This is a question I can only handle once MAYBE twice a week. I probably started planning out our meals weekly about three years ago just out of a desire to try new recipes and not spend $100 bucks each time I go to the store. It's really helped us stay on budget, stay on task at the grocery store (no random packages of oreos in the cart), have whole meals, and stress less during the week because of extra trips to the grocery store during rush hour or figuring out what to eat at 8pm that night.
I always wonder how other people figure out what they need when they're going down the aisles like me at HEB. I see some have lists and some just have that look in their eyes like they know exactly what they're there for. For us it goes something like this:
Around Tuesday of that week I start making a list of meals I'd like to have the next week. A lot of times it revolves around a craving or a new recipe I find online or from a friend. I ask Tony if he has any special requests and he makes up a list and emails it to me at work (during the school year) around Wednesdays. Poor guy, because I get to nix or approve his requests but most of the time the meals he wants I'm up for that week.
After that, I go through our pantry and fridge to see what I'll need for the meals. This week it looked like this:
Pot Roast: roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, beef broth, can of corn for side
Chicken Fajitas: fajitas, onions, rotel for rice, bell peppers
Meat Loaf: ground beef, seasoned breadcrumbs, egg, onions, potatoes for side
Stuffed Pasta Shells: low fat ricotta, low fat cottage cheese, shells, Italian shredded cheese
Penne pasta: shredded cheese (I already have spaghetti sauce and pasta)
We leave a couple of days (usually Friday and Saturday nights) open for dinner out like Chick-fil-a, Taco C or somewhere sit down.
After the list is made I do my grocery shopping on Thursdays. I don't know what made me pick Thursdays a while back, but I remember when we did it during the weekend I felt like it took away our free time and we had that dreaded "ugh, we have to go grocery shopping" feeling looming. Not to mention the crowd at our store is TERRIBLE during the weekend. Plus, I've found that I don't mind doing my shopping on Thursday afternoons because it's almost Friday and that's enough to put me in a great mood (and do our laundry which is also on Thursdays).
At the store I'm a big deal finder. I full on believe in coupons and always check the "coupon tree" before I get started. I grew up watching my mom clip coupons and it's something I laughed about in college, but today I totally use them. I don't care if I have millions of dollars one day, if I pay $1.00 more for something because I didn't check for a coupon and I find out it'll bug me then like it bugs me now! Habits are habits! We also buy generic for most of what we use to cook. Tony was a big name brand boy when I met him in college so I was surprised how easily he took to the generic world. He LIVES for finding deals now and was blown away by how much he spent buying name brand things when most of the generics taste just as great!
When I get home I unpack everything and usually by then Tony's home and he splits up all the meat for the different meals for me. If I buy a large pack of chicken breasts he'll ask how I want them split up and cut and then put them in freezer bags for meals that week. While he's doing that, I'm rinsing the fruits and veggies, and putting away the groceries. I've also started recycling thanks to one of our neighbors who made me feel guilty for living in our home for 6 months and never using our bin. It really is amazing how many things can be recycled that I use to just chunk in the trash.
All in all our system works pretty well for us and I'm lucky to have such a great partner who helps out so much.
Something I've started doing is making Sundays the day I pre-cut all the fruits and veggies for the week. I love cooking big meals and having leftovers for the next day's lunch, but I've found that I dread it a little more if I know that on a Tuesday night I have to cut up meat, dice onions, and slice up bell peppers. Having them pre-cut cuts down on prep time immensely and leaves us with more time to hang out and do what we want.
And if you know me, you know, I DO WHAT I WANT!
After I cut everything up I put them in Tupperware and stash them in the fridge for that week's meals.
Right now we have diced onions for the meatloaf, sliced onions for both the pot roast and fajitas, carrots ready to go in the crock pot with the pot roast and strawberries for the morning parfaits.
After that, I usually just put a pizza in the oven! It's an exhausting few hours but TOTALLY makes the rest of the week go by pretty smoothly.
I still wonder how others, especially those with a few kids, do it. We try to cut down as much prep time and trips to the store because we know that one day when we have children we won't have the extra time to slice, dice, and run to the store for a meal so we might as well get in good routines now. Plus, we like to eat big ol' real meals!!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment