I like being spontaneous in my personal life events. And the same thing holds good for my wife as well!

Great mind think alike (I hope my wife is reading this)!

I feel one of the most daunting tasks every day is getting our children ready for the school. For the most part, the primary responsibility is assumed to be with the mother, at least in this part of the world!

During last two academic years, my two children had the same school start time. Every morning, one could have easily noticed the vibrant atmosphere at our home. Though my assistance was restricted to few small tasks (but critical :-)), many times I wished I had the power to become invisible.

One of the common sources of conflict was the daily menu for the kids! There seemed two major issues;

  • The kids did not like the menu as mostly they did not finished eating what was packed for them
  • The planning window was limited to just one day – mostly the previous night my wife would decide what would be made the next day

As said earlier, I prefer not to apply management techniques at home. This time I thought I should try planning a monthly menu that address the two major issues as cited above.

The challenge was nobody believed it would work! Being honest, anybody included me.

The planning required the key stakeholders my wife, our two children (one aged about 7 years and the other aged about 5 years) and I.

All agreed to participate. The key stakeholder (the executioner), my wife was reluctant initially but later agreed to spend some time in the planning process. I had downloaded a sample excel based monthly menu planner from a website. With some tweaks it was ready to be used for our planning. You could create your own. Even better, buy pre-printed monthly calendars from nearest stationary stores.

We spent about 30 minutes collecting and discussing the stakeholder requirements and we were able to prepare a menu for the entire month (May, 2013).

Stakeholder approval was obtained and the final plan was printed and pinned in a place where all stakeholders could see the menu plan. The image in the article is a snapshot of our monthly menu plan.

Sample May 2013 Menu Plan

The plan was successful! It was executed really well! And, what’s more I saw my wife spending time reading magazines. She could find some time for herself! The kids were happy with the menu (as we had their buy-in during the planning stage). The month was more predictable and had a greater window of visibility in terms of grocery and vegetable purchases. The plan also reduced “what to prepare?” stress.

I was happy to see that planning works!

This article is a dedicated to my mother, my wife and all mothers who undergo the stress of daily menu. It isnt’t easy to satisfy all the stakeholders at home! You guys rock!

Do not forget to obtain the stakeholder buy-in by involving them in the planning process. The plan would also increase the window of visibility and would certainly help reduce some stress and give additional time for self :-).

Author: Raghuraman Kadambi

PMI Bangalore Chapter: https://www.pmibangalorechapter.com/index.php/the-monthly-pm-article-menu-planning 

Template credit: Simple and customizable excel template – http://www.vertex42.com/calendars/monthly-planner.html 

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