January 2013 Menu Plan

I can’t believe there are just two days left in 2012! Where did the year go?

It’s true what Erma Bombeck said – the days are long, but the years are short!

Anyway, I just hammered out my family’s menu plan for January 2013. At many of your requests, I have included breakfasts and lunches – breakfast is in blue and lunch is orange. Dinners are black, except where hyperlinked.

In an effort to re-jumpstart my weight loss (it’s winter and I’ve been stuck for the last five weeks without any weight loss), I have decided that I will drink a smoothie for breakfast and eat a salad for lunch every day in January (except for Shabbat).

I’ll eat dinner with my family – and do my best to keep my portion sizes under control. You will see that I have included options for my kids, if they don’t want to eat what I’m eating.

For those of you who are curious about monthly menu planning, I keep it manageable by doing two things:

  • Repeating plans every other or every third week (no need to reinvent the wheel!)
  • Using “themes” for each day of the week. Here are our themes for January:
    • Sunday – Leftovers from Shabbat
    • Monday – Italian (these are all freezer-friendly recipes, which I’ll be making today and tomorrow)
    • Tuesday – Vegetarian Slow Cooker
    • Wednesday – Fish / Steaming
    • Thursday – Pizza Night

To download or print my January menu plan for yourself, just click HERE – it will open in a new window.

Or, if you want to plan your own menu, feel free to download this blank January menu planning calendar.

What’s going to be on your menu for January 2013?

Comments

  1. So Mara, your menu looks amazing. Does everyone in your family eat everything on your menu? In my family, 2 won’t eat oatmeal, 2 won’t eat salmon, 1 won’t eat veggies burgers, etc… you get the idea. I wind up serving the same 4 things over and over so everyone will eat.

    How do you handle picky eaters?

  2. Wow! You are so organized! What kind of smoothies do you make for yourself for breakfast? I’d love to start that!

    • I love either frozen berry and banana with some almond milk, or my favorite is carrots, an orange and frozen mango slices (also with some almond milk) – it tastes like a creamsicle!

  3. I love your blog. This post inspired me to start menu planning and sharing with a group of friends. Thanks!

  4. what does (F) mean?

  5. I was also wondering what (F) means on the menu.

    • Oh – sorry I didn’t respond to that one sooner. (F) means Freezer – as in those the meals I’m freezer cooking this month.

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