Menu Planner Board

I am bound and determined to get the meal planning situation under better control in our house!  I have organized my pantry, linen closets, laundry room, and have saved the hardest thing for me for last!  Thanks to my sister's encouragement, adorable supplies at Michael's, and some great inspiration on Pinterest, I was able to dive in and get something on my kitchen wall to help with the weekly meals today!

Here's the board I came up with inspired from this website here:

For the actual board, I found this adorable framed denim chalkboard at Michaels (50% off!!) and hot-glued decorative clothes pins (dollar bin section) and an office clip magnet on the chalkboard surface.  Then I stamped the first letter of the day of the week in black ink using a keyboard font stamp from my stash and then punched it out with a 3/4 " round punch.  These I hot-glued to the clothes pins.  Then I stamped "the good stuff" stamp in black ink on the frame and distressed the denim and white frame using Desert Sand ink (CTMH) and white paint.  I added the words "yum" and "done" with a black Sharpie on the denim pockets.  The rope hanger was already on the frame and up it went on my kitchen wall facing my pantry!

For the meals ideas, I cut 1" x 3 1/2" colored cardstock strips and wrote our favorite meal items on each strip with a Sharpie or chalkboard marker.  I tried to keep it color-coded to ensure some variety during the week. (white--pasta; gray--meatless; tan--chicken; black--seafood; brown--beef/pork).  I might add crock pot or soups on another color later.  I plan to place our favorite meal strips in the left-hand denim pocket ("yum") and then when we are finished with the meal ideas for the week, place them in the right-hand denim pocket ("done") to prevent frequent repeats.  I also plan to clip up the week's recipes if I need them for reference, as well.

I will check back in a bit to let you know how this system really works out for us!  I must say, it makes me feel a bit better about things already :)