January Menu Plan!

For the past few months, I've decided to tackle a whole month of menu planning at once.  Some times I go through and organize my ingredients to buy into several lists: I'll compile everything that's non-perishable and/or can last all month into one list and do one massive shopping trip at the beginning of the month.  I'll buy all my meats, canned goods, boxed pastas, etc, plus whatever fresh veg will last (like a bag of onions or potatoes will keep in the pantry for the full month) AND whatever fresh ingredients are needed for the current week.  Then I create several more weekly lists with the fresh ingredients that are needed each week that I can't buy ahead and also fill it with my weekly staples (milk, coffee creamer, snacks for the kids, lunch items, breakfast things, etc) and do weekly smaller trips until the next month.  While I'm excited our new house actually has a pantry, it's a pretty small one so doing the big monthly trip makes things tight in there at first.  Usually I just shop week to week.  If the apocalypse ever hit on a Saturday afternoon, we'd be fairly well screwed as my shopping day is Monday...

To make things easier for myself, I have theme days.  These change sometimes but mostly they are:
Meatless Monday - whatever I make that day is vegetarian-like
Taco Tuesday - Mexican inspired meals this day
Whatever Wednesday - Asian and Italian usually rule this day
Sandwich Thursday - like the name implies, our dinners on Thursday are some sort of sandwich (this used to be Thrifty Thursday and we'd eat leftovers)
Pizza Friday - we do a family movie night every Friday and order a pizza.  Starting January, we'll be making our pizza's as I've challenged the fam to NO EATING OUT (as best we can) for the month of January
Slow Cooker Saturday - whatever can be made in the crock pot or Instant Pot wins this day
Leftover Sunday - if there's leftovers, we'll eat them this day.  It seems like there's always a day a week we miss making dinner, so we'll make it on Sunday instead.  If nothing else, this is a forage the fridge/freezer day and see what we can make.

I used a couple of tools to menu plan.  The biggest one I use is Cozi.  This app (desktop and mobile) is free (although I have the premium version) and contains my life.  It has all my recipes, my menu plan, my shopping lists, my calendar, my to do lists, etc.  I love it because my husband uses the same log in and has access to everything as well.  If either of us add an appointment, the other gets a notification that it's on there.  Along with that, I like to write things out so I use a page from my Happy Planner to list out the month of food (above).  Then I can tack this on the fridge and have a quick glance at it in the morning when I'm getting the fam ready for the day.  I also try to plan out my sides (some times I do this for the month, sometimes I do it the week I go shopping for those foods).  I usually try to have 3 things on the plate (I have NO idea why, I just do): the main dish, some sort of vegetable side, and something else (a fruit, another veggie, a carby/starchy thing).

Without further ado, here is the proposed January Menu (linked where applicable):
M, Dec 31: Black Bean Quesadillas, salad, Mexican rice
T, Jan 1: Beef & Bean Burritos, salad, corn
W, Jan 2: Chicken & Wine Sauce, salad
T, Jan 3: Hawaiian Teriyaki Burgers, salad, baked beans
F, Jan 4: pizza
S, Jan 5: Beef & Barley soup, biscuits
S, Jan 6th: Leftovers

M, Jan 7th: Cheesy Broccoli Casserole, salad
T, Jan 8th: Tortilla Soup, corn muffins
W, Jan 9th: Slow Roasted Filet of Beef, brussels sprouts, salad
T, Jan 10th: Southern Style Pulled Pork, corn, salad
F, Jan 11th: pizza
S, Jan 12th:
S, Jan 13th: Leftovers

M, Jan 14th: Ravioli, french bread, Cesar salad kit
T, Jan 15th: Fajitas, salad, refried beans or Mexican rice
W, Jan 16th: Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry, rice, steamed broccoli
T, Jan 17th: Hoagies, chips, salad
F, Jan 18th: Camping - menu TBD
S, Jan 19th: Camping - menu TBD
S, Jan 20th: Camping - menu TBD

M, Jan 21st: Black Bean Soup, corn muffins
T, Jan 22nd: Taco Soup, fruit salad
W, Jan 23rd: Fettuccine Alfredo, steamed broccoli, bread
T, Jan 24th: Grilled Cheeses, tomato soup
F, Jan 25th: Pizza
S, Jan 26th: Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki, rice, steamed broccoli/carrots
S, Jan 27th: Leftovers

M, Jan 28th: Stuffed Shells, french bread, Cesar salad
T, Jan 29th: Enchilada Roll Ups, salad, refried beans
W, Jan 30th: Asian Edamame Fried Rice, potstickers, steamed broccoli
T, Jan 31st: Kalua Pork (on a bun), coleslaw, salad
F, Feb 1: Pizza
S, Feb 2: Santa Fe Rice & Beans, rice, fruit salad
S, Feb 3: Leftovers

How do you menu plan?  Do you menu plan?  Let me know what you're cooking this week (or month!).  :)

xoxo,
Sarah