I have become a huge fan of freezer cooking or once a month cooking. Here are 2 books that I like: -Once-a-Month Cooking, Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day by Mary-Beth Lagerborg & Mimi Wilson -Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell & Bonnie Garcia Every recipe I have tried has been a home run with my family. I don't actually cook all the meals for an entire month in one day. But I do try to group them, maybe 5 or 6 at a time. I've even hosted parties at my house where friends have gathered and brought supplies to do our cooking together. It's great and it works for me!
I kept track of our meals for a couple of months and voila, I had a meal plan! I was able to see what I regularly made and where I needed to branch out. I now plan out about ten days of meals and shop accordingly. I try to have a new recipe once a week or so. If we like it it goes on "The List".
I get produce at the Farmer's Market, lots of things through a food-co-op, some stuff at Costco, and only make a bi-weekly trip to a regular grocery store. We cook almost everything from scratch, eating out about once a month, at the most.
I make a menu once a week except on the week that I go to my local bulk club. I hate doing the menu but I like being able to see what I am cooking for the week. The weeks that I do not go to the bulk club I go to a regular grocery store to pick up things that I need for my recipes. When I go to the bulk store I get all of my basics for the month.
I do my planing when ever I think of something! I have a magnet calendar on the fridge and when I am just standing there and something pops into my head I write it on there, like this week, I already planned the week, all the way to Sunday (that never happens) but I want to have tacos so I put it on the calendar for next monday and so the week begins, then on Saturday or whenever I go to the store I know exactally what I need to get for dinners.
I plan for 2 weeks. I go to my military commissary but also Aldi's as they have foods that are cheaper than my commissary. I also check my Kroger flyer as well but try to do my shopping trip at one time. I make a running list on my fridge of what we need or have run out of. Then when making the menu I have a shopping list that is sheet protected which is set up according to the aisles of the store and transfer everything to it using a china marker.
I thought I would hate it, but once I started planning my weekly meals via OrgJunkie (the Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday) I became so much more creative with meals, and saved time and money. I typically shop weekly, but do big trips twice a month. Oh and we always make twice as much as we will eat for dinner and heat up the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I plan things that will serve more than one meal...for example, buy the bigger thing of carrots and use them in a salad one day, a stir fry another, and on a relish tray a third... I like to do a large roast (with potatoes, onions, carrots--crockpot or dutch oven). Then the leftover beef I'll use to make stroganoff, philly cheesesteak sandwiches, etc. Roast a whole chicken, use leftovers to make soup or a casserole...that kind of thing. I look at the ads for what is on sale, and get an idea of a few things I can make. I also have a running 'menu' on my whiteboard with meals I can make with stuff I have on hand. I don't plan out what meal for what day, but I do have that reference list. When I shop, I update the list.
I try to menu plan a couple of weeks at a time, and I'm a big fan of Costco for meats and dairy items. As our family expands, I'm sure we'll begin purchasing more produce there as well. A dear friend encouraged me to try and keep it simple with meal planning. So often, I think we as moms feel the pressure to have a new creative, gourmet meal all the time (or maybe that's just me?). We do a basic chicken and vegetables meal at least once a week, and I've realized I don't have to apologize for it! Meals that roll-over well (think ground beef for tacos one night, spaghetti the next) are always good, too. A great tool I've found for menu planning is Google Calendar; I plan there, and then can set certain things to cycle (Friday night pizza), and it takes some of the brain work out for me. Hope this helps!
I created a monthly menu that we repeat every month. There's enough variety that we don't get bored. I posted our menu on my site, it's near the end of this particular post. http://www.texastanya.net/blog/2008/07/my-recent-activities/
Shopping is a "whole nother animal." I end up going to Costco and the Local Grocery. I stagger my trips so one week I go to Costco, the next I go to the grocery store. That's what works for me... HTH, T:)
I just found this meal planner the other day while reading a blog. I printed it and filled it out. I posted it on the fridge and like it so far. Cute too!
Monthly, monthly, monthly!!! I just got over a summer of weekly planning and shopping and I'm burnt out. I was so glad to get back to my monthly planning and shopping and freezer cooking. I actually have spent the past few days posting about my monthly menu plan, grocery list, etc.
