March 15: Every weekend, I spend a little time mapping out our dinners for the week. I try to do this on Saturday. Then on Sunday one or some (in this case, Bryan and Andrew) of us go grocery shopping. It might be more appropriate to say that we brave the Woodman’s crowds in search of our food.
I started meal planning about a year ago. Before then, we had a dozen or so meals that we commonly made, and we bought the staples for those meals weekly. So we didn’t really need a shopping list, and we didn’t really use recipes too often. That was when we were both working and dinner was something that needed to happen at the end of the day when we were both tired and wanted to play with Andrew.
But now things are different. Since I started staying home, I’ve taken on dinner. It used to be Bryan’s terrain, and now it’s mine. And I like to make new things. So every week I look through magazines (Martha Stewart’s Everyday Foods is my favorite) or cook books and find seven meals…almost always ones I haven’t made before…to put on my list for the week. We still have our staples, and I don’t tend to plan our lunches (no need when they are all mac & cheese or pb &j or malt-o-meal muffins).
It’s a pretty good system. The best part is that on any given day I don’t have to think about what I should do for dinner. I just look at my list. I don’t like to have to think or be creative when I just need to start a meal. Especially when Sylvia is needy of being held and Andrew wants me to tell a story. That’s no time for me to be deciding if we have the ingredients to make some pasta dish. My meal planning keeps me sane and keeps us well-fed. And it means that I get to try out new recipes all the time, and that keeps my creative side happy.
Here are some of my meal-planning resources:
- I got a “plan-it” organizer when I was starting to meal plan. A notebook would work just as well. Really, there’s nothing special about this. Well, maybe spending $18 on my meal-planning notebook made me feel obligated to actually do it.
I do like having everything in one notebook where I can look back at what I did in the past. On the rare occasions when I want to make a recipe twice, it’s easy to skim back and find favorites.
I think after I fill this notebook, I’m going to use Google Calendar to track my meals. That’s what Simple Mom does, and it seems like a good technique. - My Woodman’s shopping list. After writing up my week’s worth of recipes (and noting what page they are all on), I pull out a shopping list and start writing up what ingredients I need. Here’s a copy of my list for others who might find it useful.
- Everyday Foods. I seriously love this magazine. Thanks to Jessica for introducing me. It comes out 10 times each year, and I’ve made about 80% of the recipes in each issue. They are all fast. They are all easy. They are all good. And they tell me how much time it will take, which I love.
Most of the recipes are available online. They also have an e-newsletter you can subscribe to. Go forth, enjoy!
Do you have any meal-planning tips or recipe-sources to share? I’d love to hear if you do!