So when I posted on Facebook, this weekend, about my having planned a month's worth of meals, gathered a shopping list and shopped for that month, there was a lot of curiosity and interest in how to do it. So, I decided to write this blog to address all of the questions in one place.
First, if the thought of planning and shopping for multiple meals has you asking..."How?", then please start small. I planned for 28 days...that's a HUGE elephant for someone to consume if you're only used to planning a few days or week in advance.
I use Pinterest....A LOT! Yes, I'm addicted, but it's fun and makes menu planning and cooking so much more fun. Also, I LOVE TO COOK! It's therapeutic for me, which I think makes the whole planning process easier. However, I've gotten to a point where shopping is a big pain in the tush. People have become so rude and self-centered, and I just have no patience for it. My need for daily therapy, though, outweighs the stress of shopping, and I have a new way of purging the shopping toxins from my system after I've had to endure the sights that no eye soap can remove, but that's a blog for another time....I'll just say essential oils and leave it at that for now.
Soooooo.......to get on with answering the questions. No, I don't have any fancy equipment to accomplish the daily task of cooking dinner. There is no magic formula for developing a menu that will work for your family. Yes, I do freeze. Yes, I do try new things and they crash and burn, but I just nix that recipe (I really need to create a Fail board on my Pinterest), and we move on to something else. So here are my suggestions:
1. Get on Pinterest. Follow me if you'd like or don't. Doesn't matter. If you do, however, be prepared for me to Pin your food (and other) ideas....hey, it's all about sharing, right?!
2. Get to know your computer's spreadsheet program. I use Office Libre (which is just like and compatible with Microsoft Excel). I create one worksheet for my menu and one for my shopping list.
3. Determine how many days you want to plan for. Pull out your calendar and look to see what you've got going on that week. If you have a late staff meeting, then plan something quick and easy for that night's dinner. Slow cookers are awesome for this and so are time bake options on ovens...do not be afraid to use it.
4. Breakfast. EVERYONE should eat breakfast. It's what gives your body the energy to make it through until lunch. Just do it. At our house, we do one of two things....leftovers from the weekend or breakfast sandwiches, but we treat ourselves to McDonald's on Friday mornings. There are 2 of us, the that's 8 sandwich rounds (1/person/day), 8 slices cheddar cheese, 16 oz deli ham (2 oz/sandwich). Sandwich rounds come 8 to a package, the deli ham I purchase comes in 16 oz packages, the cheddar slices come 18 to a package. Weekends, the most requested breakfasts are biscuits w/sausage gravy and pancakes. I make everything from scratch, so I make sure I purchase flour and sugar every time I buy groceries.
5. Lunches during the school year are pretty easy because Hannah eats at school (except Rise 'n Shine Friday when we usually sneak out to have lunch together or as we have done lately, get Subway the evening before and have lunch in my classroom together). I usually take leftovers that I have portioned out and/or frozen from previous meals. On occasion, we will have homemade "lunchables". Basically, it's string cheese or cheese sticks, 2-3 oz deli meat and 6 or 7 crackers (I put those in a ziploc to keep them fresh), carrot sticks and a granola bar.
6. Dinner. This can be a huge task for some, especially if it's been a long, tiring day and you've got children clinging to your ankles about to evaporate from starvation because, let's face it, school lunches just aren't what they used to be......
Hannah is old enough, now, that she is responsible to cook one meal a week. She is very open to learning how to cook new things and she has given me creative freedom to plan and choose simple things for her to cook. She cooks for us on Thursdays, so I make sure to plan something really simple at least once per week. I don't plan for specific meals on specific days, that's why I like planning more than a week at a time...more variety, more flexibility (to me, anyway).
I do, from time to time, pre-prep and freeze meals so they can be cooked immediately when we get home or can be easily thrown together, but there are some things that just can't be done that way, and that's okay, too. I try to pair things in a such a way that not every thing we're having for one dinner takes a huge amount of time to prepare. If we're having cheeseburgers for dinner, I will do oven fries or corn-on-the-cob so I can devote my time and attention to preparing and grilling the burgers. I'll wash and cut the potatoes for the fries and soak them in water overnight, pat them dry, spray them with cooking oil grind sea salt over the top and shove them into the oven. Then I can focus on the burgers. Corn-on-the-cob can be wrapped in foil (with your favorite flavorings) and put in the slow cooker in the morning and they'll be ready by the time you get home.
7. Freezing. Most leftovers freeze very well, some, not well AT. ALL. If I'm making something I know doesn't freeze well, I prepare myself to portion the leftovers to take for lunch or to have for leftovers later in the week. A few weeks ago, I took 4 hours on a Saturday that Hannah was with her dad and prepped meals for the entire week. I put together ingredients for hamburger stew, vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer. I prepped ingredients for chicken pot pie, vacuum sealed and froze them. Cooked toppings for pizza, Ziploc and froze. Made spaghetti sauce, Ziploc and froze. That was 4 "meals" for 7 days because I knew we would eat leftovers for the other 3. Some made enough to freeze for leftovers the following week (stew, chili and soup are good for this, especially, however, if it is a soup with pasta, the pasta might be a little over-done if you thaw and reheat it. Keep in mind to always cook your pasta al dente, especially if you're going to have leftovers.)
Keep in mind. If cooking is not your favorite thing to do, keep it simple. One of Hannah's favorite things for dinner is grilled cheese and tomato soup (which I've not yet mastered to make from scratch), so it's butter 4 slices of bread, slap on some Velveeta 2% and open a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup (I always add milk to help cut the acidity).
Here are pics of my menu and shopping list spreadsheets I have set up on Office Libre (Microsoft Excel).
Here are pics of my menu and shopping list spreadsheets I have set up on Office Libre (Microsoft Excel).
Hope this has been helpful. Happy planning!!!
