Let's Eat Workshop- Week 2 of 5

Week Two: Making a Menu Display 

Ok, now that you have committed yourself to either start menu planning or to become better at it, its time to think of a way to display your menu. Let me tell you why I think having an actual board to display your menu is absolutely necessary:

• It will help you stick to your plans a bit easier. When I get up in the morning, I am greeted by my menu board, reminding me I may need to take the meat out of the freezer or get everything thrown into the crockpot before I leave the house or whatever. I can look at my menu and think, "There is no way I am going to have time to make Wednesday's meal today- I need to switch it out with Friday's meal!" Because my meals are all in plain sight, adjusting is easier and I have time to make adjustments.
• That scrap piece of paper you made your menu and grocery list on is fine temporarily, but it is more likely to become lost! Display your menu in a permanent location and you won't spend time digging in your purse to find out what your dinner plans are.What is the point in planning a menu if you can't remember what you planned?!
• Planning and displaying your menu should hopefully eliminate the question "What's for dinner" from your housemates... at least the ones who can read anyway!
• Even if you aren't that great at menu planning, people will think you are! Let's be honest, it looks totally domestic and it will impress people!

There are a bazillion ideas floating around of ways to display your menu. I will show you my board, then feature some I found online that I think are way cool! 

Here is what my menu board looks like:

This menu board was given to me by my SIL for Christmas one year and I love it! It is simply a smooth tile on a pretty iron easel with some vinyl lettering on it. Before I had this, I just used a magnetic dry erase board stuck to my fridge- which is fine, but this is so much prettier!

When I am on top of things, I plan for 2 weeks and I put my meals in 2 columns.

I posted tips about how to make your own Tile Menu Board HERE.

Here are some more ideas!

All Things Beautiful covered a cork board with some fabric, painted the frame red, and added some ribbon and clips to hold her meal ideas and recipe cards. I love this!

Chalkboard Ideas:

- Cover the frame of a chalkboard you buy with some scrapbook paper and and hang it.

- Paint your own plaque with chalkboard paint. If your plaque is magnetic, add some cute magnets!

Glass Frames can be used as Dry Erase Boards. Here are some of those ideas:

Put some burlap and fun cutouts behind the glass

Make a printout and only print it once.

Use some scrapbook paper and ribbon

Find a 3 opening frame and use it for all 3 meals of the day

I also thought this was a great idea if you still want to keep your menu hidden. 

Add some cork squares to the inside of a cupboard!

Its still a permanent location, and it is still organized. I like this a lot. 

And I thought it would look even better if you used any of these darling (FREE) printouts and tacked them onto that cork:

 The Project Girl Meal Planning Form (she has a couple options that you might want to check out!)

Queen of the Castle Meal Planner (now blogging at ShayBocks.com) also has a matching grocery list that I love! 

A Feathered Nest Grocery/Menu List

YOUR ASSIGNMENT FOR THE WEEK: 

Make or print a menu display! 

Leave a comment with a link to your display or tell us what you are using.

NEXT WEEK'S DISCUSSION: 

Easy Menu Planning with Themes. (This will make you meal planning easier, I promise!)