To those of you who visit my blog once in awhile - I apologize for this post. I feel like writing today, but I'm not feeling very creative. I thought I'd write about something very mundane, but that I rely on to make my days work, which is meal planning. I just finished cooking my deli-style roast beef for Sunday night sandwiches, which is what prompted this topic.
In lieu of menu plans, I have discovered that I/we enjoy a combination of the predictable, mixed up with some alternatives. I think everyone knows that I make and freeze up to 30 meals at a time. However, I've learned how make them stretch for 2 or 3 months by scheduling other meals during the week. For example, Wednesday night is always spaghetti night, and Friday is dinner-and-a-movie family night, during which we usually rotate between pizza and bean dip with chips. Saturday is generally breakfast-for-supper night, so we pick something special to make that we usually don't take time for in the mornings, like crepes, waffles, quiche, or French toast. Mealtimes tend to be a never-ending, overwhelming task at times, even for people like me that generally like to cook. Now, with 3 babies, I've learned that a little bit of planning can go a very long way in keeping me sane.
Having designated meals on designated days really seems to help me break up the overwhelming-ness of the never-ending feeding cycle of a busy household. There are basically 180 meals in a two-month span, not including snacks, which is a completely different category/subject! During most of the year, except those 2-3 summer months that are just too hot to cook, we have a basic breakfast rotation that includes cold cereal on Saturday mornings, toast on Sundays, and then puff pancake, baked oatmeal, muffins and eggs, hot cereal, and pancakes during the week. I keep a fresh-ground, multi-grain pancake mix in the freezer with a recipe card in the bag, so even Rachel can make that breakfast on her own. In fact, I keep the rest of our breakfast recipe cards taped inside the kitchen cabinet door above the mixer, for convenience. This is a huge help for Rachel, who is now able to make most of our breakfasts on her own, or with Kaelin's help (but only on the mornings that she is running on time with her morning chores!). That little bit of planning takes care of 60 of the 180 meals.
After constantly being frustrated by lunches - they always seem to sneak up on me! - I learned to keep a list in my daily planner, with our menu, of about 4-5 different types of favorite soups and 4-5 sandwich ideas, that we rotate through each week or two when we are not using leftovers. That takes care of another 60 meals, so now I have crossed off 120 meals of the 180. Oh, since Wednesday is spaghetti night (Rachel's favorite food!), we have a mac-and-cheese Monday (lunch) for Kaelin, since that is her favorite meal. Also, a quick note on Sundays - I don't usually cook on that day! We generally have leftovers for lunch. Supper is roast beef sandwiches for now, maybe deli-style turkey breast when I can get one on sale to bake. I have started making a deli-style roast beef (google for some great recipes!) sometime during the week, and slicing it thin for sandwiches. I can freeze half and make one small roast stretch for two Sunday suppers. French dip works great with this, as well as adding mozzarella cheese and onions, or whatever else strikes one's fancy! The reason for having something super simple for Sunday meals is so that Adam and the girls can swing it on their own when I simply need to have a kitchen strike for a day.
By having a plan like this, with days/meals that are set, I am left with just 3 days a week where I need to use my frozen meals, making them last two months instead of one. This allows us to have variety sprinkled with some predictability. It seems to be a good mix for us where pallette is concerned, and the planning takes boat loads of stress out of my life. Even the kids know - Wednesday is always spaghetti night, Friday is always pizza or dip night, etc.
Also, with the never-ending rising cost of food, I'm learning to plan smarter for grocery trips, as well. I already use the Internet for most of my shopping, so am able to price compare from the comfort of my chair, since everywhere I shop has a website now. In addition to using Amazon to "subscribe" to diapers, toilet paper and dishsoap, I also use the Internet for the bulk of our grocery shopping. One grocery store in Bismarck charges only $5 to shop an entire grocery order, bags it, and brings it to the front door when I drive up. That's how I get groceries with three babies in tow! Sam's Club does the same thing for free, and I have learned to create a 6-8 week shopping list of "staples" for Sam's, that is kept on the fridge, that I always order, and other lists of the cheapest places to buy certain items. I am also learning to use Azure for more things like produce. It's usually organic, and competes with the regular non-organic prices of the grocery stores around here. In these ways, I am able to keep my trips to Bismarck to a minimum, and cut down drastically on impulse buying. I am also able to save several hundred dollars each year by making our bread, yogurt, and laundry soap. I googled household grocery budgets recently, and was shocked to learn that a typical monthly food budget for a family of 4 was between 6 and 8 hundred dollars - and that is for frugally-minded people. Whew!