Meal Planning

Planning For Leftovers

2007-11-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

The term “leftovers” can inspire thoughts of turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, and turkey casseroles that fill the days after Thanksgiving. Leftovers do not have to be that boring, and the simple mention of the word doesn’t have to leave your family running for cover.

In fact, planning for “leftovers” ahead of time can make your meal planning for the week a lot easier. If you are a busy mom, you know how hard it can be to come up with ideas for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. In this sub-method of meal planning, you can look at your week and create meals that play off of each other. Here are a few suggestions:

Spaghetti Sauce: On day 1, make a big pot of spaghetti and meat sauce. When the sauce is done, divide it into 3 portions. For that night’s meal, use a portion of the sauce to serve classic spaghetti or a baked rotini dish (mix some cooked rotini pasta into that night’s sauce portion and place in a baking dish; top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 350 until cheese is melted).

On day 2, take a portion of the spaghetti sauce and thin it out with chicken broth; add some cooked rice and you have a tomato-rice soup for dinner.

On day 3, again, thin out the spaghetti sauce with a bit of chicken broth – but don’t make it too thin; then, add some chili powder, chopped onions and some kidney or chili beans. You can even do this in the morning and let it simmer in the crock-pot all day while you run your errands and chauffer the kids to their after-school activities. You’ll have a great-tasting dinner ready for you when you get home.

Roasted Chicken: On day 1, roast a couple of chickens. That night, you can serve a traditional roasted chicken with stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. When you are cleaning up that night’s meal, clean the meat off of both chickens and split into two more portions.

On day 2, use a portion of the chicken, some fresh veggies, a pizza crust and your favorite pizza toppings to make a healthy pizza. For a twist, substitute Alfredo sauce instead of traditional pizza sauce and create an Alfredo Pizza.

On day 3, you can combine the chicken with some sautéed veggies and chickpeas; serve over couscous for a Moroccan inspired meal.

Ground Beef: On day 1 brown 3 nights worth of ground beef (the amount will vary, depending on your family’s size); once the meat is cooked, separate it into 3 portions. On day 1, add some taco seasoning to the meat and serve tacos.

On day 2, use the meat to make a hearty casserole, such as Shepherd’s Pie. On day 3, warm the meat in a skillet along with some tomato sauce, a dash of soy sauce, a bit of brown sugar and paprika along with some chopped and sautéed onions and peppers and you have some easy and delicious Sloppy Joe sandwiches.

Organizing The Kitchen

2007-10-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

If it’s been awhile since you cleaned out your cupboards, you may want to give your kitchen an overhaul before your next shopping trip. You’ll be surprised at how much easier cooking is when you have a tidy kitchen. Here are some tips on organizing the kitchen:

• Check your expiration dates; if it is past its prime, throw it out

• If an item isn’t expired, but no one is interested in eating it, throw it out. Unopened items can be donated to a local food bank.

• Group like foods together; for example, store all canned foods in the same cupboard and all dry goods, such as rice and pasta in the same cupboard.

• Keep drink mixes, coffee, and tea in the same area and keep breakfast cereals, breakfast bars, pop tarts, and other breakfast items grouped together. When you want something, you’ll know right where to go to get it.

• Keep regularly used items front and center. You’ll save time by not continuously reaching and bending for these items.

• If you pack a lot of lunches, designate a “lunch” shelf or cupboard. Place lunch bags, Ziploc bags, and any lunch food that can be stored in a cupboard (peanut butter, crackers, pretzels, etc) in the same place.

• When you start packing the lunch, you simply open the lunch cupboard, grab your lunch stuff and start packing. Of course, you’ll need to walk over to the fridge to grab meats, cheeses, jellies, fruits, and so forth, but having the majority of the items in one place will save you a lot of time.

• Clear out the fridge each week. Leftovers have a short shelf life and you don’t want to risk getting sick by eating something that should have already been thrown-out.

When you don’t have any clutter in your way, you may find that you actually enjoy cooking for your family much more than before.

Grocery Shopping Tips:Navigating The Grocery Store

2007-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

For some people, going to the grocery store can be a real pain. It can be loud, crowded, and sometimes it seems as though the manager rearranges all the items as soon as you got to know the previous layout. Here are some grocery shopping tips on navigating the grocery store, quickly and easily:

• Try to go to the store on weekdays during the early morning or late afternoon. The store will be busiest during the standard lunch time hours of 12 p.m. – 2 p.m., after 5 p.m., and during the weekend.

