Meal planning was the topic of discussion with a group of friends this week. It seems like some level of planning is necessary if you are going to eat healthy food, otherwise dinner out is way to frequently the fall-back. I feel like people that do meal plan have it down to a science. I just started a very loose meal planning each week, and so far it's making life alot easier. I didn't realize how much of my day was spent randomly thinking about what the heck I was going to make for dinner. My meal planning routine has been to pick one cookbook to work from each week, with some regular stand-bys thrown in. I plan on Sunday night, shop on Monday, and (theoretically) we're all set. This is week three, and I really like
feeling a little more organized! (btw, not a word people would typically use to describe me :) )
My other idea was to stick with general meal types...for example, one night is Mexican night, one is stir fry night, one is pasta night, etc. I think this will be really easy once our CSA starts in a few weeks (more on the awesome-ness of CSA's soon!) and I can just throw in whatever veggies we get to create each meal.
So, to any readers who meal plan--tips? Ideas? What's your system?
We do meal planning like this too. We have a kitchen chalk board and we write the weeks' menu on it. Usually if we plan 3-4 dinners it gets us through the week with the occasional going out to eat nights and leftovers. Shopping is done at farmers market on Saturday and at supermarket on Sunday. I used to pick recipes from a variety of cookbooks each week, but that's a hassle to remember which cookbook, etc and it's soooo overwhelming! I like your idea of one cookbook per week. Will do from now on! -Jen Lutz
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