Posts filed under 'Meal Planning'
Leftovers – Trash or Treasure
(From The Salad Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Spring Salad
Learning to plan your meals requires you to re-learn a skill our grandmothers had; understanding how to use all the various food products before they went “bad”. Leftovers became the next meal, tops of vegetables were put in water with a piece of meat to make a soup. Bread too dry to eat was made into stuffing or a bread pudding for dessert.
The first step is to plan your meals so that you count on there being leftovers. Cooking half a chicken for dinner makes little sense when you could cook the whole bird with the same effort and build a second meal with the leftovers; think chicken salad, chicken pot pies, chicken soup. A pot roast becomes hot roast beef sandwiches a couple of nights latter.
We are all mesmerized by the cooking shows that, with great fanfare, reveal the surprise ingredient to be included in the meal. We think this is great fun but shy away from this thinking when it is us who are looking into the frig and trying to come up with something appealing from what we see there. The salad pictured above came about when I realized the tomatoes were just about to lose their crunch, the leftover asparagus was to the use now or pitch stage and I had an abundance of feta cheese.
The bottom line is if we plan our meals we will save money; if we use all the food we buy we will get bonus meals, again saving money. The secret is to think about a meal, then think about an associated meal made using similar products. Don’t think about it as a chore, think about it as a game show, one you can win.
Spring Salad
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 4 |
| Category: | Salad |
| Meal: | Easy, pizy |
| 1 | pt | tomatoes, cherry |
| 0.5 | small | cucumbers, English, peeled |
| 0.33 | lb | asparagus, peeled, cooked |
| 3 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 | Tb | cilantro, chopped |
| 0.25 | cup | cheese, feta, crumbled |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 0.5 | medium | lemon, juice of |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Cut cherry tomatoes in half, place in a large bowl. Dice cucumber and asparagus into ½ inch dice; add to bowl. Add garlic, cilantro, feta, lemon juice and oil, toss to coat. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
This salad filled out our Philly cheesesteak sandwiches nicely, see this meal and more on emealsforyou.com.
Add comment March 30, 2009
Are You Tough Enough to Win the Coupon Wars?
A while ago I wrote a post on Grocery Shopping – Inattention Can Cost You Big spelling out how smart shoppers understand how grocery stores increase their profits through the use of shelf tags and shelf talkers. This is nothing illegal, just a way for them to augment their small profits by tricking the unaware shopper into spending more than they have to to purchase what the store would like you to purchase.
This post takes the consumer education a little further; into the world of coupons and BOGO’s (buy one get one) specials. Again, this is not to condemn the grocery stores and call foul on their methods; only to provide an understanding on how it works and how smart shoppers can profit from it. Product manufacturers and grocery stores spend lots of marketing money and effort in convincing you to buy what they want you to buy. Our job will be to convince you to buy only the products you really need.
As the economy tightens more and more of us are clipping coupons and marching off to the store to “save” a bunch on our purchases. To successfully work within the “coupon” system we have to actually put forward some effort on our part. First there is the finding and clipping of the coupons; no big deal just developing a routine. Now that we have the coupons we have to organize them, maintaining our collection within the expiration dates. There is nothing like getting to the checkout line, thinking you have just saved a bunch, only to find out that many of your coupons have expired.
Now it is time to talk about shopping discipline. Hopefully you are planning your meals and making a shopping list. Take out your coupon collection and go through it to pick out only the ones that are for the products you need and have on your shopping list. This is where the store’s marketing attempts to take over your thought process, be sure that the product is still the best buy even with your coupon, even with double coupon offers. Sometimes the stores will push a certain product and an equal product will be cheaper without the coupon. At times the BOGO offer is good, but can you really use 2 of that product? Most stores will only charge you half price if you buy only one of a BOGO.
To sum this up, saving money at the grocery will cost you time and effort. You are up against an army of marketing specialists, hired by the manufacturers and grocery stores to seperate you from your money. You need to be just as deligent in your process as they are in theirs. Be tough, be smart, it is us against them and I am on your side.
1 comment November 23, 2008
Take the Register Receipt Challenge
By now, if you have been following along with all my meal planning posts and rants, you are feeling pretty good about yourself. You think you are doing a good job, or maybe you think you are at least better than you were at planning your shopping needs. Like any good training tool we now come to the test. How well do you actually do cutting back on unnecessary purchases, saving money and feeding your family better?
