Adventures in Food
Meal Planning 101
Save time cooking, more time to play in the leaves
Are you a meal planner? I try to lay out my meals for the week to trim costs and shave cooking time. In the past, I’ve gone in and out of keeping up with my weekly set up.
But yesterday after cleaning out the fridge and discovering a lonely, molding piece of Havarti dill in the bottom of the cheese drawer I thought, I’ve got to get back in the practice! No one likes to throw away food, especially when it’s tasty cheese that I could have added to an alfredo sauce, a salad, grilled cheese, if I’d known it was there.
Here’s how I plan:
- Sunday night or Monday morning I look through recipe books for a few minutes for ideas.
- Then, I look at our calendar. I mean, what’s the use of planning a fancy meal if my daughter has basketball practice that night? Those are leftover planned over nights.
- Scan the grocery ads to see if there’s anything interesting on sale. (I also try to remember to peek in the fridge to see what’s gone uneaten too.)
- Now time to plot out the meals and write my list of groceries as I go. I usually plan two meals using leftovers–so if I grill or saute chicken breasts one night I’ll make extra to use in fajitas or sandwiches a couple nights later.
Okay, you’re still doubtful, huh? Let me tell you a few of the benefits (besides avoiding fuzzy cheese)–
- I use more fresh fruits and veggies in the meal.
- The kids can help me cook, since I know what I’m making.
- My grocery bill is usually about 30% less than when I don’t plan (and I can pass by the potato chips without taking them; they aren’t on the list!).
- Less panic around 5pm. I have all the ingredients on hand.
- Pizza night. When I’ve followed my meal plan and trimmed our grocery bill, I can use some of the savings for the occasional night out/in.
- No endless trips to the grocery store.
- Yummier meals.
Sneak a peek at what I’ve got cooking this week–
Monday–Italian chicken & spinach roll-ups
Tuesday–Chicken nachoes (make extra sauteed chicken)
Wednesday–Weinerschnitzel & roasted veggies (make double on both)
Thursday–Stir-fry & potstickers (use leftover chicken)
Friday–Blue corn tostadas topped with roasted veggies (again, leftovers)
Saturday–Sandwiches (yup, I’m using leftover schnitzel inside)
Sunday–Eat whatever my hubby makes:)
See, I only have a couple nights where the meals will take a lot of time to put together, every other night I’m using pre-made (by me!) ingredients. Granted meal planning doesn’t always go, well, as planned. There are nights when you get home later then you thought, or you couldn’t find an ingredient at the store, or someone ate all of the leftovers that were actually planned overs. For those nights, I try to have a back-up, usually it’s grilled cheese, apples, and Top Ramen.
Do you plan your meals ahead or do you have a method for figuring out what’s lurking in the corners of your fridge? Please, share!
**Keep reading MKES, next week I’ll be announcing a new giveaway.
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about 2 years ago
It’s just my husband (who works nights) and me here at the homestead, so less meal planning needs to happen on a nightly basis. I’ll tack a bunch of recipes to the fridge that I’ve been meaning to try out, and then make sure Dan has enough food stocked for the week.
about 2 years ago
Planning? What’s that? LOL! We could stand to do it more, but dh cooks and he’s not much into meal planning more than 3 days ahead of time. :}
about 2 years ago
I like the idea of just tacking the recipes right on the fridge. I tend to make a stack of them and then they get lost.
about 2 years ago
I know, I know. But the inspiration really was cleaning out the fridge and finding these great ingredients I’d forgotten I’d even had.
about 2 years ago
I need to plan more, too. I end up making two good meals a week that tend to last the rest of the week. Then there’s the Fend For Yourself in the Fridge night. And then we have to eat out one night because the pickings are so slim. And it’s about about planning (or lack of it in my case).
about 2 years ago
One trick I’ve learned that comes in handy: I’ll spend an hour or so on the weekend (or Monday while I work, the beauty of the home office) getting a few staples in play: Roasting some veggies, making a pesto or sauce, cooking something time-consuming like rice or soup.
So that when we race in the door, hungry, following the after-school shuffle we have a few things from which to craft a simple meal. Roasted butternut squash goes into potstickers, pesto on pasta, a quick veggie-tofu stir-fry to accompany the rice.
Otherwise, dinner wouldn’t get on the table until 9 in my house!
about 2 years ago
And some weeks I do better than others. This week I’m glad I had plenty of leftovers because my little one had a cold and I just didn’t want to put too much effort into cooking.
about 2 years ago
Great idea. I usually have roasted veggies waiting to go too. I like the idea of having a soup on hand too.
about 2 years ago
I need to plan more meals, too! My boyfriend is a picky eater, so it’s tough to cook for me, though I’m trying to expand his culinary horizons. Lately I’ve been using the slow cooker to make one large hearty meal on Sunday evenings and eating leftovers for the next several days.
about 2 years ago
Wow, I’m so impressed with your planning — how it both saves money and results in better meals. Kudos to your organization from a disorganized reader and fan.
about 2 years ago
I go in spurts – sometimes organized, sometimes very much spur-of-the-moment. There’s no doubt that a bit of planning goes a long way.
At this point, because I’m so busy, I’ve been relying more on doing the same recipes over and over, and thus when I go to the grocery store I can get pretty much the same ingredients. What I do is vary them by ethnic cuisine. So, in a given week we’ll probably have a slow cooker meal, a curry, a noodle dish, some sort of panko-crusted baked thing – but even with the same core ingredients, I can change up the spices and a few of the flavorings and make them taste Thai, Indian, Korean, etc. It does feel like we’re in a rut though so I hope to get out of it soon! Tonight – for a spontaneous change – we made fondue! Both cheese and chocolate. (Your piece of cheese would have gone in there nicely…)
about 2 years ago
I do that too–I like to make my red sauce in the slow cooker and then freeze leftovers.
about 2 years ago
Ah, sometimes I’m more organized than others. And lately it’s really been about desperation–if I don’t plan we’re eating cereal. Not that cereal for dinner is all bad–but, you know, it gets old:)
about 2 years ago
What great ideas! I have a fondue pot in the basement that is gathering dust. I need to fish it out.
about 2 years ago
My husband does all the cooking around here, and he’s really great about planning things out beforehand, keeping track of what’s in the pantry, and creating his grocery list. Back when I did the cooking, I was never good at this.
Love seeing your plan for the week!
about 2 years ago
I am not a meal planner by nature. When our kids were at home I had to learn how to do it–and I wouldn’t say I was all that good at it! I like your tips and am going to refer back to them. You know what you’re doing!
about 2 years ago
I’m kind of a hit and miss planner. When I do plan, I generally try to plan 2 weeks of meals. I LOVE when I do it, because I don’t even have to think, “what’s for dinner tonight?” (Something I usually wonder at about, oh, 4 o’clock.) And you’re right. It saves money and prevents waste.
about 2 years ago
I don’t think I’m a natural either–but I’m getting there. I like knowing my kids will have something good to eat (even if that something is havarti grilled cheese:)
about 7 months ago
I really must start planning our meals – thanks for some great ideas
Keith