One of my goals for this year was to get more organized and make our regular household duties more efficient. Awhile back we got into the habit of planning out our meals for the week on Saturday mornings so that we could make sure we picked up everything we needed during our weekly grocery store trip. In theory, this sounds like a great idea. Everything would be planned out for the week. We’d pick out a few of the enticing recipes I have saved on my Pinterest boards and add all of the necessary ingredients to our shopping list.

In reality, this meal planning would typically take place while the 4 of us gathered around the table for breakfast. Hubby and I would suggest meal ideas while trying to be heard over one child belting out her favorite Disney song and the other running to the drawer to get her third fork of the morning because she’d already dropped 2 on the floor. In the midst of all this chaos, we usually managed to get the ingredients for main courses jotted down, but often fell short of including side dishes. And quite honestly, when it came time to prepare the meals, by the time the workday was over and I had taken an hour to drive home and pick up the girls, half the time I couldn’t remember what meals we had picked out!

This was a great start to getting organized, but I knew we could do better.  I decided we needed a weekly menu board! That way when we do our menu planning, we can write down what we’re having on each day, including sides, plan for leftovers, and easily keep track of how many meals we need to buy. Having a daily reminder of what’s for dinner also takes a little pressure off this mom brain!

We recently updated our kitchen in a farmhouse style. I knew I wanted my menu board to not only be functional, but also to complement my kitchen decor.

Using these gorgeous watercolor flowers from the Fox + Hazel website, I created this floral and watercolor lettering menu design. I printed my design on a letter size piece of cardstock. Then I found the perfect frame at Target. I love how the metal and wood combo gives it a rustic touch. Since the frame holds an 8×10 picture, I had to trim my print down slightly to fit.

 

Finally, I picked up this pack of magnetic dry erase markers. These make it so easy to jot down our menu on the picture frame glass and wipe it cleanly away. And the fact that I can stash them away on the side of the fridge for easy access is an added bonus!

Since the picture frame I chose is a wall mounting design, we could hang the menu board up in the kitchen. However, I ended up leaning ours up against the backsplash. I like the contrast of the wood on our subway tiles and the florals add a pop of color to our white kitchen.

Could your meal planning use a boost? Sign up below to access my exclusive printables library and download this weekly menu board design.  And just because I loved how this one turned out, I created 3 other designs for you to try out!

 

 

Now all that’s left to do is figure out what’s for dinner!

I’d love to see how you use your menu board. Be sure to post a picture on Instagram and tag me at @the_northern_creative