One of the bites (no pun intended!) she offers is around meal planning. I've tried this before, but haven't really stuck with it. My main goal for doing this is to get our food spending under control. I feel like I spend a lot on food.
Tsh mentioned that she goes through her Pinterest food board for menu planning ideas, so I thought I'd have a little fun with that this week.
Here's what I did: Every week, I get a fruit & veggie box delivered to my door, so I waited for the email to tell me what I was getting in my box; then went to my food board on Pinterest to see what I could find to make as part of my meal plan. The goal here is to only get what I need for these particular recipes at the grocery store. I tend to keep a good bulk of pantry items so I also considered those items in my search.
After I found a dish, I added it to my google calendar to keep track of what I'm making. I also added reminders about other things I need to do the day before like soak beans for the quinoa wraps and the sweet potato burgers.
Here's the menu I came up with for the week:
Monday:
Whole roast chicken, potatoes and 'The Best Broccoli of your life'
Southwestern Quinoa Wrap with a salad. We have some leftover chicken from last night so I'll add some of that to the wraps tonight.
Wednesday:
Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea Salad with pork loin chops
Thursday:
Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers with Avocado & mixed green salad
Friday:
Gnocchi With Roasted Cauliflower
I realize this all may seem a bit nerdy, but honestly I felt more organized the minute I started working on it. Now I know I have everything in the house to make these menu items so I don't have to stress about what to make as the dinnertime draws closer. Plus, who doesn't love an excuse to go to Pinterest? ;)
How about you - have you found any good tips when it comes to meal planning?
I NEED to explore meal planning! I work full time and by the time I get home I don't CARE what we eat, I just want to eat, so we eat crap. If I was a little more organized and had a plan, I think we'd be a lot better off.
ReplyDeleteOooh... organization like this is right up my alley! I haven't dabbled in Pinterst at all, and had no idea there was a recipe angle to it. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI've been on quite a kick recently with inspiration from "An Everlasting Meal." For a little over a month now, I've stuck to the process of roasting an oven-full of various vegetables once a week and building dinners around them. As long as I keep our cupboards stocked with basics like rice, pasta, beans, and spices, I'm good to go on nights when I don't feel like being creative. And on other nights I'll get a special ingredient or cut of meat to liven up the meal. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend the book.
holleeee yum! can I hire you to make our meals?? :)
ReplyDelete@Ashley - I do have the luxury of working from my home office which definitely makes this kind of stuff a bit easier but with a little planning I'm sure you could make it work!
ReplyDelete@Susan - I love that idea! Maybe I'll try doing an everlasting meal next week! PS - People would love to see your photos on Pinterest! :)
@Carol - $150/hr ;)
Planning is key!
ReplyDeleteI am also working on a photo book of all our favorite recipes...that way the boys will each have a copy of what their mom cooked when they were little, and I can flip thru and say - hey, haven't made this in a while!!!
Shannon that is the coolest idea ever! What a great thing to give to your boys.
ReplyDelete