Meal Planning
I know you know I do it, but it bears repeating.
Planning my meals once a week saves me so much time it’s just silly.
Once a week, I plan all of my meals on a separate piece of paper.
Then I write the meals on another piece of paper and post it on the fridge.
You can see all of them here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenjane/sets/72057594098854946/
On the back of the first piece of paper, I write my grocery list.
Once a week, I go to the grocery store and buy the things on the list.
It’s only once a week,
the meal planning takes an average of 15 minutes, and
there’s only ONE trip a week to the grocery store.
I’m able to better plan for leftovers, waste less and try new recipes.
Plan your meals for next week! Get to it!
Tags: helen jane, helenjane, Meal Planning, time saver
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Yes! I’ve been doing this for years.
But my handwriting is not as nice as yours.
Dear Helen Jane,
I think this is a brilliant idea. But your lists never seem to have leftovers on them (unless that’s where helpie selfie comes in, but can you eat 5 days of leftovers in 1 day?). I cook for one (me) about half the time and for two (me + boyfriend) about half the time and it’s really hard and often doesn’t seem worth the effort to make single sized recipes. Should I just eat leftovers every other day? What about when spontaneous eating out plans come up? Any suggestions?
Aha! There are two spots leftovers go.
1 – into our lunches the next day.
2 – into other meals. Roast chicken one day becomes chicken wraps or chicken enchiladas or chicken salad two days later. Beef stew becomes beef pot pie. I’m a little crafty that way.
Planning for freezer cooking really helps — putting braises or soups or casseroles in individual sized portions is great for spontaneous eating out nights.
I love using individual ramekins for chicken pot pies, chili pie or leftover mac and cheese. Then you can pull just one out to cook at a time — or not at all.
I need more advice than that. How do you come up with meals or choose what to make? Do you browse cookbooks? Poll James? I sit there with my paper going derrrrrrr and drooling.
We do the weekly meal list, too, and it’s great because it’s one less thing to worry about each day when you’re work-stressed and spent. Sitting in front of the blank page wondering what to eat just wears me down, though, so I took 20 minutes and made a geeky Excel list.
The list has our favorite meals that we’ve found in cookbooks, family recipes, others we’ve tried and loved over the years – whatever. Now I can sort by main ingredient, or other attributes like quickie meals, meals that make leftovers, etc. (You can categorize however you like.)
When I’m stuck, I go to the list!
I’d been making weekly meal plans for a while but copped your idea of posting them on the fridge when you posted your plans on flickr a while back. Now, if my husband is home before me, he takes a look at the menu and starts dinner instead of waiting for me to get home.
Awesome, so awesome.
JenB,
I usually survey the fridge, freezer and pantry first, and check out all the food nearing expiration dates.
Those foods make a good inspiration point.
Then I’ll pull out a cookbook or two and flip through it, if I find something that looks good that incorporates one of the above ingredients, I’ll write it down. If not, I’ll go to the internet.
If I see something that looks good in one of my food magazines, I’ll rip out the page with the recipe on it and copy down the ingredients I’ll need on the grocery list.
I’ve been lazy the last few months, not looking for new meals but depending on the 12-15 or so that we usually eat. I suppose if I get cookbooks for Christmas (husband hint, hint), we’ll start some new culinary adventures all over again.
I seriously love and adore that you do this. I tried it for a week, kind of worked a little. I’m still one of those people that goes to the grocery store daily though or every other day which is kind of bizarre because I hate the grocery store. I’ll have to try to plan better.