Less than 8 hours until dinner time - do you know what you're having? You could! I get a lot of questions about the whys and hows of menu planning, so it's time to address them once and for all! Just last week I had a great conversation with friend Lindsay Silverstein (check out her photography - she's amazing!) about the benefits of planning out one's meal for a week, a month, or even more. We even made a plan to get together and cook (it's always more fun with a friend, no?) Even if 'freezer cooking' - making double meals and freezing half for a later date - is all you can handle, it's still a huge help with time, budget, and health. Some of the items that I will typically make ahead are quadruple batches of pizza crust dough, cookie dough, doubles of casseroles, extra pancakes, and many others.
Homemade stuffed-crust pizza at a fraction of the cost of delivery, and loads more flavor!
Once the basics of menu planning are under control, you will be able to tweak your methods to plan according to weekly grocery sales and seasonal produce. More items can be made from scratch. You will have fewer of those 'oh crap, I forgot to take the xxx out of the freezer' or the 'no idea what's for dinner, we should just eat out' moments, which is good for both our wallets, and our waistlines (but please, don't get me wrong, we still make the occasional run for the border!)
So what are YOU having for dinner this week?
Oct 4: Babysitting the nieces at John & Laine's
Oct 5: Baked chicken quarters (brussels sprouts, homemade breadsticks)
Oct 6: Turkey burger casserole (green salad)
Oct 7: Navy bean casserole (roasted asparagus)
Oct 8: Leftovers
Oct 9: Eat out
Oct 10: Turkey burgers (oven fries, green salad - Skins game @ 1pm)
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