The grocery store has assigned all its marketing efforts to FORCE you into those impulse buys. They lay in wait at every turn with their endcaps designed to COERCE you into purchasing that package of cookies. Candy is only a short reach away. So here is the challenge: each week for the next 4 weeks gather up your grocery register receipts and enter them on the attached spreadsheet. Enter the unnecessary items, impulse buys, things you just couldn’t live without, and those things that just FELL into your cart in the spaces provided. I know that we are approaching the holiday season and we all are a little prone to slightly ease up on our discipline but just think; if you can get through this how easy the rest of the year will be.
Add up the columns and see exactly how much you are wasting each week/month. In these tight times wouldn’t that money be better spent on something else. The other lesson here is that after you complete this list and spend the time you will realize that using some of that time to plan meals and write down a shopping list will help with your budget and maybe your sanity.
The bottom line is that if you make the effort; whether you plan using paper and pencil or “spring” for the www.emealsforyou.com solution you will find life becomes a little easier. Click here register receipt challenge to open and print the tracking sheet or click here to email Chef Jake if you prefer the MicroSoft Excel version to request the file.
Add comment November 20, 2008
Meal Planning – Yes You Can
Exhibit A
I am about to prove to most of you that you really do know something about meal planning. I say most because some of you will get a pass and be invited to eat the Thanksgiving feast at someone else’s home. Each year the ritual begins about a month out; looking through magazines, asking friends and family and watching the endless TV cooking shows. You search for something different to serve for your Thanksgiving dinner; put together the list of things you will need for the meal, shop, cook, plate and serve…in other words Meal Planning at the highest level. While all this preparation and work seems like way too much effort; just take a minute to remember the look on everyone’s face as you serve the meal. Think about how much everyone enjoyed the food, the conversation and even thanked you for your efforts.
That last sentence makes my point. It all is worth it in the end. So what I propose is that you make an effort to do just a little of what you did for the feast. Plan small meals, less complicated, less work but I bet you still will get those smiles and maybe even a thank you or two.
Check out our easy recipe for Pecan Pies and many more at emealsforyou.com.
Add comment November 6, 2008
Meal Planning – Why Now and Why emealsforyou?
Okay, so you have made it this far in your search for an understanding on why you should begin to plan your meals. This proves that you know your should be planning meals:
- To save money and time
- To feed your family better foods with less additives and preservatives
- To gather your family together to establish communication
- To make your family happier
Why emeals and why now?
- You want to begin planning but you just can’t get started
- Tough times mean you have to eat at home more
- Every time you go to the grocery you spend more than you wanted to
- You can’t decide what to cook
- You are tired of the same old recipes
- You know you will be better organized if you had a shopping list
- You really want to establish “family time”
With an emealsforyou membership you get the structure and support you need to make meal planning work. Recipes and meal plans are only a quick click away, complete with recipes scaled for the number of people you are feeding for each meal. A few more mouse clicks and you have your shopping list printed, in your pocket and are on the way to the store, saving money: the time savings and family times are added benefits.
Try our site and see the huge difference it will make in your life. Get a $6 Discount Today: use Sponsoring Identifier ACTNOW-44; bringing your cost down to $30 for a year. Start saving with your next trip to the grocery store.
Take me back to emealsforyou.com
Add comment October 29, 2008
Fond Memories of Bygone Times
I was driving to the store to pick up some chicken broth when I started to think about the “smells of the kitchen.” I know this is weird but my mind was working over the thought that we are “dumbing down” our taste buds, selling them out for convenience. It’s easier to pick something up on the way home or pop something into the oven from the freezer section then it is to actually think about making good food.
I sometimes think about those who grew up without good, not fancy, food prepared at home. I remember the smells of the kitchen when I walked in from the outside. What were we having, I can’t wait. We always had home cooked meals in our house so I really can’t comprehend those who grew up not looking forward to supper. I am hopeful that those people at least had some sort of holiday meals, whether home or at a family member’s; that they can remember fondly.
Close you eyes and remember that special Thanksgiving or Holiday meal; what it was like to ring the doorbell and then the door opens to a burst of great “smells”. Your mind begins to travel back to a time when we had the time to enjoy a slower pace and maybe a second piece of dessert.
If these memories match some of yours then why not start giving these sensations to your families? If you were not fortunate enough to have enjoyed these simple pleasures it is probably time you started some for yourself and your families. I am not advocating that every meal be a holiday meal. With a little planning you can give the present of opening that door to your family, at least a couple of nights a week. You will be surprised at how fast they get to like it and how they will look forward to a family meal. Come on, what do you have to lose, make something special tonight.
