Posts filed under ‘Meal Planning’
The Meal Planning Game (Part Three) – Let the Games Begin
Successful meal planning requires some form of all three parts of The Meal Planning Game. Without an understanding of the meals and recipes you have available to you there is no way you can reach your goal of saving money, time and feeding your family better. This is the final installment of this (we hope) helpful toolset that should set you on the right path… it all becomes just so many words on a page if you don’t use it.
There are several ways to go about meal planning depending on your level of competence in the kitchen, general ability to plan and your desire to succeed. For the purpose of this exercise we will assume that you will use the tools we have provided… many of you do some or all of this from memory; just follow along and plug into the toolset wherever you need it.
Let’s start by getting out your calender and deciding the number of meals you need to plan; pick some of the meals you have on your meal spreadsheet and place them on your calender. You may wish to check out what is on sale at your grocery so that you can take advantage of any money savings. If you can’t decide, you may simply place numbers in a hat, these numbers will correspond to the numbers beside your meal plans on your spreadsheet. Pick a number and you have a meal plan. If you have young kids you may want to have them give you a number and this becomes the Meal Planning Game. Another way to get your kids involved is let them pick a favorite meal from the meal planning sheet… when kids get involved with the planning you will find them much more interested in the food.
So we have our meals scheduled; let’s bring out our recipes and write down what we need to shop for. We suggest you make your list based on how your grocery store is set up. Make a section on your paper for meats/seafood, one for veggies, one for frozen foods and another for dairy. Put down all the ingredients that you need; combine any “like” items; i.e. 2 chicken breasts, 2 chicken legs and 2 chicken thighs becomes 1 whole chicken. Also delete any items that you have in your pantry, frig or freezer. Finally put any other needs on your shopping list, print the list and it is off to the store.
Remember your goals: to save money, to save time and to feed your family better. When you go to the grocery only buy the items you need… these are the things you decided you needed to make the meals you have chosen. DON’T buy things you don’t need. DON’T give in to the urges to buy junk food at the grocery. DO give the method some time to work; chances are it may take a time or two to get the hang of it…when you do you will reach the goals you have set out and be happier and healthier, and your kids may look forward to family meals again.
P.S. Send us your comments of how this works for you and any suggestions you think might benefit others.
The Meal Planning Game (Part Deux) – Creating Your Cookbook
Now that you have your spreadsheet of the meals you will chose from (The Meal Planning Game – Overcoming Our Aversion to Planning ); it is time to get a little more organized. Look, most of us hate to spend the time to organize and plan but if you take it little by little, eat the elephant one bite at a time as they say, you may find yourself in good shape without much pain. Okay? deep breath…better…let’s get started.
On a separate sheet of paper or file card, take the first meal on your spreadsheet and write down the ingredients, the amounts and how many servings the recipe or meal plan is for. This is important as you progress to developing a shopping list for the meals for whatever period you are planning. Don’t try to do your entire spreadsheet at once or you will overwhelm yourself. You have spent this long without planning so a few more days won’t hurt anything. Now repeat this procedure with the rest of the meal plans on your spreadsheet. It may be helpful to number all of the recipes on these sheets and match them with numbers on your spreadsheet to avoid confusion down the line. Remember, you are doing this to save money, feed your family better and save your sanity…keep this in mind and push through.
Congratulations, you now have your own, personalized cookbook and a spreadsheet to assist you in making meal planning decisions. Next up…Making a Game of Meal Planning.
Sound like too much work? Remember we do all of this for you on www.emealsforyou.com… only $31 for a full year of membership. Use EMEALS-42 for the Sponsoring Identifier on the registration form to get the $5 off the price of $36.
The Meal Planning Game – Overcoming Our Aversion to Planning
I have written several Meal Planning post on this blog dealing with the methods and the reasons behind planning our meals. ( see Meal Planning Category ) Yet still many of my readers have a hard time getting into the habit. If we look at my website:www.emealsforyou.com as the easiest method; completing the meal planning function for you as the top level we should also create an easy, free and comprehensive method as well. In this and the next posts I will introduce The Meal Planning Game… a way of encouraging you to begin the planning function and involve your family to help you. Using this method we will teach you to create your meal worksheet; the place you go to get meal ideas. Next we will work on creating your own “cookbook” for these recipes; providing a source for your personalized shopping list. Finally we will put it all together and you will be amazed at how easily you will “slide” into meal planning and enjoy all the by-products of this: saving money, saving time, feeding your family better and stressing out less.
Step 1: Completing the Meal Sheet.
Our first step is to sit down and write a list of our “usual” nightly meals. Here is a worksheet to assist you (Meal Sheet); I also have this in an Excel format, see the note at the bottom of this post to obtain it. Simply put down your Meat/Fish (protein), any starch (Potatoes/Pasta and any Vegetables you usually make with this meal. Don’t worry substitutions will be allowed later. If you typically tie one meal into the next, via the leftover route, simply put the meal on one line and then the leftover meal on the next. Later on, when we begin to choose meals you will place these meals on your meal plan on consecutive days.
