Over at One Starry Night, Sarah is asking people to share their process when it comes to meal planning. Here’s mine:
- I start by taking stock of what meats I have in the freezer. Meat is the most expensive component of my grocery budget; I’ve been buying organic chicken and ground beef at Costco lately and I don’t have my own Costco membership so I can’t necessarily pop over there any time so I make sure to work with what is already in the freezer. Most weeks I make one chicken dish, one beef dish, and one other dish (either vegetarian or using bacon, turkey, or some non-chicken/beef meat).
- Put your plan together when you’re hungry or having food cravings. It makes it so much easier. I note tasty looking recipes I find online throughout the week and then fill in the gaps from my master index of recipes from my cookbooks and magazines.
- If I’m planning to make a main dish that doesn’t already include a vegetable, I select an in season and on sale vegetable from the weekly grocery ad to prepare along with that dish. I keep my freezer stocked with frozen veggies like peas and pepper strips so I can add them to any dish on a whim. I love berries and always pick them up when they’re in season and on sale and I always make sure to have a few apples on hand for snacking (apples keep really, really well).
- I’ve got a wicked sweet tooth so most weeks I plan to bake one dessert item. Cookies and cupcakes are especially good for those of us cooking for one because it’s easy to freeze some of them; pies and cakes are tricky because you really shouldn’t eat the whole thing by yourself before it goes bad and it’s hard to preserve just part.
- Some weeks I cook up a breakfast item like scones, muffins, or quick bread. On days I don’t have a fresh baked breakfast item, I eat cereal, oatmeal, or toast possibly along with fruit, bacon, and/or eggs.
- For lunches and for dinners on nights I’m not cooking, I eat my leftovers. For variety I usually put one or two servings of each dish in the fridge and the rest in the freezer for later weeks.
- After my list of recipes I’ll be cooking that week is complete, I put together my grocery list based on any items I need for those recipes that I don’t already have. Basics like milk, eggs, and flour get added to the grocery list as soon as I notice I’m running low.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
You are not only more organized than I am, but less easily distracted as well – half the time I change my mind half way though cooking a meal! great post!
You’ve got a system down. I can’t even plan as to what I am going to have for brekky tomorrow morning. i think that if i were to get more organized than I wouldn’t eat out as much or make my random Whole Foods runs which end up being quite pricey.
It is a lot greener (and can be cheaper) to just skip the meat. Just saying, this is about frugal and green habits.
January 24, 2010 at 8:44 PM
That may be true and I’ve experimented with vegetarianism but the fact of the matter is I love meat. I don’t eat it every meal or even every day but I do enjoy meat and want to continue to eat it sometimes so I plan for it.