WhaChooCookin'?!

Meal Planning Time

WhaChooCookin'?! Is the question that I'm asked every day by my family. Lately, I'm being asked by my friends as well. We all know that dinner time is coming, but for some reason we wait until everyone is hungry to try to figure out what we're going to feed them. Then we take meat out of the freezer and by time it thaws everyone is starving . It seems like more people my age, young middle aged, late thirties, early forties, are really struggling to get a rhythm when it comes to meal planning. So I'm going to help you have peace of mind when it comes to dinner planning. Meal planning can be a helpful tool. Take time before you grocery shop to plan out what you want to prepare and you will save time and money. Let's do some meal planning together!

There are so many different ways to meal plan. I'm going to let you know how I do it so that you will be able to customize your meal planning technique for your life style and family . First thing, let's find out what your family likes to eat. Ask your family members, so you can get it straight from the horse's mouth. Ask them what are their favorite things to eat. In my carb-loving family each one of my family members included macaroni and cheese in their favorite meal. Don't forget to add what you, the cook, want and love as well. So, of course, every day you will not be able to fix everything that everyone loves at the same time. But now you have a starting point. "Our Favorite Dishes". Your family has just given you inspiration on some things you could/should cook. Now get your planner out, write it down, use whatever it is you use to keep track of your schedule and appointments. I use an A5 day planner. Start off with what you have. It could be a wall calendar or even a sheet of paper. You just need to organize your thoughts. Now that you have your inspiration, I'll share with you how I get going with the actual planning of the meals.

Organize your thoughts. For most meals you have an entree, a vegetable, and a starch. I list my possible entrees, for example; beef, chicken, turkey, pork, seafood. Then I list possible ways of

preparing my entree, for example; baked, air-fry, soup, casserole, and deep fry/saute. For possible vegetables I list; broccoli, carrots, string beans, corn, and spinach. And for a list of possible sides or starchy items I may have potatoes, rice, pasta, quinoa, and couscous. Because sometimes I get bored with things that I cook or eat, I try not to repeat anything until I've gone through a rotation of the list. For example, I could pick turkey, air fried, carrots, mashed potatoes. This sounds quick and simple because I just picked one thing from each list .

To make this work out for you, you need to consider the things on hand that you selected. So, when planning out your meals you have to First Look in yours cabinets, pantry, refrigerator or freezer to see what items you have on hand that you need to go ahead and cook up and you need to see which items are about to expire so that you can go ahead and cook them now. Those are the things that you will add to your menu first. At this point, you should also have a running grocery list as well that you can use to add things that are missing that you need to complete the meals. For example, I have some ground beef that has been in the back of my freezer for a month or so that means one of my first meals I will plan for this month will require ground beef . I see I have a lot of pasta in my pantry so I'm going to select pasta as my side to go with the ground beef entree. I noticed I have some fresh broccoli in my refrigerator that's only going to last for a few more days so it's going to be my vegetable. I could choose to make a meatloaf of the ground beef, with a side of broccoli and Rotini (spiral) pasta and cheese (mac & cheese). Meal created! I have successfully planned one meal just by picking one item from each list. And because I write them down in advance when it comes time to cook there is no need to struggle with figuring out my options because I already have planned what I'm going to cook.

Now, here is where you're going to go from good to great. Because you know what you are going to cook in advance, you can prepare. Take meat out the freezer the night before... don't freeze items you'll be cooking soon...marinate meat in the morning etc. Also, be sure to keep the meals you've previously planned together in a binder/planner etc. This way you can simply copy meals your family enjoys. Less to think about!

To keep you going, there will be contributors that are going to share meal options with you on this site. So make sure that you come back and check with us when you are in need of inspiration. We're going to share with you actual meals that we are planning for the upcoming week. And soon to come, we will share recipes with you. Our goal is to help you spice up your routine. We are not trying to turn you into a chef, we just know you have a life and are very busy. We may have simple upgrades to some of your common dishes as well. We just want to make your life easier. One less thing you have to think about. Helping Married Mom Moguls, Manage it all!