Ha ha - a post
Yesterday I made a plan for dinner for the week. Monday I was going to experiment with the whole chicken I bought on sale, Tuesday sirloin tips, wednesday stew, thursday taco night, friday southern style pulled pork. We have been doing better about packing our lunch, so I set a goal of packing our lunches every day so we wouldn't buy food. We went ( Read more... )
Here are a couple of ideas that may help you with the meal planning...
1. Try to think of meals where you can cook once and eat twice. For example, roast a chicken for one meal and then use the left over bones to boil up for soup a day or two later. You'll be able to stretch your meats that way and it'll take less cooking time.
2. Try to do some prep work on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. For example, is there anything you can prep on Sunday for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday? Maybe wash the bird and stuff it on Sunday so when you get home on Monday you just put it in the pot and toss it in the oven. Are there veggies you can chop up ahead of time and stick in a bowl on Sunday so they're ready to cook the next night. There are some things you can't do this with but a surprising number of things you can. On Wednesday night, prep for Thursday and Friday. For example, on Wednesday you're having stew so chop up the veggies ahead of time. Potatoes won't hold well but they shouldn't take more than a few minutes while you're mixing other things together. Even better, put together the stew on Tuesday night and put it in the crock pot.
3. Have a backup easy dinner ready to go for those nights when you get home late and you're absolutely too tired to cook what you have planned. Sure, last night you had the ambition to stick to the plan but on a Thursday night if it has been a long week that's going to be harder. I have a couple of meals in the freezer (mac and cheese with ham, chicken enchiladas, chicken broccoli and rice casserole) that I can pop into the oven and they'll be done 30 minutes later for those nights. Look up OAMC (once a month cooking) recipes if you need inspiration.
4. Do you always pack leftovers for lunches or do you make sandwiches? I use the same sort of schedule to pack lunches as I do prepping for dinners. On Sunday I'll peel and chop up carrots and stick them in a bowl so I can grab carrot sticks for lunch. I'll make two or three sandwiches and keep them in the fridge. Lunch then becomes a 2 minute affair in the morning to pick a piece of fruit, grab some carrot sticks, grab a sandwich, a container of yogurt, etc. That way I'm not completely stuck if there aren't enough leftovers from the night before or I've already gotten them planned for another meal.
Granted, most of this I'm not currently worrying about too much since Rich is home during the week and takes care of most of the dinners. I still do some meal planning just to help give him ideas because to a great extent we're still eating out of the pantry and the freezer so I can rotate our stock. When he's working or out of town, this is pretty much how I do it.
Or, you could find a minion/houseboy to have dinner on the table for you both when you get home. :)
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