The Girl on Bloor: Meal Planning Challenge
Notes started Jan 10 but finished Jan 28. Would be good to make room for prepped food and do a better job of planning what to eat - and to eat down the food I bought ahead when this stay at home stuff started.
1/10/21 Challenge Day 1:
1/11/21 TODAY'S HOMEWORK
1. Choose FIVE recipes to plug into your meal planner for this week; it can be 5 dinners (then dinner leftovers can function as lunches), or it can be a variation of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Post a picture of your meal plan.
Breakfast: Coffee, Yogurt/Jam, Oatmeal, etc. We do not eat together for this
Lunch: beans and rice - making new batch (black beans, onion, tomato, spices) and have frozen lentil Also have leftover sandwiches from Sunday night and leftover tofu/veggie/rice.
M - Alex's chicken pot pie, crescent roll crust, salad Ordered in from California Fish Grill. B-Salmon Salad and grilled brussel sprouts, A- Grilled Salmon with Grilled Veggies and beans, J-Grilled Shrimp with KaleSlaw
T - Chicken Sauerbraten, mashed potatoes, red cabbage, string beans, salad -
Annual birthday cake - Burnt Almond Cake
W - Pasta, Squash, Sauce, Sausage, Costo Squares, butter
TH - Leftover Monday Dinner
F - Leftover Tuesday Dinner
Sa - Leftover Wednesday Dinner
Su - Round up Leftovers - or carry in meal
Meal in waiting - Sage Sausage Stuffing with cranberry sauce (need to defrost sausage and make cranberry sauce ahead of time) If I have it, could add chicken to this but then may need gravy too.
2. Print and fill out your grocery list & do your shopping.
Already have*:
M - chicken*, cauliflower, crescent roll crust, salad
T - chicken*, sauerbraten sauce*, mashed potatoes*,onion, string beans, lettuce, tomato, dressing
W - pasta, squash, sauce, sausage*, Costco squares*, butter,
Shopping List
- 2 - 1/2 gallon Milk *
- Carrots *
- Red Cabbage *
- Apple *
- Eggs *
- Heavy Cream *
- Frozen Peas *
- Chicken gravy *
- I can't believe it's not butter spray
- Spray Dawn
- Cambozola Triple Cream Cheese
- Cream Cheese packets
- Labels for food and freezer
- circles for pot pies
- PEANUT SAUCE
- MUSHROOM BETTER THAN BOUILLON
- ICE CREAM VANILLA
- BLACKBERRIES ORGANIC
- KIWI 16 OZ
- Coming up with a realistic timeframe to meal prep
- shopping once a week, prep and cooking as you go, using leftovers up within 4 days
- How many people are in your family and who will you be prepping for?
- three people, we eat together
- How much time did you commit to meal planning/meal prep in the past week?
- Unknown for last week, and for this week too as I didn't keep track. Maybe 40 minutes each day?
- How much time are you able to dedicate to meal prep going forward?
- 40 minutes for planning and prep seems reasonable
- How many times did you order in/eat out in the past week?
- one time. We have been doing one carry in on the weekends usually
- Which meals are worth prepping, and which aren’t
- the ones where there will be no leftovers are not worth prepping ahead of time. For example sandwiches. Make and eat.
- Which meals do you struggle preparing most each week?
- lunch and dinner. I serve leftovers a lot and sometimes I'm thinking they are too much of the same thing in a row. So I try to skip a day, but then sometimes we have same meal for dinner, lunch and then lunch! I'm not consistent. I have been making plain beans so I can add different sauces and/or veggies when they are served.
- Choose which meals you will prep ahead each week (breakfast, lunch and/or dinner).
- lunch for sure as I often make beans and rice for lunch, perhaps dinner
- Are you going to prep ingredients only and cook during the week, or will you cook all your meals at once?
- I prep and cook a few meals at a time. I think if I had larger freezer and/or frig I would be able to do a week or more at a time.
