Wednesday, January 15, 2014

One hour, once a week

That's how I handle the family menu for the week! I grew up watching my parents plan out the meals for the week and make the corresponding grocery list every Sunday.  Typically, Daddy would be making the potato salad to accompany our weekly BBQ Sunday chicken, and Mama would sit at the kitchen table as they talked their way through the calendar for the upcoming week. Not only did it make nightly dinner prep easier, it was an affordable way to get god food on the table fast. I've emulated their method throughout my adult life, but even more so since having a household of four.

Each week, as the cupboard begins to look bare, and the leftovers supply diminishes, I check the kitchen chalkboard and put out a call to my boys for meal requests and shopping needs.  There are the standard household needs that are inevitably on the list: milk, bread, stinky cheese, dried fruit and apples.  Anything else, depends on the season and meal thoughts.

I envision the calendar for at least the next five days (are we all in town?  are there any specific dinner plans with friends? is it a full school week? etc.).  Then I'll consider anything we already have in the fridge that needs to be used up (veggies on their last leg, anything in the freezer that's been there long enough).  I am conscious of centering meals around vegetables and this is a shift from my childhood.  While Mama and Daddy used the meat as the main character and a starch and vegetable were supporting roles, I find that when I think first of how to make the veggies delicious, the protein source is usually there, but generally plays second fiddle.  While I write out the plan for specific days, I don't usually stick to it in the order which I initially planned.  For example, while I'd planned to make prosciutto wrapped salmon for dinner on Friday, the boys had leftover and I went out with friends.  Salmon then became the large lunch on Saturday afternoon.

I've found a system that works for me for laying out the list based on things I've liked about grocery pad layouts I have used in the past.  I usually take a standard 8.5x11" piece of paper and fold it in half like I'm making a paper airplane.  The meal layout goes to the bottom and then I make the list in two columns, subdivided by sections of food groups - produce, dairy, fish/meat, dry goods, frozen goods, bulk items etc.  I can never keep up with a shopping cart and a pen (let alone two kids!), so I write the needed items right along the edges of the paper. This way, once I've put the item into the cart, I tear a notch on it's name in the list.  Then, I'll move on to the next section of the store. Putting the items in the same section of my list helps me visually as I can quickly glance back over the group to assure I've gotten everything.



Roughly, think of a few different cuisine types for variety:
Pasta night
Soup/Beans
Curry (Thai or Indian)
Seafood
Meatless
Pizza & Salad
Mexican
Leftovers

Then I try to incorporate one new recipe or meal a week-- maybe something that caught my eye in a magazine, something I came across in a cookbook etc.

No comments:

Post a Comment