Meal Planning
So in order to be more organized, and to get better at cooking. I've been making myself a list - not a grocery list - a meal list. And when it is time for groceries I pick 10-14 meals that we'd like to eat in the next couple of weeks, then I make a huge grocery list based on that. This probably seems normal to most people, but for the first 8 years of my marriage, we did not grocery shop this way. We just sort of got ingredients that we thought we could turn into something, or we just went to the store and shopped based on inspiration of whatever looked good at the moment. This resulted in lots of cereal dinners, very few planned meals, not-so-healthy diet, and lots of food thrown away. I have to give credit for the idea to Kristin, who is the most organized person I know. My meal planning still isn't as awesome as hers, but at least it's a solid work in progress.
Here was the meal list we went off of for the last shopping trip:
chicken pad thai
ground beef nachos
meatball subs
BBQ pulled-pork sandwiches
spicy meatballs
fish tacos
cilantro lime chicken tacos
pear gorgonzola pizza
lemon ricotta pancakes
tortilla soup
satay chicken
flank steak with chimichurri
cobb salad
frozen pizza (it's always nice to have one of these in a pinch)
I also try to plan meals that have overlapping ingredients, and sides that I can use with more than one entree. For example, if I'm going to buy a big bag of meatballs at Costco I try to think of different ways I can use them - in subs, with sauce in a crockpot, with spaghetti, etc.
I plan sides for each thing in a separate list like:
spinach salad
broccoli
brown rice
bacon
strawberries
potatoes
And then if there's anything else I want to make, like dessert, or some fun thing from Pinterest, that's another list.
Again - I'm sure most of you are wayyy ahead of me on this one. But still, thought I'd share my small successes :)
If I knew how to attach the blank grocery list I use - which I made it to coincide with the aisles at Walmart, to make things easier - I would do that... but I don't know how. Anyone?
Here was the meal list we went off of for the last shopping trip:
chicken pad thai
ground beef nachos
meatball subs
BBQ pulled-pork sandwiches
spicy meatballs
fish tacos
cilantro lime chicken tacos
pear gorgonzola pizza
lemon ricotta pancakes
tortilla soup
satay chicken
flank steak with chimichurri
cobb salad
frozen pizza (it's always nice to have one of these in a pinch)
I also try to plan meals that have overlapping ingredients, and sides that I can use with more than one entree. For example, if I'm going to buy a big bag of meatballs at Costco I try to think of different ways I can use them - in subs, with sauce in a crockpot, with spaghetti, etc.
I plan sides for each thing in a separate list like:
spinach salad
broccoli
brown rice
bacon
strawberries
potatoes
And then if there's anything else I want to make, like dessert, or some fun thing from Pinterest, that's another list.
Again - I'm sure most of you are wayyy ahead of me on this one. But still, thought I'd share my small successes :)
If I knew how to attach the blank grocery list I use - which I made it to coincide with the aisles at Walmart, to make things easier - I would do that... but I don't know how. Anyone?
Good job!I haven't done that much planning in a while but need to do it! Thanks for the inspiration! Momma
ReplyDeleteyour menu sounds delicious- now if there was a simple way for you to upload your recipes for the meals to me we'd really be rockin the organization- which btw you give me too much credit- especially on a week where I feel completely disorganized! i try to make any of the recipes first that have fresh things that will go bad (rolls, veggies, etc)and I do organize my list by walmart ailes too! :)
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