Try this one, it is very “cost effective” and easy to make; plus the smells are incredible.
Sunday Roasted Chicken
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Chicken Entrée |
| Meal: | Mom’s Out of Town (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 6 | lb | chicken, whole, oven-stuffer |
| 2 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | tsp | salt and pepper to taste |
| 2 | medium | lemons |
| 1 | medium | garlic, whole head |
| 1 | 14 oz. can | chicken broth |
| 1 | Tb | cornstarch |
| 1 | pinch | salt and pepper to taste |
Rinse and dry chicken thoroughly. Cover outside with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper over skin. Cut one lemon in half; cut garlic head in half, and place both inside cavity of chicken. Place in an over-proof roaster pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, roast chicken for 15-17 minutes per pound or until juices run clear. Place broth and lemon, cut in half, in a saucepan on stove, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove chicken from pan, place pan on top of stove. Remove lemon from broth, add chicken broth, reserving 1/2 cup, to roasting pan and stir. Add cornstarch to reserved chicken broth, stir broth into roasting pan, and cook on low until thickened. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove garlic, discard garlic skin, and add cloves to gravy. Remove and discard lemon halves inside of the chicken.
Serve with gravy on side.
Add comment October 23, 2008
The Healthier Side of Meal Planning – Could and Should be a Rant
I saw an interesting ad in the paper this morning. Tucked in with all the economic news was this statement by a leading soup maker that their competition had over 90 soups on the market with MSG added while they had 36 without. This statement hit on a topic that I have been “noodling” around in my head. I have presented the benefits of meal planning and home-cooking from an economic viewpoint numerous times; but have barely touched on the health aspects of made-from-scratch foods for your family.
Sure I have told you the food is always better tasting and cheaper when you make it yourself but let’s take a look at cooking from the health end of the business. Open a can of something and dump it into your meal and you are adding all the “extra” ingredients that the commercial makers put in. Another TV commercial shows a woman coming home and thinking, “What should I feed my family?” It goes on to say open a can of cream of something soup, add pre-cooked chicken and veggies, maybe some no-boil noodles and there you have it, a wonderful “homemade” dinner.
To make my point let’s see what “she” added to her family’s healthy diet: preservatives, preservatives and a little more preservatives, flavor enhancers (whatever they are), stabilizers, artificial color, msg, too much salt, corn syrup and a bunch of things I can’t spell nor pronounce. Yum!!! This from a family that drinks bottled water to avoid any outside contaminants.
Look, I understand time constraints, and I understand money constants but I think we can all do a better job, at least some of the time, planning meals and preparing foods in our kitchens fully knowing what we are putting into the pot and thereby into our families. Let’s try to start planning and cooking on a healthier scale, we can all benefit from it.
Add comment October 15, 2008
Meal Planning – Let’s Make Two
Chicken Pot Pie
Humor me for a second…My Beloved Cubbies (MBC) are in the playoffs…thus the title of this post. For those of your who are “believers” you will see the similarity to Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks’ game-time shout of “Let’s Play Two”. Okay,, I have it out of my system now let’s move on.
One of the best ways to aid you in your efforts to plan meals is to make twice as much as you need for a single meal and freeze the leftovers for another meal. I know this sounds really logical and easy but you have to think about it before you do it, ’cause you have to buy twice the ingredients. You probably are already doing some of this now; using the leftovers from dinners for your lunch the next day.
The usual suspects for this planning are sauces (spaghetti),stews and meatloaves. I suggest you also can make Pot Pies, home-made breads and even desserts. I like to make a big batch of chicken parmigiana so that I can freeze some for later. Look, you have to cook anyway, why not just double your ingredients, not necessarily your efforts and have something good to serve when you are in a hurry or stumped or just too tired to cook. Freshen the frozen meals just prior to serving by adding a little olive oil, fresh herbs or maybe just a touch of butter.
A quick word of caution here… if you are watching your weight, if your significant other doesn’t know limits or if you are feeding teenage sons, put half the dish aside. Hide it if possible because the two-fers only work if you don’t eat all of them at once.
Add comment October 2, 2008
e-Mealz vs. www.emealsforyou.com
There is some confusion in the marketplace revolving around our meal planning website www.emealsforyou.com and one called e-Mealz. While both sites provide meal plans we think you should have the facts before you decide.
e-Mealz:
It is our understanding that e-mealz is a subscription service that you sign up for and download a weekly Adobe pdf file based on what that individual grocery store you picked has on sale that week. The service charge for this is $15 per quarter ($60 per year), automatically charged to your credit card until you send them a note to stop. You receive, depending on the plan, either 5 or 7 dinner meal ideas and a shopping list for these meals.
