The Great Importance of Planning What You'll Eat

I cook for my family. I have 10 people in my family and often times 10+ over for dinner. I do almost all of the cooking and almost all of the grocery shopping. I love doing it and my parents not only allow me to try new recipes on them, they actually give me an allowance for doing it! They said they would pay me for 5 meals a week so I do my best to supply them with just that. Since the holidays, things have been more up in the air and I haven't gotten back to my schedule. I might be working another job soon so I really don't know how much I'll be able to cook at home at that point. The last couple of weeks I think I've done more like 3 meals a week. This week I'm hoping to do 5. This post is really more how I did things last semester and how I hope to do them again. But to be completely honest, I'm not quite there right now! It's really fun most of the time but it does turn into quite a bit of work. Being organized helps immensely! Planning ahead even helps me cook healthier meals since I can use fresh ingredients and take a little more time to decide. There are really two reasons I'm writing this post. One is just to give you a little more information about me and what I'm always talking about. And the other is to tell you how much it has helped me to be organized and some of the ways that I do that.

If I waited until just before dinner time to figure out what I was making we would always end up eating macaroni and cheese. I mostly enjoy cooking when it's fun, exciting, new, interesting kinds of meals. Now, they're not always that way, but they would never be that way if I didn't plan ahead! Therefore, on the weekends, I do my planning. I write out my family's general schedule for the week so that I know when I'll be cooking. I always try to cook when the most people will be home. My dad's schedule changes all the time so I always find out what meals he will be home for and that is the main frame for the rest of the scheduling. I try to cook mon-fri but if there's a day that I'm too busy during the week I try to cook over the weekend to make up for it. This also helps me know what kind of food I can make each day because if I don't have a lot of time, it can't be too complicated. Not only do I have to be home, I have to be home with enough time to cook whatever it is. I also have to schedule in my grocery shopping trip. This usually happens on Sunday evening or Monday afternoon. If I'm cooking lunch Monday then I have to go before then. I then start trying to come up with a meal plan. I usually try to cook something like two to three chicken dishes, one fish, one beef, sometimes a vegetarian or pork. I am constantly trying to learn to cook new things but I try to only cook one completely new recipe a week. My family is trusting me to cook food they will like and I try not to disappoint but I also want to expand their pallets. A new recipe can be a safe option if it is made with mostly familiar ingredients. But the more out-there ones, have to be spread out. Anyway, once I get a meal plan I make a grocery list. It must include all of the ingredients for the meals and anything else that we will need that week. I have to try to make the meals with the most fresh ingredients at the beginning of the week or else I will have to wait to buy some of them until mid-way through the week. I try to schedule almost my entire week during the weekend before. Not only meals, everything. Then I try to prepare as much as possible ahead of time. Then my week goes so much smoother. Anything that I know ahead of time goes into my pre-week schedule and I try to stick to it. This has made me a million times more productive and I actually get to cook almost as much as I would like to! Anyway, just thought I would share a little more about what I do. Here's the plan for this week:

M. Polenta Lasagna, Caesar salad

W. Beef Tacos, Sherried Tomato Soup (from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Th. Baked Flounder, Mexican Rice (from Authentic Mexican Food) and Spicy Pinto Beans

F. Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Green Peas

S. Roast, Red Potatoes, Carrots, Rolls


Just so you know, I also made a Cranberry-Lemon cake that was delicious and I'll hopefully be posting about that soon!