You are probably saying I don’t have any “usual” nightly meals; you certainly do and I think you will be amazed once you take the time to think about this just how many you really have.
Okay, so now we have a list of Meal ideas, from this list we can create a Special Meal, a weekly menu, or any number of weekly menus. Next week we will discuss how to set up your “personal cookbook”.
Note: to obtain the Meal Sheet in an Excel format simply send me a message including your email address and I will forward the file to you. Also, please, please send me comments and questions. I truly want this to be a useful product and without your feedback I may miss something important. Remember, if you don’t want to have your comment posted simply tell me in the comment field, I read each one before deciding to post them and I can delete your comment without posting it. You may also send me an email for a personalized and private response.
Meal Planning – A Rant About the Cost of Laziness
Years from now when the social-anthropologists look back and try to determine when the decline started, they will settle on Bill Cosby and Jell-O pudding. Some of our moms made pudding from scratch; some from a package labeled instant…but the downfall can be traced to the advent of the ready-to-eat pudding cup. In our lay-the-blame society, you know the one without mirrors; it’s easy to say that is when kitchen laziness began.
It all gets back to- how much does it cost? For those few people who can afford it, kitchen laziness must be a very nice thing. Our society rewards kitchen laziness, the inability to push ourselves beyond opening a package to provide food for ourselves and our families. We have a whole slew of businesses designed to prepare our meals, actually just the entrées, in nice little freezer bags so that we won’t have to overwork ourselves in the kitchen. On a diet, not to worry, just order up from the Internet…Get 6 weeks of food for the cost of 4. Let’s not even get into the fast food route.
First let me attack the Diet Plans. Let’s look at what’s missing besides the vegetables, salads et al that you have to provide on top of paying “only about $10 per day” as the ads say. We are missing the self-discipline to use portion control… to limit our daily intake of calories and carbs. Will we stay on these pre-arranged diets forever, how will we learn to push ourselves into better physical shape if the only way we can diet is by checking off a list of meals on a menu? Besides diets don’t work; unfortunately we’ll need to change our lifestyle to really make the difference we are looking for.
Now about those Meal services, Dream Dinners, My Girlfriends Kitchen, etc. What are we really getting for our money? We have ourselves convinced that they are just like going out to dinner only cheaper. Surprise, you still have to cook them, still have to come up with sides or salads to go with them. Just what have we gained except less money in our checking account and bragging rights at the PTA meeting? Come on… take some time and plan you own meals. You will find it refreshing to have control over what you want to eat and not what they have on the menu for that week.
Look, I don’t care how you plan your meals; use your recipes, get recipes off the Internet or cookbooks. Like the Nike phrase, JUST DO IT! Show some discipline. For those who say they can’t plan meals I say bull. The only thing between your family and good meals is your laziness. Get over it. Don’t you want your kids to look forward to good meals at home?
Meal Planning – Desserts
WARNING: The following post is decadent and I don’t apologize in advance.
(from www.emealsforyou.com/Desserts/Croissant Bread Pudding)
The other day my wife told me that it was about time I got busy and filled the freezer with some desserts. I couldn’t talk about meal planning without adding my two cents on how to handle desserts. We usually don’t have dessert with our meals, can’t afford the calories, but on occasion the urge does hit. I have several great dessert recipes that I can always count on to work. I make these when we need a dessert for company. Well, a little confession here; I make several desserts for company, I think people should have a choice if they are going to indulge; besides I enjoy making them. This usually leaves me with leftovers.
In our house each dessert has it’s own following. Each kid or friend has their particular favorite. What I do is take the leftover desserts and cut them into individual serving sizes, wrap them in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer, they are just as good thawed as when they were made. When we feel like a dessert or have company I usually have 4 or 5 different desserts, frozen, to choose from. Simply “nuke” them and serve. An added benefit is that I find that our friends’ kids don’t mind coming over for dinner when they can choose their dessert Seriously, this method actually saves me time and money as I make them when I have the time and it certainly beats stopping off at the bakery for a quick dessert for dinner.
I have attached the recipe for Croissant Bread Pudding, this really is easy to make, freezes well and is usually a hit; besides this is a favorite of my wife. On our website emealsforyou.com we have many dessert recipes that will fit the bill for this method of Meal Planning: Profiteroles, Carrot Cake, Flourless Chocolate Cake to name a few. Drop in and take a peek, try making everyone happy tonight!
