Archive for May, 2008
Meal Planning – How to – Step 2
Now that we know what is in our freezer and pantry (see Why Meal Planning – The First Step) it is time to begin to put together our weekly meal plan. A quick note: not all budgets are equal. Some have tighter budgets than others. This Sample Meal Plan is meant only to give you an idea of how all this goes together. Realizing that many are really squeezed financially we are making efforts to get more low cost recipes on the www.emealsforyou.com site.
Grocery shopping with a shopping list has two great effects: you know you will have what you need when you are preparing the meal and you will save money as you only buy what is on the list. Working with the local grocery sales sheets I have put together the meal plan for 7 dinner; using the techniques mentioned in Feel the Power – Weekly Meal Planning- Save Time and $$$ choosing meals that are fairly easy to make and pleasing to your family. In the interest of space on this blog I have created a separate file:Feel the Power – Meal Planning – How to Step-2 – using the emealsforyoucom site to show you the meal plan and the shopping list created by www.emealsforyou.com so that your trip to the grocery is both quick and economical. You will also see that it is possible to add items to the shopping list not called for in the recipes but needed around the house. The entire process took roughly 15 minutes to complete. You may do this same function without using emealsforyou.com. You just need to gather your recipes, compile a list of all the ingredients to include amounts and then off to the store.
Remember the reason we are meal planning is to save money: buy just what you need, not all the costly extras and feed your families better meals. Better being better tasting, better for them and maybe more, “this is good mom” for you.
1 comment May 7, 2008
Recipe of the Week – Angelhair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp
(from www.emealsforyou.com/Fish Entrees/Angelhair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp)
Angelhair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp
What do you want for dinner honey? I don’t know what do you feel like? How many of us hear this all the time? So Capt. Jim, from next door, and my wife are sitting there trying to figure out what they have a taste for. How about some shrimp? Okay, with what? Can’t you just make something, we know it will be good. Make something new!
This is the genesis of the Angelhair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp recipe. A little of this and a little of that; throw it in the pan and viola! Dinner is Served. Some of my best recipes have come from this method. I think the important part here is trust your instincts. You know what you like. A little shrimp here; a lot of garlic there. Finish with some lemon zest to, as they say” make it pop” whatever the hell that means.
Bottom line is this is a really good, fast and if you buy the shrimp on sale, inexpensive meal. One that fits perfectly into the Sunday night slot or even a neighborly get-together. Final conversation with the diners, how is it? mmm. what? mmm, don’t talk with your mouth full.
Angel Hair Pasta with Garlic Shrimp
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Fish Entrée |
| Meal: | Happy Birthday (Celebration Meal Plans) |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 2 | Tb | lemon zest, finely chopped |
| 4 | medium | scallions, sliced |
| 3 | cloves | garlic, minced |
| 1 | lb | shrimp, deveined, shelled |
| 1 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 0.75 | cup | tomatoes, diced |
| 0.25 | cup | milk, 2 % |
| 1 | lb | pasta, angel hair |
| 4 | Tb | cheese, romano, grated |
| 1 | Tb | parsley, flakes |
| 0.5 | tsp | pepper, fresh ground |
| 1 | pinch | salt to taste |
Heat oil in pan; add 1/2 the zest, all the scallions, garlic, and shrimp. Reduce heat and simmer until shrimp are done,( about 3-4 minutes) add lemon juice, tomato, and milk. Simmer 3 more minutes. Cook pasta in boiling water with 2 Tb salt. Add pasta to pan, mix well, plate. Sprinkle top with parsley flakes, black pepper, remaining lemon zest and romano.
Serve with garlic bread.
* See note
If your pasta is too dry add a little of the pasta water.
From the Happy Birthday Meal Plan at emealsforyou.com
3 comments May 6, 2008
Recipes versus Old Favorite Recipes – Rant
Cookbooks are like arm chairs; sounds crazy but let me explain. Cookbooks are a collection of recipes; kind of like the arm chair selection in a furniture store. To see whether we “like” the chair, whether it is comfortable or not, we have to sample it. Sit in it, move to the left, move to the right, maybe put our feet up to fully evaluate it. We have to take into consideration the quality of the store we are in. Now let’s look at color and material; lots to do here.
So how does that equate to cookbooks? We have many avenues for cookbooks and recipes. There is the old fashion book, and the new fashion Internet search. We pick up the book, look at the pictures, do a quick scan of the recipes and take it to the cashier. Now, at home with our feet up in our favorite chair, we open that cookbook and find exactly two recipes we think we like. Over the next few days we make these recipes and guess what? We find we like only one. So the end result is one good recipe for the cost of the cookbook, plus not just a little disappointment on our mindset. Each of us has that supposed “special” cookbook. I bought a Charlie Trotter, world-class Chicago chef, cookbook; impressed my friends. I quickly found out that Tuna-Wrapped Oysters with Saffron Infused Tomato Water just wasn’t me. Fifty bucks well spent, not.
Now let’s look at those favorite recipes and cookbooks, the ones with the smudges of chocolate and egg on the pages. The one where you can quickly find the recipe you always cook when you have to have something that works, mainly ’cause the book has so much “crud” on the page that it opens itself to the recipe. Ooohhh! This is my favorite chair, this is my comfort zone.
So what’s your point, you say. My point is you can buy all the cookbooks in the world. You can download all those recipes from the Internet. I am betting in the long run you will return to those old favorites, those recipes from chefs, and friends and maybe your mom that always work and bring back good memories. Sure it is okay; in fact you should be seeking out new “favorites”, just don’t think that more is better. Sit back in that comfy old chair and enjoy your recipe comfort zone. That’s my rant and I am sticking to it.
Add comment May 2, 2008
Why Meal Planning – The First Step
So you know you should plan a little better; for a couple of reasons. First there is the, ” I really should give my family better meals” thing. Then, and this should not be minimalized, there is the, “times are tough and I should try to save money where I can” thought. Using www.emealsforyou.com will help you plan better, feed your family better and feel better about yourself. From picking recipes and meals your family will love; to printing the shopping list designed to help you get through the grocery faster and with fewer unneeded items in the cart, we give you that “warm fuzzy” that you are doing something to help. Think how easy it would be to save just $3 per month, that’s the cost of a membership to emeals and as they say, “the rest is gravy”.
Okay, enough of the sales pitch; let’s move on to the First Step in Meal Planning. this one will take a little work but it will pay off in the long run.
Step 1 – Get to know the bottom of the freezer and the back shelf of the pantry. Sounds easy enough. Take a piece of paper and write down what is, or what you think it is, in that frosty baggie way back there. Make a note of what spices you have, what can goods have been sitting there waiting anxiously to please your family. Side note: now would be an excellent time to clean out all those jars of salad dressing with 1 inch of dressing in the bottom on the fridge door, you know, the ones with an expiration date of 3/2004.
Step 2 – On another sheet of paper write down all the pre-prepared foods you consume in the next two weeks. Include all the snacks the kids eat as well. These are NOT GOOD for you, don’t believe me, take a peek at the ingredients; plus they are consuming your budget. Don’t go “cold turkey” on the kids stuff, but see where you can cut back; where you can change some eating habits for the better.
Pat yourself on the back, you have started the process. Now that you know what you have you can start to figure out what you need. One final thing: start an “on sale” fund. We will use this to stock up on food, when it is on sale, that you will build your meal plans around. We help you with this as well. Our Recipe Finder let’s you plug in ingredients and see what you can make with them. Once you get the hang of all of this your will find how easy it really is.
3 comments May 1, 2008