12 comments:
I have become a huge fan of freezer cooking or once a month cooking. Here are 2 books that I like:
-Once-a-Month Cooking, Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day by Mary-Beth Lagerborg & Mimi Wilson
-Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell & Bonnie Garcia
Every recipe I have tried has been a home run with my family. I don't actually cook all the meals for an entire month in one day. But I do try to group them, maybe 5 or 6 at a time. I've even hosted parties at my house where friends have gathered and brought supplies to do our cooking together. It's great and it works for me!
I kept track of our meals for a couple of months and voila, I had a meal plan! I was able to see what I regularly made and where I needed to branch out. I now plan out about ten days of meals and shop accordingly. I try to have a new recipe once a week or so. If we like it it goes on "The List".
I get produce at the Farmer's Market, lots of things through a food-co-op, some stuff at Costco, and only make a bi-weekly trip to a regular grocery store. We cook almost everything from scratch, eating out about once a month, at the most.
I make a menu once a week except on the week that I go to my local bulk club. I hate doing the menu but I like being able to see what I am cooking for the week. The weeks that I do not go to the bulk club I go to a regular grocery store to pick up things that I need for my recipes. When I go to the bulk store I get all of my basics for the month.
I do my planing when ever I think of something! I have a magnet calendar on the fridge and when I am just standing there and something pops into my head I write it on there, like this week, I already planned the week, all the way to Sunday (that never happens) but I want to have tacos so I put it on the calendar for next monday and so the week begins, then on Saturday or whenever I go to the store I know exactally what I need to get for dinners.
I plan for 2 weeks. I go to my military commissary but also Aldi's as they have foods that are cheaper than my commissary. I also check my Kroger flyer as well but try to do my shopping trip at one time.
I make a running list on my fridge of what we need or have run out of. Then when making the menu I have a shopping list that is sheet protected which is set up according to the aisles of the store and transfer everything to it using a china marker.
I thought I would hate it, but once I started planning my weekly meals via OrgJunkie (the Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday) I became so much more creative with meals, and saved time and money. I typically shop weekly, but do big trips twice a month. Oh and we always make twice as much as we will eat for dinner and heat up the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I plan things that will serve more than one meal...for example, buy the bigger thing of carrots and use them in a salad one day, a stir fry another, and on a relish tray a third...
I like to do a large roast (with potatoes, onions, carrots--crockpot or dutch oven). Then the leftover beef I'll use to make stroganoff, philly cheesesteak sandwiches, etc. Roast a whole chicken, use leftovers to make soup or a casserole...that kind of thing.
I look at the ads for what is on sale, and get an idea of a few things I can make. I also have a running 'menu' on my whiteboard with meals I can make with stuff I have on hand. I don't plan out what meal for what day, but I do have that reference list. When I shop, I update the list.
I try to menu plan a couple of weeks at a time, and I'm a big fan of Costco for meats and dairy items. As our family expands, I'm sure we'll begin purchasing more produce there as well.
A dear friend encouraged me to try and keep it simple with meal planning. So often, I think we as moms feel the pressure to have a new creative, gourmet meal all the time (or maybe that's just me?). We do a basic chicken and vegetables meal at least once a week, and I've realized I don't have to apologize for it! Meals that roll-over well (think ground beef for tacos one night, spaghetti the next) are always good, too.
A great tool I've found for menu planning is Google Calendar; I plan there, and then can set certain things to cycle (Friday night pizza), and it takes some of the brain work out for me. Hope this helps!
I created a monthly menu that we repeat every month. There's enough variety that we don't get bored.
I posted our menu on my site, it's near the end of this particular post.
http://www.texastanya.net/blog/2008/07/my-recent-activities/
Shopping is a "whole nother animal." I end up going to Costco and the Local Grocery. I stagger my trips so one week I go to Costco, the next I go to the grocery store. That's what works for me...
HTH, T:)
I just found this meal planner the other day while reading a blog. I printed it and filled it out. I posted it on the fridge and like it so far. Cute too!
http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2007/12/meal-planner.html
Monthly, monthly, monthly!!! I just got over a summer of weekly planning and shopping and I'm burnt out. I was so glad to get back to my monthly planning and shopping and freezer cooking. I actually have spent the past few days posting about my monthly menu plan, grocery list, etc.
Wow! Thank you to all who commented and gave such great ideas. I can't wait to put them to use!
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