Tip: Menu in a Box is an excellent way to save time as you let someone else do the hard work and plan your menus for you.

Ethnic Foods
Plan one day of each week to have food from a certain country or culture. For example, every Tuesday for the month could be Mexican food night, and Saturdays could be Chinese night. Narrow down what types of food your family will eat on certain days of the week, and you will think of three or four possibilities your family will like within that type of food for the month.

Base it on an Ingredient
Plan one meal a week to have a certain basic ingredient in it. For example, pasta could be included in at least one meal a week. You will be able to purchase the item in bulk to last for the month, and it will not spoil before a month is up.

Plan Out of Season
Even if it is 30 degrees outside, some meals during the month could be served cold to vary up the copious amount of warm comfort food your family will be taking in. Pasta salads, sub sandwiches, and stuffed pita bread sandwiches are a few ideas for changing things up in the winter. An occasional bowl of warm soup in the summer is good as well.

Find Meal Ideas Online
Online cooking and recipe sites abound. Find a few recipes your family will enjoy by searching one site for meals based on a certain ingredient, such as chicken or beef. Print a few of these out to vary up the weekly staples your family eats every month.
Plan smart, not hard when it comes to making a monthly menu plan. Include a few unusual items to keep your family guessing what is for dinner. Leave yourself a little wiggle room by having a night or two of dinners that include leftovers as well if you do not have time to cook.

Sample 10-day dinner menu:

~ The Essential Gluten Free Guide: Peter Tremayne shows you how to live well without gluten and its painful side effects. He shares recipes, guidelines, and health information from experts.

~In Fun with Gluten-Free & Low Glycemic Food by Debbie Johnson, best-selling author of Think Yourself Thin, shares ALL of her gluten-free, diabetic-friendly recipes with you. She developed the recipes over several decades of dedicated work to insure flavor, originality and best of all, simplicity.

Gluten Free Goddess: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

This colorful blog contains dozens of great gluten free recipes. It details different recipes and includes photographs of the resulting meal. Choose from different types of gluten free meals such as appetizers to help you quickly find the recipe you want. Check out the author’s resources for eating gluten free as well.
Carol Fenster’s Savory Plate, Inc.: http://www.savorypalate.com/recipes.aspx
This site includes photographs of several gluten free recipes. Click on the photograph of the recipe to see the recipe and print it out. This site also includes a guide to living without gluten in your diet.
All Recipe’s Gluten Free Collection
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Healthy-Cooking/Gluten-Free/Main.aspx
Find the type of gluten free recipe you want by browsing through different recipe categories on this site. Check out users’ reviews of individual recipes and the star rating of each recipe. This site also contains articles specific to gluten free living that can help you learn how to cook better with gluten free ingredients.
Recipezaar’s Gluten Free Recipes: http://www.food.com/recipes/gluten-free
Recipezaar’s site contains enticing photographs of gluten free recipes. Browse recipes that contain five or less ingredients to help speed up your cooking on nights you have little time to prepare dinner.
Gluten Free Mommy: http://glutenfreemommy.com/gluten-free-menu-swap/
Gluten Free Mommy’s blog includes dozens of gluten free recipes, photographs, and blog entries about making them. This site also includes a recipe swap program. Recipes on this page are geared toward families eating gluten free.
These are just a few of the many websites and blogs that offer gluten free recipes. Sample a few of them, or become a devoted follower of one or two. Take advantage of the recipes rolling out daily to help your family eat gluten-free.