits
Scrambled Eggs
Toad In A Hole

Quick Breads & Muffins


(Once A Week)
Banana Nut Bread
Blueberry Muffins
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Cornbread Muffins
Mulberry Muffins
Peach Muffins
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins
Pumpkin Nut Bread
Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins
Sourdough Zucchini Muffins
Strawberry Streusel Muffins
Whole Wheat
Zucchini Bread

Sweets


(Once A Week)
Apple Coffee Cake
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Cinnamon Rolls
French Toast
Kolach
Moscow Ponchiki
Pancakes-Banana Pecan, Blueberry, Buttermilk, Fried Apples, Gingerbread, Toasted Pecan, Pumpkin
Waffles


I'd love new ideas for additions! What is your favorite breakfast?