Every now and then it's a good idea to look through your freezer and refrigerator and plan meals that will let you use up food that you've been storing. I've been good about this all week. We've had home cooked dinners, complete with entrée, salad and two veggies, and occasionally I've added a starch or soup to the mix.
All that cooking got to me. Tonight we went out to dinner.
We have a Greek restaurant in the Chicago suburbs that is incredible! I had moussaka tonight.....eggplant layered with a tomato/meat sauce, topped with a thin layer of cheese sauce. Yummmmmmmmmm! It was worth ignoring my diet!
My family seems willing to leave meal planning in my hands. Each week I ask them for their input, and each week they horse around and make jokes and walk away without giving me any suggestions. THIS week, we will be having BEETS for dinner. I plan to pick all the things I like that they don't like. Perhaps then I'll get a little help with the meal planning.
I think a lot of women get to this point after four months of cooking cold season meals. We end up repeating old standbys and get tired of cooking the same thing again and again. I've tried to add new meals into the mix to keep our diabetic diet interesting, but there are times when the demands of the day require something quick to fix. Tuesday I cooked 8 ounces of vermicelli and added a tiny jar of sun dried tomato pesto to the pasta, and served it with Caesar seasoned shrimp and a big salad. It wasn't the best choice in terms of carbs, but it was a quick warm dinner.
Have spring or summer meals begun sneaking into your meal plans? A couple of years ago I noticed that we were shifting the seasons in our kitchen. The grocery stores make almost everything available year round, IF you care to pay for it, so we were eating watermelon in the winter, and corn on the cob. I recall reading somewhere (come to think of it.....it may have been here in a comment to an earlier post) that our bodies need the vitamins and minerals that come from fruits and veggies that are in season naturally, so we've tried to stick to that theory this year. But....I'm ready for spring to rear it's head. I'll make cooked red cabbage once more...and that's it!
Buffy, I do tire of the meal planning, so, I fish for ideas. I have been doing weekly plans (for supper) a week in advance for much of the last year. I have started intentionally leaving space at the bottom of the menu with some bullets for the family to jot suggestions for the next week. Finally, there is 3 meals suggested (well at least the main course, so to build around that is easy).
This "...plan meals..." and "...meal planning..." of which you speak. Is this a new fad? I just don't keep up. Heck! If I ever planned meals, I don't know what would happen. Only for holidays do I think that far in advance. I start thinking about a meal, usually, two hours before it's due on the table. I hate, Hate, HATE that part of the cooking.
When my brother ate his meals at my apartment (one summer, in college), his job was to PLAN and shop for the food (he had a car--when I shopped for food, I was afoot.) I did the cooking and cleanup. He was really good at planning--down to the subsequent use of a partial can of corn that he knew would be left from a dinner! It was fabulous! (I lost 12 pounds in 2 1/2 months. I quit snacking because it wouldn't have been right for me to eat food that was 1/2 his!)
Desiree, I'll have to try that. I usually do my meal planning on Sunday, with grocery shopping on Monday. Maybe if I get us through a week, and give them time to think about what they might like to try, I'll get some suggestions from them.
Cop Car, If I don't plan ahead, then the ingredients are not on hand for whatever we want to make. I usually have six ideas that are fairly firm, and make sure there are enough veggies and salad to go with. Beyond that, it's sometimes a flip of a coin to decide which meal we have each day.
My sisters used to hoot and laugh at my posted menus. I couldn't figure out how they could feed a family when they didn't plan ahead. I hope to retaliate one day and post the dishes to be used on the table, the wine to accompany dinner, and the CD to be playing. Of course, that list will only happen the week of Thanksgiving, when I know my family will be here. *G*
Your list sounds like Dudette's list when she has Thanksgiving dinner. The dishes and serving pieces are out and labeled as to use and the cooking is timed and listed. I tried that method once. (Shocked everyone!) It's more fun to say, the next day, "Oops! Here's the pasta salad that I was going to serve yesterday!" Fortunately, I was regarded as being highly organized at work (whether the regard was earned, or not--LOL!)
It astonishes me that the organization at work didn't naturally flow into menu planning. I'd think it would be a habit that worked across the board.
Dudette's my kind of sister!
btw....I've had those experiences....the casserole that was still in the oven, but the family swears that the year I forgot to turn the oven on was the best goof.
It does take longer to cook when the oven isn't turned on. (Been there, done that!) I don't mind planning things that I enjoy doing; but, being one who hates cooking, there is no way that I want to prolong the agony by thinking about it the extra time that it takes to plan meals. I've always wanted to build a house without a kitchen; but, resale is a bear!