The upside is you are able to plan your meals for the week and save money as the ingredients are on sale. The downside is that you have to like the recipes they send you and use the ingredients they recommend; including many canned soups, sauces and ingredients. Meal plans fall into two categories: Family – 7 dinners for 4-6 people and Regular – 5 dinners for 2 people. e-Mealz provides only the prescribed meals per week; no substitutes, if you don’t like one or two, they tell you to simply cross those ingredients off the shopping list. More importantly if your kids won’t eat what they suggest, you are right back to where you started from: planning several meals without help. There is no opportunity to change the meal plans or to pick meals and desserts other then the dinner plans they provide. Based on the Internet comments regarding this service many become bored with the meals and feel locked in to what e-Mealz thinks they should be eating.
emealsforyou.com is a subscription meal planning service; providing a variety of recipes and meal plans (hundreds to choose from) along with shopping lists based on your choice of recipes and meal plans. All of our recipes and meal plans are scalable (just pick the number of people you are feeding 1,2,4,6,8,10,12) and we will automatically scale the recipes and ingredients for you. If you are having more or less people for the meal; simply scale that meal to suit your needs. Put the meal plans or recipes in your Favorite Box and you can save them and also create shopping lists unique to your choices. We have hundreds of recipes and meal plans to choose from, with no additives or preservatives, and also have a very easy method to create you own meal plans and print a shopping list. Our members have reported savings of 10-20% on their groceries when they shop using a shopping list. With www.emealsforyou.com you are not limited to dinners but have everything from appetizers through desserts; plus special categories for special needs and no limit on the number of meal and recipes your choose..
emealsforyou.com has recipes and meal plans covering a large selection of health and happiness conditions. You simply choose the ones that work for you. While e-Mealz provides 7 or 5 recipes you have signed up for; we allow you to choose recipes and meal plans that you like. Why let someone else tell you what to feed your family? We offer you the choice of over 500 great and easy recipes and meal plans. Choose, size and print your shopping list. Our cost is $36 for a full year, $24 less expensive then e-Mealz; with no automatic plan continuation hitting your credit card.
If you would like to see the Recipe and Meal Plan categories on emealsforyou.com click here .
To use your local grocery stores’ sales fliers to save money at the grocery stores while using emealsforyou.com follow these easy steps:
Get the sale fliers from the groceries in your area. Go through them and see what food appeals to you. Log on to www.emealsforyou.com and go to Recipe Finder. Choose those foods that appealed to you and see the recipes associated with them; i. e. choosing chicken breasts showed over 50 recipes including many healthy and low fat/carb recipes. Choose those recipes, send them to your Favorites Box, scale them, and using our easy shopping list function, print the list. This allows much more freedom of choice; why limit yourself to only one grocery store. Our members report shopping with a list has saved them 10-20% on their grocery bill; easing their mind and saving them money, plus they have a happy family.
For those of you who choose to have e-Mealz select the meals for you and become bored and want to switch to the emealsforyou service simply send us an email to obtain an additional discount.
Save Money! Save Time! Save $5.00! Enter EMEALS-24 when you register for emealsforyou.com and receive $5 off the subscription price. That’s 1 FULL YEAR of meal planning for only $31.00.
Add comment September 23, 2008
Change of Seasons – Change of Meal Planning
Change of Season
I can always tell when it is time to begin to leave Summer behind and move on to Fall. Suddenly mums appear into front of the fireplace; signaling the changeover from the hot, sticky weather to more comfortable sweater weather. My wife buys some mums for outside but just happens to bring a few inside to look at… as we won’t light the fireplace for a while yet, they are the perfect way to segue and add some color at the same time.
Fall is my favorite time to cook. While Spring signifies a new beginning each year, Fall brings back all the old favorites. The smells of stews, sauces and long-cooking meals permeates the air. It is during Fall that we mix old favorites and new recipes. Time seems to move just a little slower, maybe the kids appear out of nowhere to see what’s for dinner. I highly recommend you take advantage of the change of seasons to change your eating habits… more importantly your meal planning habits. Why not use this period to establish a family night at home policy. Start with one night a week and you will see that soon it will become more than a single night to gather with your family. Who knows, you may find the cooking slow and easy and the family payback huge.
Add comment September 18, 2008
