Category Archives: Cooking: Plan Ahead Cooking

May 2 2012

Menu plan for May 2012

I have found that if I take the time (just 30 minutes or so) to plan out our dinners for two or more weeks it helps so much! Not only does it prevent the 4:00 pm stress of what’s for dinner, it also keeps my grocery bill in check. I’m not running to the store every few days which prevents those impulse purchases.

I plan meals around what meats I can get on sale and what I already have in the freezer and pantry. So here’s my list for the month. I don’t plan a meal for each night because we will have leftovers from some recipes. We also have Mother’s Day, our anniversary and Memorial Day weekend this month, so those are not planned.

  1. Tri-tip Sandwiches (using up left-over tri-tip)
  2. Chef Salads
  3. Beef stir-fry
  4. Appetizer Night – bruschetta, salami & cheese, veggies & dips
  5. Carne Asada tacos and Mexican rice
  6. BBQ chicken breasts, oven roasted potatoes, broccolini
  7. Tamales, leftover rice
  8. Spinach Salads
  9. Hamburgers & fries – on Homemade Buns!
  10. Pulled Pork sandwiches
  11. Pesto Pizza
  12. Beef Tacos/burritos
  13. Lasagna (double batch for freezing)
  14. Corned Beef
  15. Chicken Enchiladas (from the freezer)
  16. Breakfast for Dinner

I’ve included links for the recipes I’ve already made, and will update as we work through the month.

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Apr 26 2012

Roasted Chicken becomes Chicken Enchiladas…

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I started doing this after reading Kathi Lipp’s book, The “What’s for Dinner?” Solution. She suggests lots of ways to plan ahead, including having leftovers on purpose.

I like to do roasted chickens once a month. I usually roast two now, because roasting two is just as easy as one, and then you have lots of leftovers. We don’t even eat one whole chicken between the four of us. (My kids are still small so they don’t eat much.)  That leaves plenty of beautiful cooked chicken to make chicken salad sandwiches and enchiladas.

I had one and a half chickens left over this time (about half of a gallon Ziploc bag full of shredded meat) so I was able to make 16 chicken enchiladas. I also had about a pound of ground beef that needed to be cooked. I got 14 beef enchiladas out of that. I put one pan in the fridge for tonight and everything else went into the freezer!

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Feb 21 2012

Organized Home Challege – Meal Planning

This week’s challenge from Home Storage Solutions 101 is all about healthy meal planning and shopping lists. For the second week in a row the challenge has been something I have already tried – makes me feel good that at least I’m already doing some things to keep my home organized!

I did my first meal planning in January as part of the Kathi Lipp What’s For Dinner Solution challenge. I found that having a plan lowered my stress level considerably. I knew exactly what I would be making, but I also allowed myself some flexibility. When I shopped the last time for my meal plan I planned to make a Italian sausage stew. Only to find out later that Paul doesn’t like that recipe as much as I do.  So instead, I incorporated the the ingredients into other dishes that week.

The other thing I like about meal planning is that I can try some new recipes. It’s fun to plan for just one new thing during the week to keep it interesting.  For my next weeks plan I’ll be trying a recipe I saw on Pinterest for restaurant-style orange chicken.  It doesn’t look too difficult so I’m excited to give it a whirl.

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Feb 9 2012

Two-week Meal Plan

OK, I made the big Costco run on Sunday, but I didn’t get to the regular grocery store yet. Today I’m making up my meal plan for the rest of the two-week period. (And showing what I already made the past few days.)

Monday: Pizza

Tuesday: Stir Fry

Wednesday: Tacos

Tonight (Thursday): Chicken Marsala

Friday: Charred Tomato Soup; Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Saturday: Lasagna

Sunday: Enchiladas (already made in the freezer!)

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Italian Sausage Stew w/ polenta

Wednesday: Lemon Chicken w/ Basmati rice

Thursday: Burritos

Friday: Chicken Stir-fry w/ fried rice (leftover rice from Wednesday)

Saturday: Spaghetti & Meatballs

In making my plan, I’m considering what activities we have going on, which fresh ingredients I need to use up, and getting a variety of meal types.

My next step is to look at the recipes to see which ingredients I need to pick up at the grocery.  It will be a quick and inexpensive trip since I did my bulk shopping at Costco a week ago.

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Feb 3 2012

Making Bulk Shopping Work

One thing that stuck with me from Kathi’s book was keeping a well-stocked pantry. When I don’t plan ahead I find myself running to the store every few days to get things.

The new strategy I’m going to try is planning meals for two weeks at a time. I will start off the month by planning the meals, then making a Costco run and fill in with trip to the grocery store. It would save me a huge amount of time and money to only be shopping twice a month.

In preparation for this plan I’ve started a spreadsheet to figure out what kinds of things I need to stock up on at Costco, what the package size is, and how much it costs.  This lets me figure the cost per unit so I can know if it’s a deal or not.  I used my past few receipts to get my list started.  I’ll print it out and take with me to fill in the things I don’t know yet.

The trick to making this work is to buy things that last forever (dried pasta, sugar) and the things we use a ton of on a regular basis (4 lb bag of shredded cheese, anyone?).  I have to be careful about things like giant tubs of sour cream, fresh veggies etc, that although a good buy, will probably expire before I use them all. I found out the hard way with a three pound bag of broccoli. What was I thinking? I made broccoli soup, to try to use some of it up.

I will still buy most of my fresh produce at the regular store, and things that I need in small quantities. It will be a change to plan ahead but I think it will really help make my days run smoothly. I’ll let you all know how it goes, and of course post my menus/recipes to share!

 

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