• The freshest items, such as fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, and dairy items, will be found in the perimeter of the store. The inside aisles will contain the packaged food. If you are trying to avoid junk food in your house, fill your cart with items from the outer aisles first. If you already have a full cart, there won’t be room for the cookies and chips when you get to that aisle.

• To save money, buy the items from the bottom shelves. The store will place brand name items on the eye-level shelves and the lower priced generic items on the shelves closer to the floor. Believe it or not, brand name companies actually pay the stores to have the eye level shelves, as they know many consumers will simply grab the first box of cereal or bag of chips they see.

• If you are going to try the bulk cooking method of meal planning, you will be buying a lot of food during your trip to the grocery store. Ask older children, your spouse, or a friend to go with you and steer the extra cart(s).

• Many stores carry coupon organizers in the planner section of their home office supplies department. You can stick your shopping list, meal plan, and coupons in it and have everything handy when you’re at the store. Some types even have Velcro on the outside, so you can loop it around the shopping cart handle.

• Grocery stores are known for luring people in with sales, special offers, and other marketing ploys. It doesn’t matter if you get a great deal on an item if your family won’t eat it.

While the grocery store will never be a vacation destination, it can be a lot more enjoyable if you know how to get in and get out quickly and easily.

Short Cuts To Cooking

2007-10-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Short-cut cooking is a way of preparing foods quickly and easily by combining prepared food with fresh ingredients. This allows you to take advantage of the convenience of fresh food, while still enjoying the flavor and health benefits of fresh food. This method is also growing in popularity, and you are most likely preparing some of your meals this way without even thinking about it.

Here is some short cuts to cooking:

Have you ever bought a rotisserie chicken from the market and made your own side dishes for dinner? Or, have you ever bought a pre-made potato or pasta salad from the deli to serve with the entrée you’ve had simmering in the slow cooker all day? Well, then you are already familiar with this type of meal preparation.

If your family is going to have an unusually busy week, try planning a few short-cut meals ahead of time. This way, you can go to the grocery store once, have all the food on had during the week, and get dinner on the table in a hurry. The following are a few suggestions:

• Fresh & Easy Pizza: Many busy families love pizza; it’s quick, easy, and you can get it delivered. Pizza delivery can get expensive, though. It’s much cheaper to make your own at home, and if you load it with veggies, you can fool your kids into eating something healthy! Using a ready-made crust such as the Boboli brand will save you the time and trouble of making your own dough. You can also find pizza dough in tubes next to the refrigerated biscuits.

• Speaking of those biscuits, you can opt to use those as “mini-pizzas”. Simply separate the biscuits, roll them out a bit and let your kids make their own pizzas. If you want something a bit healthier, try topping whole wheat English muffins with the pizza toppings. If your family enjoys those frozen French bread pizzas, but a loaf of fresh French bread and make your own using fresh veggies.

• The Versatile Chicken: Earlier, we asked if you’ve ever purchased a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. This is a versatile ingredient that you can use to prepare many meals. Instead of ordering out to a Chinese restaurant, simply sauté some broccoli, shredded cabbage, chopped carrots, celery and onions; add some of the chicken and serve over cooked rice.

• If your family enjoys Mexican food, you can sauté fresh bell peppers and onions while warming up some tortillas and a can of refried beans. Again, add the chicken, some shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and some sour cream and you have great tasting chicken fajitas. Pasta lovers can add a jar of prepared Alfredo Sauce and cooked pasta to the rotisserie chicken to create their own Chicken Alfredo. Try sautéing some peppers and onions to add to the pasta, make a fresh salad as a side dish, and add a loaf of garlic bread for a great meal.

• Add Flavor To Boxed Foods: Hamburger Helper can be a fine dinner if you add a few fresh ingredients to it or pair it with a big, healthy salad.

• Don’t Forget About Canned Meats: There is more to tuna than just sandwiches! Add some bread crumbs, chopped onion and a couple eggs to two large cans of tuna and mix together. Form the meat mixture into patties and pan fry. Tuna-pasta salad is a great summer supper!

Helpful Hints On Planning Your Meals

2007-09-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

There are several helpful hints on planning your meals, depending on your family’s needs, tastes, and budget. If you have ample storage space, you may want to consider “freezer cooking,” which is also known as “bulk cooking” and “once a month cooking”.

