Menu Planning Part 3

The first week, we picked our meal categories and brainstormed ideas for each category. The second week, we added our categories and meal ideas to a menu calendar and started our meal-management system.

This week, I'll share with you seven tricks I use to make food prep and planning a little easier.

Tip 1: Plan ahead.
One of the benefits of having a weekly meal plan is that you can think ahead to the things you might need later in the week and plan accordingly. For example, if you are serving steamed broccoli two nights, wash and cut it the first night you serve it and save the already-prepped broccoli for a second night. Or, better yet, wash and prep whatever you can over the weekend so that mid-week meals are as seamless as possible.

Tip 2: Repurpose leftovers.
For example, one of my favorite things to do during cold weather months is add leftovers into soup. I have found that my family really likes the Bear Creek dry soup mixes. Have some steamed broccoli that needs a home? How about some Cheddar Broccoli Soup? Leftover pork roast? Add it to Tortilla Soup. Not only is it a great way to repurpose foods, but the soup mixes are easy to make and ready in less than 30 minutes.

Tip 3: Stock your pantry.
I'm not just talking about the convenience dinners like Mac & Cheese (although those do come in handy). There are plenty of dinners you can make from a few ingredients you probably have in your pantry right now. Casserole dishes, pasta dinners and easy pan sauces all have their humble beginnings in the pantry. Stock it well and you'll have an easy dinner even when the fridge is bare.

Tip 4: Develop a freezer storage system (see tip #5 for why).
You will need freezer tape (available in the grocery store in the food storage area), colored permanent markers and storage containers. You can either invest in freezable storage containers and plastic bags or a vacuum-sealer. There are pros and cons to both ways of storing your food, but I've tried both and prefer the containers. But whatever the food goes into, use your colored markers and freezer tape to label it. Why the colored markers? To easily identify whether or not it needs to thaw first. For example, if the item can go from freezer to oven, then use a green pen to label it (name and directions). If it first needs to thaw in the fridge, label it red. Doesn't matter (or, in my case, too lazy to find a colored pen) use black. Why the freezer tape? It's not necessary, but I find that freezer tape works much better than regular masking tape or marking right on the container.

Tip 5: Make the freezer your friend.
A well-stocked freezer can save you hours of headache. And how do you get a well-stocked freezer? You start by making double batches of the foods you like. I made Bolognese Sauce a few weeks ago, labeled it and stuck it in the freezer.

The next pasta (or ethnic) night that I know will be hectic, I'll just pull it out of the freezer and use it. I've got enchiladas, meatballs, cookie dough and soups that all started as double batches.

Another way to stock your freezer is to portion out leftovers and freeze them. For example, when I make soup or pasta dishes, I will store the leftovers in single-serve containers and use them for lunches or desperate dinners.

Tip 6: Make the slow cooker your friend.
Yes, you are developing a lot of friendships these days. But trust me, these are the kind of friends you want. The slow cooker makes rice and beans (see tip #7), makes meals while you're gone, and in return asks only that you clean it after each use. What's not to like about a friend like that?

Tip 7: Buy in bulk and portion smaller.
For example, if you are trying to eat a lot of beans, buy a large bag of dry beans, cook them in the crockpot and store them in the freezer. Then, when you are ready to use it, you'll have your foods already portioned and ready to use. Or start some bread dough. The recipe makes enough for 4 loaves and keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks - you can have freshly baked bread any night of the week.

Menu Planning Part 2

Last week, we began by creating our dinner categories and compiling a list of meal ideas for each category. Now it's time to put our plan into action.

For this next step, you'll need a calendar, a three-ring binder and some sheet protectors (these are optional, but encouraged). Using your calendar, under the day of the week, label your categories for a one or two-week period, depending on the number of categories you have. Then, in the boxes, add in meal ideas from your meal lists (don't worry about take-out and CORN nights). You now have a working calendar of meal ideas for one or two weeks.

If you have only a few tried and true recipes (and not enough to fill 14 nights worth of meals), then add a "Try Something New" night to your menu plan. Before too long, you'll have more meal ideas than nights to cook them!

Here's a sample of a week's worth of meals at our house:
Monday (Vegetarian): Pan-seared fish with salad
Tuesday (Pasta): Spaghetti and meatballs with salad
Wednesday (Soup): Crockpot Stew with homemade bread
Thursday (Ethnic): Sausage and beans with steamed broccoli
Friday (CORN): Clean Out Refrigerator Night
Saturday (Beef): Pizza (yes, this is a loose interpretation, but that's okay!)
Sunday (Poultry): Chicken fingers with steamed broccoli

Next, add your calendar (if possible) and lists of meal ideas to your binder. The calendar I use is attached to the wall, so it isn't possible to add it to my binder. But if you are printing up a calendar especially for this or have one small enough to fit, I would recommend adding it to the cover or first page of your binder. After the calendar, put each category list in its own sheet protector. Finally, behind each category list, add in the actual recipes (in their own sheet protectors) or notes on where to find the recipe (e.g. the cookbook name and page number).

