You will hear me say over and over again how important I think it is to plan your meals ahead of time (as opposed to panicking at 5:00 and running to the store or the drive thru). When you plan properly, you can go shopping once (whether it be for a week, two weeks, or longer) and know that you have everything you need to make all your meals without having to visit a store again. But, what exactly do you plan? Some people get very detailed, planning all three meals, plus snacks and desserts, for their menu plan period. For me, I have found that planning dinners for each specific day, and 7 breakfasts and lunches that can be placed on any day, is sufficient. My philosophy is that the busier you are, the more you need to plan. If you are running like crazy, even coming up with a simple breakfast at the last minute can be a challenge, and therefore should be planned and prepped ahead of time. But if your days are pretty calm, you can just make sure that you have all the ingredients you need to make your typical breakfast and lunch foods, then you shouldn't have to plan what you will have each day. I do, however, plan each day's dinner meal according to the calendar (discussed
here). Dinner is a little more crucial for a couple reasons. 1) it tends to be the largest, most complex meal of the day and 2) my hubby is home for dinner and I want to make sure I am prepared with a good meal when he walks in the door. I do also take a look at the calendar and see if there are any daytime meals that I am going to want to think about ahead of time, like for example, if my husband will be home for lunch, or if we are going to be leaving early in the morning and I need a quick and easy breakfast. I also make a pot of soup every Monday, so I plan that ahead of time to make sure I have all the ingredients. I think you get the idea.
This menu plan period I did get more detailed than I usually do, because I had a bunch of recipes I wanted to try out.
Menu Plan 3/28-4/4
Monday:
breakfast~breakfast cookies
lunch~chili
dinner~apricot chicken, sweet potatoes, carrots, beer bread
dessert~cinnamon roll cookies
Tuesday:
breakfast~oatmeal
lunch~leftovers
dinner~salmon, rice, biscuits, salad
dessert~chocolate cake
Wednesday:
breakfast~biscuits n gravy
lunch~picnic of sandwiches, cheese and crackers, and fruit
dinner~baked ziti
dessert~crockpot apple crisp
Thursday:
breakfast~smoothies
lunch~mini corn dog muffins
dinner~chicken burritos, salad with Cafe Rio dressing
dessert~
strawberry shortcakeFriday:
breakfast~cinnamon bun scones
lunch~asian salad
dinner~blt pizza
dessert~oatmeal cookies
Saturday:
breakfast~chocolate chip cream cheese coffee cake
lunch~tuna salad
dinner~spaghetti salad, salad, french baguette
dessert~
browniesSunday--EASTER
breakfast~hot cross buns
appetizers~sausage balls, deviled eggs, smokin mozzarella balls
dinner~ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean bake, rolls, ambrosia salad
dessert~coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie
© 2010-2011 Day to Day Cook - All Rights Reserved
I need to get back to menu planning. Even though it is just the two of us now, things just work so much better when I do that. I AM in the process of planning our Easter menu, but that it just one day. We'll have the 'in-town' kids over and a few friends. So far, that menu is: BBQ (whatever my husband or the kids get to bbq), fresh carrots and dip, deviled eggs, kale & bacon, Garden Patch Pasta Salad, fresh tomato pie (maybe), and peach cobbler. Maybe a fruit salad and marzipan cookies shaped like tiny carrots and other garden veggies, too. Maybe some kind of potatoes ... it'd be easy to just put baked potatoes in the bbq pit. Check my blog if you like. Although the last couple of posts were not about cooking, previous ones were. Just scroll back.
ReplyDelete