In this form of meal planning, you’ll plan your meals for a whole month and complete a month’s cooking during one weekend, freezing the entrees. We’ll discuss this method in more detail later in this guide. This method can work well if you have a busy family and need quick meals that simply need to be taken out of the freezer, thawed, and heated.

If that type of cooking doesn’t appeal to you, you can also plan your meals weekly. This is a very flexible method and you can alter it slightly to fit your family’s needs each week. For example, later in this guide we’ll discuss short-cut cooking, which combines prepared food and fresh ingredients.

If your family has an extremely busy week, plan several of these short-cut meals ahead of time. You’ll have peace of mind throughout your day that your family will have a satisfying meal that night. You won’t have to scramble at the end of a hard day to find something to feed them!

Depending on your level of organization and whether you find yourself favoring plain old paper or fancy electronic gadgets, you can choose to keep track of your meal plan on a simple piece of notebook paper, a calendar that is kept by the fridge or even on your computer.

If you want to be super-organized, one idea is to write out thirty of your family’s favorite meals and rotate them during each month. You can continue to do this, in one sitting, for the entire year. Of course, most people do not want to plan that far in advance.

Simply keeping a week’s worth of meal ideas on the fridge is good enough for most people. You may want to keep a copy in your purse as well, in case you forget what you are having while you are out and about and want to double-check.

Meal Planning On a Budget - Saving You Money

2007-09-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

Saving money is one of the main benefits to meal planning on a budget. If you have already established a family budget, you may find that your food bill always runs over the amount you budgeted. Last minute trips to the grocery store, take-out, and pizza delivery can get very expensive.

For example, a family of four can easily spend more than forty dollars on a take-out dinner; if that family only ate two take out meals per week, they would be spending over $300 per month on those meals alone! Now factor in any other trips through the drive-through and the unneeded items your child feels they cannot live without on all those trips to the grocery store. When you begin to plan your meals, you will know in advance what you will be spending on groceries and will have an easier time sticking to a budget. You may be able to cut your food spending by sixty percent – or even more!

You may want to consider taking the difference between what you currently spend on food and the amount you save and put it towards a “family fun fund”. For instance, if you currently $600 per month on groceries but find that you only spend $450 once you start planning your meals, you can use the extra $150 towards family activities each month, such as bowling, roller skating or movies. Another idea is to save the extra money all year and use it towards a vacation during the summer.

Meal planning can also be a great tool when it comes to teaching school-age children about money and budgeting. Have them accompany you to the store. Bring a calculator and enough cash to buy the items on your list. Have your children help you find the items on the list and calculate the total price of the groceries. This may make the shopping process a bit longer than if you did it by yourself, but your kids will learn a lot about economics and the value of a dollar.

Meal Planning System - Getting Started

2007-09-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

As with any new project, the hardest part is getting started. To begin, you'll need to sit down, look at your family’s tastes, preferences and schedule. You’ll want to create your own meal planning sytem, shopping lists and recipes.

If your family is on a budget, start planning your meals according to what is on sale at the grocery store each week. Using this method of meal planning, you would look through the store’s circular, or “weekly ad,” which can usually found in the local Sunday paper as well as on the grocery store’s website.

If the store is running a sale on whole chickens, you may want to buy several and plan on having roasted chicken, chicken stir-fry and a chicken casserole that week. .If ground beef was on sale, you may want to plan for meals such as meatloaf, spaghetti, tacos, and chili.

If you have several grocery stores in your area, you may want to compare the sales at each of them to insure you are getting the best prices available. It will take a little extra time, but the cost savings can definitely make up for it.

To start forming the basis of your meal plan and shopping list, write the type of meat specials the store is offering on 3x5 index cards. For instance, if chicken breast and round steak are on sale, then label one card “chicken breasts” and another card “round steak”.

Once your cards are labeled, start brainstorming recipe ideas on each card. For example, on the “round steak” card, write out some of your family’s favorite meals that use this type of meat, such as steak sandwiches, beef and broccoli stir-fry, steak fajitas, etc.

If what is on sale at the store each week is less of a concern to your family, you can simply plan your meals according to your family’s taste buds.

As you make your meal planning sytem, don’t forget about breakfast, lunch and snacks. If you have school age children, their school will most likely send home a lunch menu each month. Sit down with your child and decide which days they will be taking cold lunch so you can plan for their lunches when you make out your shopping list.

Don’t forget about you and your spouse – what do each of you do for lunch? Do you eat leftovers, make sandwiches, go out to eat? Plan for all those “little items” to make sure your family stays within the food budget.