Here are a couple of examples from my binder:



Before too long, as you add new recipes and create more menu plans, your binder will start to look like this:

And for those who struggle with getting home-cooked meals prepared with little time to prepare them, stay tuned! Next week I'll share some tricks I use to help get meals on the table with as little effort as possible.

Menu Planning Part 1

I am sure that many of you are just like me - you struggle to figure out what to cook for dinner each night. Some weeks are easy - the fridge is stocked and the kids are cooperative - but other weeks the struggle seems never-ending.

One of the easiest things you can do to lessen the meal-time madness is to develop a weekly meal plan. There are online tools to help with this (such as http://www.e-mealz.com/), but I've developed a plan that works pretty well for me. Hopefully, it will help you too!

First, create a list of general food categories. The categories should fit your family and lifestyle. Love take-out? Make it a category. Can't live without your comfort foods? Make it a category. Other categories could include anything from poultry and pasta to Asian and C.O.R.N. (Clean Out Refrigerator Night). To simplify the process, you'll want to create either 7 or 14 categories (one or two weeks' worth).

Second, assign each night of the week (or two weeks) with a category. As you are doing this, keep in mind what day of the week you shop and which foods spoil most quickly. For example, if you eat a lot of seafood, you'll want that night to be close to your shopping day. Also, keep in mind any weekly routines/conflicts you might have. Are Mondays crazy? Then make sure whatever you plan for Mondays is quick and simple.

I like to try many different recipes, so our categories are pretty flexible. Here's what our week looks like:
Monday - Vegetarian/Seafood
Tuesday - Pasta
Wednesday - Soup
Thursday - Ethnic
Friday - C.O.R.N. or take-out
Saturday - Beef/Pork
Sunday - Poultry

Third, make a list of possible meals within each category. Label the top of a sheet of paper with your category, grab your kids and your cookbooks, and then fill each page with your favorite recipes (you only need to list the name here). If you have categories like take-out or CORN, you obviously won't need to do those. And remember, some foods can fit more than one category. For example, macaroni and cheese could be a pasta dish and a comfort food, so put it on both lists. And if you get creative with your side dishes, be sure to create a category sheet for those as well.

Here are some of the meals on our lists:
Vegetarian - breakfast-for-dinner, fish filets, salmon burgers
Pasta - spaghetti and meatballs, pumpkin pasta with sausage
Soup - baked potato, tortellini white bean and spinach, tomato basil
Ethnic - chorizo and beans, quesadillas, peanut butter noodles
Beef/Pork - hungarian goulash, beef stroganoff, pulled pork sandwiches
Poultry - crispy chicken, chicken fingers, chicken and rice
Sides - sauteed spinach, steamed broccoli, balsamic green beans

You've now got the beginnings of a great meal plan. Next week I'll show you how to implement the plan.

The End of the Chute

We've lived in our house for 8 years and every morning as we shower and dress for the day, every evening as we slip into our PJs, and every time a kid needs a new shirt to complete their "look," we've discarded our dirty and unwanted clothes down the laundry chute. And for 8 years, the clothes have magically been washed, folded and returned to our drawers.

I've always assumed that we had laundry fairies living at the end of our chute. What else could explain my family's good fortune? It's been a symbiotic relationship between us and the fairies - one I'm not eager to disrupt. But when the clothes started disappearing from our drawers and weren't being refreshed with clean ones, I decided to investigate.

I followed that chute all the way to the basement and here is what I found:

That, folks, is a 7-foot ceiling. And THAT is a pile of dirty laundry so tall that it reaches the ceiling.

Apparently, the laundry fairies went on strike.

Grandpy Would Be Proud (If Only He Knew What A Blog Is)

Wow! I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now, give me a moment...

There are a few blogs I read regularly. Blogs really are a weird phenomenon. It's like being able to read someone's journal. You develop a kinship with people you've never met. You find yourself cheering them on through adventures and consoling them when things go south. Normally, I stay on the sidelines. I don't comment a lot or interact much with the bloggers, but I always follow along.

The other day, one of the bloggers I follow, Emilie, posted about needing decorating advice. Now, I'm no expert but I'm no slouch either. And lately I've been trying to spruce up my house. So when she made the request for help, I answered. I had so much to say that I ended up sending her an email rather than a blog comment. I felt kind of nervous spouting off about decorating and telling someone else what to do, but I trudged on anyway.

This morning, when I checked through my blogs as I normally do, here is what I found. All I can say is holy cr*p! I'm a little embarassed and very honored!

P.S. I get a little word-nerdy with my prose (and a little wordy!). This would make my grandfather (known for turning a short story long) very proud!