So for all my five dollars, I got a nice calendar that I use to work out a monthly menu. I'm not strict. If I just absolutely don't want what I've got down for Tuesday this week, I'll swap it up for Thursday (or whatever) since I've probably already gotten all the ingredients for that week's meals.
I think I started doing this in April and so far I've found which nights need quick stuff (the nights I've pottery and the nights L has ballet) and which nights we can do homemade pizza on the grill (usually reserved for weekends).
I make sure that there are always chicken nuggets in reserve, but I find that this way, we hardly ever need them (though I do put them on the menu usually about once a month since the kids love them).
That said, I've been making what I call "chicken sticks" which are basically ground chicken meatballs made into sticks instead of balls. Not fried, I know what's in them, and the kids love them. I highly recommend taking your favorite meatball recipe and trying this. Kids love things they can dip.
