I’ll be the first to admit that I’m way too anal with all my lists but I have the hardest time cooking unless I know exactly what we’re having for at least the next week, and how much there will be left over and when we’ll eat those leftovers. My meal planning is an evolving mission. It changes as our circumstances change. When Chad was in college, he came home to work on weekends and would go back to school on Sunday afternoon so Saturday was my big cooking day. Before Chad went to college, I did it on Monday. With Chad and his friends over on weekends, the fridge always got cleaned out. Teen aged boys will eat anything, for the most part.
Now that it’s just the two of us, my meal planning week begins on Wednesday. We end up either with leftovers from the weekend or, we’ll end up being in town and grabbing something when I hadn’t planned for us to eat out so the food I had had planned for us to have gets carried over to Monday or Tuesday.
Once my meal plan is decided, I head over to the freezers and bring back everything I’ll need for the week. We try to open the big freezers as little as possible so I can open them, grab out what I need for the week and be done.
Meal Plan
Here’s what’s on the agenda for this week:
Tonight – Cincinnati Chili from the pressure cooker. That will use the package of ground meat I’ve already unwrapped and half of the one pound package on the far left. That’s grass fed beef we buy locally.
Thursday – Chili Colorado Smothered Burritos, Borracho Beans. The burritos will be made from one of the roasts in the big package in the back.
Friday – Grilled Steak, Baked Potatoes, Salad
Saturday – Hamburgers. These will be made from the ground pork and venison. Since there’s about 3+ pounds of meat there, I’ll shape all the extra patties and flash freeze them and they’ll be ready for our next grilled hamburger dinners.
Sunday – Spaghetti & meatballs. I don’t even now why we have jars of Ragu but we have about 4 jars and it’s time to use them. It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t like spaghetti sauce .. no matter who fixes it, but Vince loves it and he’s just as happy with Ragu as he is with homemade.
All of these, except the grilled steak, will provide plenty of leftovers for lunches.
It seems so easy to me to do it this way but . . that’s just me I suppose.
Maggie says
I don’t have to bring food in from a freezer or anything, but I try to plan ahead because then you avoid having to decide every day. I like knowing that part is already done.
Joyce says
I wish I were better about planning ahead. I get home from work and then figure out what’s for dinner. Unfortunately that often translates into opening a can of soup…
Diana in RR,TX says
I used to be better at planning ahead and am trying to get back to it. Trouble is everything is so darn convenient here that it is way to easy to run to the store. But I am getting a little better at planning again.
Libby in TN says
I’ve been planning ahead for several years. It helps me use up leftovers before they start to grow green stuff in the back of the fridge. It also lets DH know what’s planned so he can get started if I’m late coming home from a quilt event. And it helps me plan my grocery list. I also keep a log of what’s in the freezer and try to use the older stuff first. I’m not quite as OCD as you, Judy, but I inherited my list making from my mother.
Alycia says
I’m with you on the planning ahead – plus it’s only one trip to town 😉 More playing time! So… I want to come live with you though – you have a better menu!
Torina from Tubaville says
I go through spurts depending on my health which lately hasn’t been so great (and no one else in my house will cook). But I have generally been planning meals for a few years now. I love looking for recipes and trying new things. But also making things that I’ve discovered and we’ve loved.
Peg H says
I cooked “your way” when my kids were growing up. Weekends were reserved for making big casseroles, soups, spaghetti, and so on. I’d package things up and make homemade “tv dinners” and that’s what we ate on all week. Now, we scrounge. I’m so unorganized when it comes to our meals – it’s the last thing I think about these days. It makes perfect sense to me to plan out a week’s worth of meals (or even two weeks) like this but … I just don’t. :-/
Diana says
I always plan our meals and make a list of the menu to go with to the grocery store ..
Thought of you all today when I found this link below on whoot.com:
http://thewhoot.com.au/whoot-news/diy/wheel-rim-nesting-boxes
Thought you all may like this !
JudyL says
There are so many free recipes out there and apps that help, I wouldn’t be inclined to pay a fee for this but if it works for you, that’s great.
Connie says
I too gave up menu planning when the kids left home. Since I am medically retired now I’m not picking up takeout on the way home from work 🙂 I came across a program that made me love planning again and since hubby does most of the cooking, it makes it easier on him to see it all laid out with the recipes. I didn’t know there were so many aides to planning out there when I went looking for something but I did eventually settle on Plan to Eat at http://www.plantoeat.com No association, but it is a fantastic program that even lets me snag recipes from all around the web and works on multiple computers so hubs can use it on the tablet while he cooks. Since it makes a grocery list for me as well I am finding I save money too and that is a good thing.