So, here is what I do to save my conscience, our budget, and our waistlines.
1st tip - I try and do my planning while my kiddos are napping/resting because it is easier if I don't keep getting interrupted.
2nd tip - I usually do it on Friday afternoons because we go grocery shopping on Saturday mornings and I need to have my list ready to go by then.
I plan my meals from Sunday-Saturday and I start by sitting down with my calendar for the next week. Before I choose any meals I need to figure out what our schedule is going to look like. If we are really super busy throughout a particular day I know I need to stick with super quick and easy-to-throw-together stuff, or crock pot meals. I also take into consideration how long I will be home right before supper and whether I could be using the oven or if I need to make something earlier in the day that will just be ready to heat up on the stove-top when we walk in the door.
As an example, on Mondays I teach a Zumba class from 5:30-6:30 pm in the evenings. The kids and I have to leave the house by 4:50 pm to get there on time and we don't get back to the house till about 7:15 pm, and we are all famished by that time. My hubby gets home @ 6:00 pm and likes to eat right away. By knowing our schedule for the day I know that I need to make something for supper that can be heated up quickly, or served hot out of the crock pot because my hubby doesn't want to wait 20-30 minutes for the oven to heat up his food and neither do the kids and I. It needs to be quick, which means I am cooking soups and stews and stir fry's, stove top stuff. I should also add that even though we own a microwave we really prefer NOT to use it. I honestly only ever use it to quickly melt butter when I am baking cause I mean...it's butter. I don't think a microwave can really make butter any less nutritious than it already is.
Now on the days that we are not so busy, I get to choose meals that take a little more right-before-you-sit-down-to-eat-it babysitting, like meatloaf's or lasagna or cooking on the grill, or even trying a new recipe. I love new recipes! When our schedule permits me to, I try a new one about once a week, but I HATE feeling rushed with a recipe that I am not familiar with. A new recipe always takes me much longer the first time than it ever will again because I don't know what's coming next like I do with my tried and trues. So, I like to give myself plenty of time to work with those newbies.
Once I have our schedule in front of me then comes the fun part, I grab my recipe file and start choosing. I keep a file of recipes that are in our permanent rotation, a file of ones that I would like to try and also a file of recipes I would like to try again before deciding for sure if they deserve a permanent spot in my box. I laminate the ones we love because I hate nothing more than accidentally setting my recipe paper in a wet spot on the counter. Ugh! When I am choosing which recipes to use I also take into consideration the ingredients that I already have on hand that need to get used up. For instance, this week I had a whole head of cabbage that needed some attention so I chose 2 recipes that use cabbage and will probably make Cole Slaw as one of our side dishes as well.
Here is what I ended up choosing for this week:
Monday - Dirty Rice With Smoked Sausage
Tuesday - Spicy Cabbage-Beef Soup (This was my new recipe to try this week)
Wednesday - Zuppa Toscana
Thursday - Crockpot Pheasant with cole slaw & fresh corn
Friday - Mexican Tortilla Pizza (I add seasoned ground beef to this recipe because my hubby is extremely anti-meatless lol)
Saturday - Lunch - Out / Dinner - Ham & Potato Soup (hubby's recipe)
Sunday - Lunch - Leftovers / Supper - Out/Pizza or Sandwiches
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