I'm sitting here relishing in the last dredges of a wonderful and productive weekend. Sipping a mug of tea and watching Breaking Bad. My phone is ringing and it's my mother.
She's going on about how she hasn't been home in a month because her apartment is infested with bed bugs... Note to self do not let her give us anything for a very long time.
Just so we have a clear understanding; my relationship with my mother is tenuous at best. Don't get me wrong, I love her; shit, she's my mom. I just can't tolerate being around her more than three to four times a year and for small chunks of time even then. It pains me to know that 90% of the time, when she does initiate contact it is because she wants something; more often than not she is looking for money.
There are a couple people in my life that make me cringe when my phone rings. I am lucky in that I have more people that I do enjoy getting calls from.
Finally, after promising and promising, I am going to share with you my strategy for meal planning.
Let me start off by saying I have been doing this for years. Once Collin and I were living in our own place and both working I began meal planning. Heck, I think I may have even started doing it when we still lived with his parents. Really, who wants to come home from working all day and have to think of what can be thrown together for dinner?
Most people know that having to think something up every flipping night leads to more eating out, and eating unwisely. You are also then more likely to need to buy lunch the next day and the money spent by doing this adds up so quickly.
Meal planning allows you to more easily stay on a healthy eating plan (I loathe the word diet), and saves you a nice chunk of money. Here's how I've done it.
Every four to six weeks (depending on the length of the last plan) Collin and I brainstorm a bunch of dinners we want or have been craving. The best time to do this is before you eat; it's like the reverse of why you shouldn't go shopping when you are hungry. I plan the meals based on the season; so you won't see me making a casserole or roast during the summer, and neither will you find a week of cold salads in the winter.
After we've come up with a decent list of ideas I start plugging them into a notebook after marking out the days of the week (M, T, W, T, F, S & S) and number the days to match the dates of those days. Every meal I plan I keep in mind the day of the week and also any pre-existing appointments.
I know that every Wednesday I want something quick and/or slow cooked (ready when we get home) because Collin hangs out with his best mate in the evening and I want to make sure he has dinner before he goes.
Fridays and Saturdays I tend to leave open for fun meals, or things we want to try. You may be wondering why we do this, and I will happily explain. As I mentioned, buying lunch every day adds up fast as sin. Every night's dinner becomes lunch the next day. I have become more lax about some meals and their portability; i.e. last night's tacos can be today's taco salads at work. But things like burgers and fish don't carry over as well. I refuse to microwave fish at work.
I think you get the gist of it. After the list is written with all the meals plugged in I write our "big grocery shopping" list. We are active Costco members and (for now) have a nice little chest freezer in our garage. We buy all our meat, bread (if any, we don't eat bread often), frozen veg and pantry goods once a month. Weekly grocery shopping only consists of easily perishables like milk, eggs, fresh produce, etc. I have not yet tried freezing milk, but I have heard it is very doable. Maybe when we have a bigger freezer and the wee one is consuming it too. I honestly buy everything and anything I can in bulk whether from Costco or from the local grocer's bulk bins. Packaging adds to your cost significantly.
In the fall, winter and spring I swear by my crock pot. It is a god send and I would be lost without it. I have also started using my rice cooker (it's equipped to do this) as a slow cooker while we are packing and preparing to move. This way I could pack up one appliance.
I feel like I have gotten completely off topic. Now I want to tell you about all the awesome things I do with my slow cooker...
Meal planning; it's not for everyone, but if you are trying to adjust a budget or make life easier on yourself I strongly suggest trying it. It is also a great method for keeping your self out of a culinary rut. Here is a sample of my list this month:
26 S Sweet potato Shepherds Pie
27 M Chicken Parm with Rice Pasta and Veggies
28 T Chennai Masala w/ Rice and Veggies
29 W Sausages w/ peppers & onions & Pasta
30 T Sweet & Sour Veggies & Rice
31 F Birthday Dinner
This is only a week and this list is short because I don't want to have too much in the house when we go to move in the next few weeks.
Now to finish unwinding and prepare for the week ahead. Another fun week of training is in store for me. I have found a very fitting and descriptive of my "teacher". Whereas most think in linear patterns my teacher thinks in more of a fireworks pattern. Nuggets and fragments of a process are all over the place. All, Over.
Hope you have had an enjoyable weekend and here's to the week ahead!
No comments:
Post a Comment