If you have ever read my meal planning made easy post, you know that I dread meal planning and frankly, I suck at it. However, thanks to eMeals *, I no longer have to worry about it, but sometimes we do not want to try something new. We want an old favorite meal and so, I created our Favorite Family Recipe Binder where I keep all our favorite recipes along with our weekly meal plan.
I no longer print off every meal plan that eMeals send me. I store them in my email folder labeled “eMeals” and whenever it is time to make my grocery list, I go through my current plan and pick what we want. I then fill in any blank spots in our meal plan from our favorites.
I keep a list of our top ten favorite meals at the front of our binder so if I’m having a lazy week or just need to add something quick to our meal plan, I have a list of recipes that we love already at my disposal. (I do not keep the recipes on this sheet only because I know the recipes off the top of my head and I only follow a recipe to a “T” when I first make it.)
Our family favorites are:
Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Casserole
Mushroom Pasta (this is just rigatoni noodles sautéed with garlic and mushrooms, seasoned with salt, pepper, and topped with parmesan cheese. Super easy.)
Tacos
Kielbasa Pasta (kielbasa sausage, noodles, bell peppers, onions, and garlic all sautéed together and seasoned with salt and pepper.)
Summer Gazpacho (super frugal if you have a garden)
Copycat Olive Garden’s Toscana Zuppa
Chicken and Corn Chowder
Steak and Potatoes (the type of potatoes depends on my mood and what potatoes we already have on hand.)
Slow cooker chicken & dumplings
Macaroni Casserole (great dish to make to use up leftovers)
Behind our top ten favorites are some of our weekly meal plans from eMeals that have recipes that we have loved. I simply highlight or circle our favorite recipes from those meal plans so I can view them quickly to decide if I want to make them that week.
This is just my simple and quick way to keep myself organize but also happy when it comes to meal planning. I love the eMeals * just sends me my meal plan every week but sometimes an ol’ favorite is the only thing that will do.
Download your free “What’s for Dinner” and “Our Family Favorites” printables here.
Try eMeals for free for two weeks here.
Do you keep a family favorite recipe binder?
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Ronnica, Striving Stewardess says
I need to do something like this (just for me). I’m starting to struggle to put together meals. I also want to eat healthier, so being prepared will help.
Jessi says
This seriously saves my sanity when I’m having “one of those weeks” and I try to keep the ingredients for our favorite meals on hand so I can make them quickly if I get sick. 🙂
Amy @ DebtGal says
This is a great idea!! When I sit down to put together my meal plan every week – something I pretty much dread -I’m always wondering what I did with that recipe we really liked, or forgetting about it altogether! This system would be a huge help with that – thank you!
Jessi says
You’re super welcome Amy! 🙂
Cat W. says
The Top 10 with ingredient list is genius! I have a ‘recipe repertoire’ of tried-and-true stuff hand-written into the front of my recipe binder, but I’ve hardly used it lately. Top 10 would make more sense. Thank you!
Samara Thiessen says
This is amazing! You are seriously one of the most organized people I have seen. I have the HARDEST time planning my meals because I never know what I am going to eat, or what I will want that week. I love your chart at the beginning that lists all the favourites etc. Great idea!!
Jessi says
Thank you Samara – this was created after several failed attempts at making a recipe binder and meal planning work for me. :-/