Post by janiejones on Aug 12, 2012 12:38:32 GMT -5
These are all good tips. The only thing I can add is that we have an agreed upon "go to" meals list on the fridge. It's a laminated card with recipes for things we add to our meal planning, and try to have things on hand for all the time. It helps make the meal planning easy, and we can both quickly make whatever is on the card in a snap.
Post by lazyphoque on Aug 12, 2012 14:22:03 GMT -5
What emsumm said about planning based on how much time you have is a big deal for us. There are some nights when we have 15 minutes to get the kid seated and eating before she loses her shit and we're forced to give her cottage cheese in lieu of dinner.
Start with one week, stick with what you chose for each night, at the end of the week take stock of what is still around and plan to use that up in the next week. I also try to plan something that will have freezable leftovers every so often because it's nice to have. Meal planning saves us no money, though, because I'm too lazy to figure that out. I'm more focused on us eating reasonably well.
Post by thinkofthesoldiers on Aug 12, 2012 15:12:56 GMT -5
I am anal about this. I keep a binder with recipes I've printed and liked sorted by meal (breakfast, main meal, desserts, snacks, other). I also have a section with sheets I made that lists staples I keep in the house. Then I have another section for the meal planning itself. The sheets in that section list the days of the week, the meal, and has a spot for needed ingredients for that recipe. I plan my meals and then I go through the kitchen and mark down any staples that I might need and ingredients I might need for the recipes I'm making.
I keep a spot in my binder for coupons that I come across that I might find useful (I'm a horrible couponer, so this works for me.) as well.
I take the binder with me to the grocery store and just mark off as I pick stuff up that we need. After that I follow my meal plan and keep it for future reference. It makes it easy to plan once you have a few months worth of stuff. You can just cycle through.
Post by kellbell191 on Aug 12, 2012 18:23:10 GMT -5
I hve a recipe box of tried and true recipes we love. I pin new recipes we might like. Every week or two I go through and make a list of twenty or so recipes using seasonal ingredients that I'd like to make in the next few weeks. We keep stocked up on staples like grains, cheese, beans, frozen shrimp, pasta, frozen veggies etc. for each recipe I put in parentheses any ingredients I'm not sure if we have on hand. Then I go through my fridge and see any perishables we have that we need to use. I strt with recipes that will use those up. I try to pick recipes that use the same perishables I have to buy (so if I'm buying cilantro or spinach or something I'll try to find multiple recipes to use it up.). I Blanche and freeze veggies we don't use up. Sam with extra bread, tortillas, etc. I go through our garden first, then the farmers market, plan around what I get from those two and fill in the gaps using the grocery store. I usually look at the grocery store circular before I pick my final line up.
I also always plan in some shorter prep time recipes and one freebie night like frozen tortellini. When I make something like enchilada sauce or soup I double it and freeze it in gallon bags.
Post by spellingbea on Aug 12, 2012 19:31:00 GMT -5
I plan around our CSA produce and what's on sale at the store. I try to plan at least two vegetarian dinners per week.
One thing I learned is it's better for us to underplan by a night or two rather than be too ambitious and come up with something for every day of the week. There are plenty of nights I come home late or just don't feel like cooking something complicated and that's one night of food I end up wasting out of pure laziness. We have certain things that are staples for us: tortillas for quesadillas or frozen pie crust for a clean out the fridge quiche. Either takes minutes to throw together.
Post by hisno1girl on Aug 12, 2012 19:34:03 GMT -5
I look at what's in my freezer, or if I need to stock up on meat, I look at sales flyers.
I plan each day's meal based on those things primarily and then on what's in the pantry or what I'm getting out of the garden.
This is my menu for the week. Tues & Wed are DH's chemo days so I always make comfort foods for him but I have other stuff as a back up in case he can't tolerate the comfort food.
Sunday: Chicken tacos w/guacamole, lime & cilantro, rice & beans. (freeze the leftover chicken for Friday) Monday: Grilled chicken w/grilled veggies (zuchinni & carrots) Tuesday: Beef stew served w/roasted red potatoes Wednesday: Chicken pot pie Thursday: Ziti baked w/veggies from the garden Friday: Chicken nachos using leftover chicken from Monday.