Today I got together with a friend and we made up 4 meals for each of us for Sundays for the next month. It was a lot of fun and really didn't take that much time at all. Besides cooking with a friend is always more fun. (Thanks Kim!)
So we made Tater Tot Hotdish, Creamy Chicken Casserole, Enchilada Casserole, and Cheeseburger Lasagna. Next time I will make 5 meals as we finished at supper time and after making all those yummy meals we had cereal. Anyway I am excited for the next 4 Sundays as all I need to do on Saturday is pull out a meal and pop it in the oven on Sunday.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Grocery List
A tip to making it easier for grocery Shopping. Make up a list with all the groceries that you normally keep on hand. Divide them up into the categories of Produce, Dry/Canned, Dairy, etc. and put them in the order you would find them in the grocery store. Leave a few blanks at the end of each category for menu specific groceries you will buy on your next trip. Then hang the list up on your fridge and when you run out of something say Ketchup, you just circle it, check it, mark it in some way. Then when it's time to get groceries, half of your work is done already.
It also helps to have a column on the list to mark whether you have a coupon or not. I sometimes forget the coupon when it comes to pay but having it on my list I remember to pull out those coupons.
It also helps to have a column on the list to mark whether you have a coupon or not. I sometimes forget the coupon when it comes to pay but having it on my list I remember to pull out those coupons.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Meals
Do you hate planning out meals? Sometimes I wish we could just eat once in a day, wouldn't that make life easier? I don't mind planning meals but to think of all those ideas and all that prep work for each meal. You just finish one and on to the next.
Well instead of always doing all that work here are some other ideas to eliminate some of the meal planning.
1) Make one meal you can use for both lunch and supper.
I am home during the day so I do this at lunch time sometimes. I will make up a big batch of taco meat and do all the prep at lunch time. So I can have the same tacos or use the meat in a taco salad at lunch and hard shells at supper. Or Softshells at lunch and taco salad at supper, etc. All the prep work and thought are done at once and you have at least 2 meals out of it.
2) Cook up meat ahead of time
Example: I made a chicken casserole the other night and I knew that 2 days later I would be making Chicken Noodle soup so I cooked up twice the amount of chicken and then when I made the Chicken Noodle soup my prep time was cut in half and less cleanup.
3) Add sides to leftovers
When Making my Chicken Noodle soup I made a big batch so I would have leftovers. Then if you don't have quite as much or want a little something different add some sides like biscuits or a salad and your meal feels more intentional instead of just leftovers.
4) Use theme nights
When Making your menu plan for Italian Mondays, MExican Tuesdays, Soup and Sandwich Wednesdays, and so on. Then you just vary things like one Monday is Spaghetti, the next Lasagna, the next Ravioli. One Tuesday is Tacos, then Chimichangas, then enchiladas, etc.
That's it for now, hope it helps
Well instead of always doing all that work here are some other ideas to eliminate some of the meal planning.
1) Make one meal you can use for both lunch and supper.
I am home during the day so I do this at lunch time sometimes. I will make up a big batch of taco meat and do all the prep at lunch time. So I can have the same tacos or use the meat in a taco salad at lunch and hard shells at supper. Or Softshells at lunch and taco salad at supper, etc. All the prep work and thought are done at once and you have at least 2 meals out of it.
2) Cook up meat ahead of time
Example: I made a chicken casserole the other night and I knew that 2 days later I would be making Chicken Noodle soup so I cooked up twice the amount of chicken and then when I made the Chicken Noodle soup my prep time was cut in half and less cleanup.
3) Add sides to leftovers
When Making my Chicken Noodle soup I made a big batch so I would have leftovers. Then if you don't have quite as much or want a little something different add some sides like biscuits or a salad and your meal feels more intentional instead of just leftovers.
4) Use theme nights
When Making your menu plan for Italian Mondays, MExican Tuesdays, Soup and Sandwich Wednesdays, and so on. Then you just vary things like one Monday is Spaghetti, the next Lasagna, the next Ravioli. One Tuesday is Tacos, then Chimichangas, then enchiladas, etc.
That's it for now, hope it helps
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