Meal planning, ugh. No one ever receives awards for planning meals or for being organized and prepared. But frankly, the more organized I am, the happier I am, and the happier my household is. Is that the same for you?
I have found that if I write down what we are having every night before the week starts, the week goes better. Even if I write “leftovers” or “grilled cheese” or “english muffin pizzas” – there is a plan. I write the dinner idea next to five p.m. on our family day runner in the kitchen. No surprises at dinnertime each night! I can look on the calendar before I go to bed and check to see if anything needs to come out of the freezer. Organization = peace.
Those of you who know me, know that I go to the grocery store several times a week, sometimes nearly every day! I swing by before or after carpool pickup, get the few things I need and head on home. So I wouldn’t say that my grocery shopping is organized, but I do try to plan what we will eat ahead of time.
A fellow author, Sara Mills, has a GREAT idea for planning dinners. I haven’t yet done this, but I plan on it. Really, I do! Over the Christmas break I am going to organize my recipes as well as create my dinner planner. Sara recommends having a three ring binder and placing your 31 most commonly used recipes in there. Prepare the dinners in the order they are in the binder. I’d link you to her site where she discusses it in detail, but she has removed it from her site for now. I hope I am doing the description justice! Sara also creates a weekly (based on the meals to be prepared for the week) grocery list. Just rotates through the same four weeks of meals. GREAT idea! Recipes all in one place, never have to look for them.
For now, I’ve modified Sara’s idea. I have a binder tabbed with quick meals, beef, chicken and pork, side and desserts. In there I have all
my usual recipes I make all the time. Organized together in one area.
Do you have any ideas for how meal planning could be made easier? Let me know!