Meal Planning

When I made my kitchen command center, I had the intention of using part of it for keeping track of and planning my dinners.   At first I just printed out my meals and slipped that paper into the command center.  

But I didn't know where at on the list I was, so I needed a better solution.  And remember it had to be something flexible since we usually have leftovers for the next night so Monday's aren't always Pasta Night. 

So here's what I came up with:

I know it doesn't look much different, but it is making a big difference in planning my meals.

First I took some clothes pins 

and spray painted them black using the same black spray paint I used in this project and this project.
I decided on black so it would match the color of the frame for the command center.

I printed out what I wanted to say on each clothespin (tonight, leftovers, upcoming) and mod-podged it on.

Now we know what is for dinner tonight, what leftovers we need to eat up and what meals are coming up.

As for the meals themselves, I just printed them off on scrapbook paper

Glued them onto another piece of scrapbook paper and used contact paper to make them more durable.

They fit in the clothespins like so

When I'm not using a particular dinner, I store it in my recipe box which is organized by type of dinner (pasta, chicken, meat, other) so I can easily find the dinner label and recipe card.  

I used hot glue to glue the clothespins onto the frame of the command center.  I wasn't sure if this would hold, but I've been using this for about 2 weeks and so far so good.

 So I just figure out what meals we are having, pull them out of the recipe box and stick them into the clothespins.  I can tell where I'm at on the dinner plan menu (list of meals) based on what tonight's dinner is and what's upcoming.

It's simple and easy to use.  I'm able to plan dinners in advance and it let's my family know what's for dinner and what's coming up.   I used the term upcoming rather than tomorrow or Monday, Tuesday... so it would be flexible enough to fit our needs.
 

Like I said, I've been using this for the past two weeks and it's worked out great.

Anyone else have a solution to their meal planning?

I'm submitting this idea to

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Christa