Monday, August 29, 2011

Meal Planning, step 2

Once I have my list of meal ideas in front of me, I get a calendar and look to see if there is anything I need to plan around.  Then I use my list to start filling in a meal for each day.  I have a very basic system that I like to follow:
  • Sunday, my husband is home so I plan a more time consuming, family meal, because I have help with the kids.   
  • Monday, I try to plan something easy because I never seem to be organized on Mondays.... 
  • I try to plan larger meals with leftovers early in the week so we all have something for lunches
  • Friday I tend to plan "eat out" sort of foods like pizza or tacos.  No real reason, I just got in the habit of doing it...  
  • When planning, I try to get one of each meat type during the week, as well as a pasta dish and a veggie based dish, then fill in the rest with whatever seems to work.  I just make sure we aren't having the same type of meal (ie. chicken) several days in a row.  Some people like to plan it so that each day is a certain type of meal, like Monday is vegetarian, Tuesday is chicken, etc.  If that makes it easier on you, do it!  It just doesn't work for me.  
  • I don't usually plan side dishes (I'm kind of lazy like that).  There are certain things that I always do specific sides with (Apricot chicken is always sushi rice and steamed broccoli) for everything else, I just play it by ear that night.  I go with what I have in the garden or pantry, and that works well enough for me.  Most of my sides don't require anything more than basic pantry items, so I have a variety of things to choose from.  If I know I'm craving something specific, then I'll put it on the menu so I make sure I have all the ingredients on hand.  
Remember that you can always change what your planned meal is if the day comes and you just don't have a taste for pork chops, or whatever.  When I change something, I usually pick a different dish using the same main ingredient (pasta, ground beef, etc) or I juggle things around in the week and plan to eat this dish later in the week. And when all else fails, I dig through the freezer for some leftovers... 

My sister found this awesome site with an excel template for making your meal plan.  There are a variety of printable pdf files if you want to hand write a weekly or monthly plan.  If you know how to use excel (even a little) there is a program that where you type in your list of meal ideas and then you can use that list to fill in your calendar.  I just used it tonight and I love it!!  Check it out: http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/meal-planner.html


Here is my plan for the week, just to give you an idea:
Sunday- Roasted chicken, steamed green beans and balsamic rosemary roasted potatoes
Monday- Eggplant parmasean
Tuesday- Pecan crusted pork chops
Wednesday- Alfredo chicken pasta
Thursday- "Jack's" chicken (trying a new recipe...)
Friday- pizza roll
Saturday- grilled sausage
 









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