Croissant Bread Pudding
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | New Neighbors (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 3 | large | egg |
| 8 | large | egg, yolks |
| 5 | cup | cream, half and half |
| 1.5 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | Tb | cinnamon. ground |
| 1.5 | tsp | vanilla |
| 1 | cup | raisins |
| 2 | oz | bourbon, Jack Daniels |
| 6 | large | croissants |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
Slice croissants and leave on counter overnight. Mix all remaining ingredients in large bowl. Dip croissants in mixture, place in large, greased, oven-proof pan, and pour remaining mixture over the top. Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven, or until lightly brown.
Decadent Note: For a quick sauce; melt vanilla ice cream and mix with a shot or so of bourbon, drizzle over bread pudding.
From the New Neighbors Meal Plan (Share-a-Meal Plans) at emealsforyou.com
Meal Planning – 2 Ways to Answer- How?
(from www.emealsforyou.com/Suzie’s Salisbury Steak)
Many of you look at Meal Planning as if it were a foreign language. It is not your fault, what training did you have? It seemed your mom just put it on autopilot and viola, a complete meal was on the table. You really never paid much attention to how she did this.
In this post I will give you a couple of methods to use to plan your meals; remember the upside of planning is true $$$ savings at the grocery, better food for your family and a better sense of self. I will go to the opposite extremes, you need to find the right mix that works for you.
So let’s discuss what a meal is: first of all let’s try for a balanced meal. We will need an entrée, meat, fish, protein, whatever, some sort of veggie (’cause we really should), and a starch (gotta have those carbs). Some of your meals may contain all of these in one recipe, as in spaghetti with mushrooms.
Method #1 – the “Chinese menu”; one from column A, one from column B and one from column C
This is a lot like the old MadLibs game, pick something and fill in the blanks. Make a list of all the meats you like to cook: chicken, fish, pork, ground beef, etc. On a separate paper make a list of veggies; and on a third make a list of starches, pasta, potatoes, rice, etc. Allow me a quick rant here: you don’t need potatoes with pasta, I see way too many people cooking mac and cheese and then potatoes on the side. Put a veggie into the microwave instead, your thighs will appreciate it.
So here we go: look at your weekly flier from your grocery store. Pick the things that are on sale that you like. Now go to your first list and pick a meat, go to the veggies and pick one or two veggies and finally pick a starch from your list. Write this down and repeat until you have the desired number of meals planned. Now go through your repertoire of recipes and match up the meals with the recipes. Scale the meals to the right number of people and write down a shopping list; this is important so that you don’t get sidetracked at the store. That wasn’t too hard was it?
Method # 2 – “electronic’ meal planning (okay, I’m a little prejudiced here but you may use any meal/ recipe site you like, if you don’t mind chasing them down all over the Internet, unashamed hint: use: www.emealsforyou.com)
So this method starts out the same, scan your local grocery’s sales flier and decide on what you want to buy. Go to the site you like, on www.emealsforyou.com go to Recipe Finder, and type in the meat, gather the recipes and make your decisions, repeat for veggies and starch. Put the recipes in your Favorite Box, use the automatic(Select) button to scale them to the right number of people and print the shopping list.
Once you get the hang of Meal Planning you will find that it takes very little time and the rewards are huge.
Challenge: Plan your meals for 1 month, use either method, come back here and let us know how it worked. Did you save money? Did you feel better about how you were feeding your family? Did your family notice the food? Was your life a little easier?
For those of you who want to try the www.emealsforyou.com method, sign up using EMEALS-48 in the box on the registration for Sponsoring Identifier and you will receive a $5 discount off the 1-year subscription price of $36; that makes it under $3 per month, you should save 10 times that. I promise you will like it.
Meal Planning – Winning the Trifecta
Growing up, Saturdays were the days my father took over the kitchen. My mother cooked the meals during the week but come the weekend my father would work his magic; creating rich soups, thick stews and wonderful sauces. Anyone entering the house was treated to the smells of garlic and tomatoes simmering, meats stewing and vegetables blending into hunger-causing pots cooking for hours on the stove. Fresh rye bread from the local Polish bakery was passed around and each of us got to sample whatever was cooking by dipping the bread into the pot.
So how does this fit into the Meal Planning theme? We are all searching for a way to feed our families better, to save time in preparation and to save money. Without knowing, he was showing the way. His Saturday rituals are the basics, the Trifecta of what we need. In today’s fast-paced and rushed world we need to take time to save time.
Here is what I suggest. Make a big pot of tomato sauce, the cost is minimal when you do the math: cost of ingredients /number of meals provided. Divide the sauce into meal-size packets; freeze these for use at a later date. One night you can make spaghetti for the family; having friends in for dinner, thaw a packet, add a little cream, maybe a little vodka , if you have it and there you go: Penne Pasta in Vodka Sauce. Put some over ground beef or into a veggie combination; use the leftovers for the kids’ lunch. Please don’t feed your kids “spaghetti o’s” even if they do like them. Of course they like them, read the label. They are mostly sugar, what’s not to like for a 3 year old. You get the point; make it once, serve it many times.