- Meal planning more efficiently Where do you get stuck when it comes to meal planning?
- motivation right now. Has been a long time of eating in! Also room in the frig and freezer.
- Where do you typically find most of your recipes? Is that currently working for you?
- I have recipes that have been made or just saved from the internet mainly now. It's working out okay. I am transferring the ones I that were received well to this blog so easier to access.
- Take the time to list out 3 recipes that are in your normal rotation, 3 quick meals you don’t necessarily need a recipe for, and 3 recipes you’d like to try.
NORMAL ROTATION:
- Rice and beans with veggies and sauce - almost every week make this at least once
- I don't think I really have a rotation. I make enough for two or three meals and so that meal becomes the rotation. Except for rice and beans try to wait a few weeks before repeating a meal.
- Costco stuffed salmon, add veggie and perhaps a salad - once a month?
- Winter: Natasha's Russian Braised Cabbage https://natashaskitchen.com/russian-stewed-cabbage
- Pizza with Pillsbury roll crust, cheese, sauce, pepperoni, sometimes mushrooms a few times a month?
QUICK MEALS:
- Pasta with sauce, veggies, and perhaps meat - don't make often
- Mac and cheese from box with peas - don't make often at all but it's in the cupboard so quick if needed to make
- Libby's canned sausage gravy and yogurt flour biscuits with peas
- Eggs with anything and toast or biscuit and fruit
- Maple hoisin tofu http://dodgeeats.blogspot.com/2021/01/maple-hoisin-tofu.html with rice, mushrooms, snap peas, carrots, etc.
- George's Kielbasa and sauerkraut http://dodgeeats.blogspot.com/2021/01/georges-kielbasa-and-sauerkraut.html
- Dutch baby http://dodgeeats.blogspot.com/2021/01/dutch-babygerman-pancake.html
RECIPES YOU’D LIKE TO TRY:
- Crazy Chicken http://dodgeeats.blogspot.com/2021/01/crazy-chicken.html Made once so far, well received.
- Oaktown Spice Shop's Chicken Mole Poblano http://dodgeeats.blogspot.com/2021/01/oaktown-spice-shops-chicken-mole-poblano.html Need to get ingredients, but sounds tasty
- Indian meals - need to find the ones to try out
- How to make prep go faster Print out 4-5 recipes for the week and list out which ingredients you can prep right when you get home from the grocery store.
- It is better for me to cut right before cooking as it is difficult to store things in the frig now. We have milk, cream cheese, carrots, canned and bottled drinks in addition to the regular condiments, veggies to cook and for salad, yogurt. There is only room for little beyond the beans and rice that I have been making ahead...
- 4-5 Recipes
- x
- x
- x
- x
- x
- List out five appliances/cooking techniques you can use to make cooking go faster.
- toaster oven/air fryer, instant pot, microwave
- Cut things up ahead and store in frig separately so easy to add while cooking
- Make up freezer meal bags or containers - label and cook!
- Using up leftovers Can you plan for a specifically designated leftovers night in your meal plan each week?
- I have been trying to do this. Sometimes we each get a different meal to eat! Round Up Night.
- List out 3 ways you could repurpose leftovers
- Usually I add a new veggie or meat to a meal, and then serve it again.
- A few times I have changed to a soup.
- Summer: add to top a salad
- My idea of inventory of food can be carried one step farther and connect them to a recipe and day for the meal.
- Now that food is easier to get, can start to eat down the things I bought ahead on.
- Why can't I get my food organized so the frig and freezer are not stuffed?
- Keeping list of all food purchases now.
- Going to try to not buy anymore treats - DH and DS will just order that on their own.
- I can see how planning ahead and having things prepped would be a good habit to own.
- I have a lot more to learn and now have good opportunity for practice with a trapped audience!
- Family helps by washing up and putting dishes away, would be nice if we could cook or prep together though.
- Son had idea of doing a weekly baking project so will start to get recipes and ingredients in order for that.
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