Our Serving Of Insanity: La Menu de los Castros

A little over a year ago, I found the most amazing thing at Target (I think). It was inexpensive and perfect for what we needed. It was a dry erase menu board, with magnets on the back, and an area for a shopping list. Plus, it was super cute with teal and orange swirlies. I fell in love.

So, we have used it for the last year or more, week by week, to plan our meals. Throughout that time, I began to think about it's shortcomings. We rarely need to plan lunch throughout the week because the kids are at school or the sitter's house. When we change our plan last minute, it's hard to erase just one small area. If someone walks too closely and slides across it, our menu is gone.

Then I saw some blogs about menu boards. Like this one. And this one. And I follow and love this blog...so ultimately this one gave me the idea...

Last week, I sprung the idea on Jose and then we decided to make it while the kids were at my moms. We had a whiteboard hung in the kitchen that was used for a to do list, but was rarely updated. By chance, we figured out that it was magnetic. So, we took a trip to the dollar store (stones) and Walmart (magnets).

First, we made a ginormous list of foods that we love...both main dishes and sides. We included desserts too! (Ya can't forget dessert!!!) Then, we used the larger round stones for main dishes. Cut the paper to fit the back, write/draw what it is, elmers glue, let it dry, then add magnets to the back. Super simple. We used the smaller oval stones for side dishes. Same process.

My photo isn't the best quality, but you get the idea.

And, T, do you see what we're having tonight?

Then, we did a trial run with the whiteboard. We waited a few days to see how it held up, if the magnets fell off, if the board fell off the wall, what size squares we needed, etc. Then, last night, I decided to paint the board. I got out my acrylics and finished up just before dinner. I snapped this photo as it was drying.

After dinner, I grabbed it to write the names of the days on. That's when I learned that acrylic paint and whiteboards aren't really that good together. The kids enjoyed spending the next chunk of time with me, peeling the paint from the entire board. That's when we decided to allow a slightly more ghetto approach: permenant marker. So, I colored the board with red and black markers. And the result was a little less pretty, but much more functional. And, viola!

The bottom area, is where we can stick recipes or notes to the board. The panel on the right side is a shopping list area to use dry erase markers. Plus, we made 2 Saturday's and 2 Sunday's - one for lunch and one for dinner.

We love the flexibility to switch things around, to have a reminder of things that aren't the same ole' foods, and to have an entire months worth of meals planned. We have another junkier board where the extra foods are chilling right now, but I think I'm going to convince Jose to buy a strip of flashing to hang on the wall and use it to keep them. Plus, we have enough stones and magnets to double our menus as we try new things or realize that we've forgotten something.

Plus, at the end of each week, we can just move the magnets up, and there ya be. Isa loves it because she can help us "make" dinner and know what we are eating ahead of time...she had a hard time with reading our old dry erase one. Jose hasn't stopped singing the boards praises this week, plus we've made meals that we've been forgetting about: sliders, calzones, chili mac, taco casserole...and haven't had to eat the same ole' meals like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and PB&Js....