As with the tomato sauce you can buy beef when it is on sale and make a stew. Soups are the same. Ask the person behind the meat counter at the grocery if they have any soup bones. They usually give them away or charge very little and this will help you stretch your budget and also make a good stock. We usually think of soups in the winter to warm up but there is something comforting about a bowl of soup, anytime.
So here it is: Stop opening cans and jars. Start making a big pot of something comforting and maybe a few memories that your kids will take with them when they have kids of their own.
I have listed my father’s tomato sauce recipe below. It calls for boneless pork. If you want to add the pork buy the least expensive piece at the grocery, don’t worry about whether it has a bone or not. Buy the canned tomatoes when they are on sale. Just cook it low and slow and wait for everyone to find a reason to come into the kitchen. Pass the bread please!
Spaghetti Sauce
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 12 |
| Category: | The Other Meat Entrée |
| Meal: | Dinners for New Parents ( leave behind food to feed the viewing public) (Share-a-Meal Plans) |
| 3 | Tb | oil, olive |
| 1 | lb | pork, boneless roast |
| 1 | large | pepper, green |
| 1 | large | onions, diced |
| 7 | 20 oz can | tomatoes, whole |
| 2 | 16 oz can | tomato, paste |
| 6 | cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 2 | Tb | oregano, dried |
| 2 | Tb | thyme, dried |
| 4 | medium | bay leaves, whole dried |
| 2 | Tb | salt to taste |
In a large, heavy saucepan put enough olive oil to just cover the bottom. Heat until just beginning to smoke; add pork and brown. Add onions, pepper and sauté until softened, put tomatoes in blender, blend until smooth and then into pot. Add paste, garlic and spices/herbs. Add salt and simmer uncovered over low heat for several hours, the longer the better. Stir every time you pass the pot. Pull pork from sauce and shred with forks, return pork to sauce. May need additional salt to taste May need additional salt to taste.
This recipe makes enough sauce for several large meals.
Freeze in plastic containers for individual use.
From: Dinners for New Parents ( leave behind food to feed the viewing public) (Share-a-Meal Plans) at emealsforyou.com
Meal Planning – Let’s Start with the Chicken
In Why Meal Planning – The First Step we discussed putting a little money aside to fund those sale items that you can stock up on and use latter. So, let’s begin there with chicken. I see tons of requests from harried housewives complaining about the high cost of feeding their families and then in the same breath they are asking for some recipes for boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I guess their thinking is that they bought them on sale, you know in the freezer section, Tyson breasts on sale, $3 off. Well how about we do the math; divide the sale price by the total weight, i.e. $9.99 divided by 3 lbs equals $3.33 per pound. Wow! Actually not picking on Tyson, they all do it, they usually put 2.5 lbs in a bag; just to make the math harder. If you must buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts I strongly suggest you wait until they go on sale. Usually once a month or so you will find fresh chicken breasts at around $1.39 per pound or less. Buy them and put them on a cookie sheet in your freezer for about an hour. Once they firm up you can put them in a large baggie in the freezer and they won’t stick together. Now you have the convenience of just using what you need and the cost savings of doing this small task yourself; I am sure Tyson will survive without the $5 profit you denied them.
But seriously folks; there is a lot more to chicken then skinless, boneless breasts. Watch for sales on leg quarters; thighs and legs together. A quick sharp knife stroke and you have chicken drumsticks and thighs that can be boned and stir-fried or BBQ’d. Still want those chicken breast? Buy them on sale with the skin on and remove the skin and bones yourself. I know, gross; you will get over this just as you got over changing diapers. Lastly, buy the whole chicken, learn to cut it up and save a bundle.
As a final point I want to take you back to your grandmother’s or maybe for some of you, great-grandmother’s day. Back then nothing was waisted; you cut up the chicken and anything you didn’t use became soup. Save the tops off the celery stalks, the end pieces off the onions you use and some pieces of carrots in a baggie in the freezer. Now when you buy that whole chicken put anything that is left over, the back and icky stuff, into a large pot with a little oil. Brown the bones and skin and add the frozen veggies, , stir until they begin to color. Now add some water to cover them, maybe some salt and a little pepper, and cook for 25 minutes or so. don’t worry if you put in too much water, just cook it longer to concentrate it until you like the taste of it. Remove the bones and skin and add some noodles and you have a great lunch or broth for cooking. If you really are adventuresome, pick the meat off the bones to add back to the soup or for a chicken salad sandwich.
The bottom line you need to get a little more resourceful to stretch your budget. I am betting that once you get the hang of this it will become second nature and you will take pride in your new-found cooking skills.
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.
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.
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