Menu Planning

I’ve heard from many of you that you want to try new recipes but you don’t have time to go to the supermarket over and over to buy ingredients. Of course you don’t! Who has time for that? There are two key elements to your cooking strategy that will make your weekly meals so much easier. The first is menu planning. Once you have a list of ‘go-to’ favorite recipes, this won’t take you long at all, but even if you spend half-hour to an hour doing this on the weekend, it is time VERY well spent and I really enjoy it. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you have some easy, delicious, nutritious staple recipes to choose from to get you started.

Here’s my strategy but you’ll want to do whatever works for you. I sit down on Saturday or Sunday, giving myself enough time to do the shopping, and I write down on a memo pad the next seven days of the week. I tend to cook large portions, so I only plan lunches for the weekend days and the other days we have leftovers and/or easy stuff like tuna salad, sandwiches, pizza, etc. The first step is to take inventory of what you already have in your fridge and freezer that needs to be used. If you’re like me, you like to avoid waste, so planning as many meals around what you already have makes the most sense. I have a few ‘go-to’ cookbooks I like and I subscribe to Cooking Light magazine, so I first go through these for inspiration. I decide if there are any new recipes I want to try that week and if so I add them to my menu. I’m hoping you will be able to come here for ideas and new recipes that are proven and not difficult. Then you can choose a few dinners from my list of ‘staples’ or your own to fill in the rest of the days.

The next step now that you have your menu planned is to use it to write up your grocery list. Just go one recipe at a time and list the ingredients you will need, minus of course those you already have. Then add what you’ll need for breakfasts, snacks, or any other kitchen needs.

Once you get going, this is a fun and pretty easy process. I’m here to help so if there’s something you have a question about or would like to see on the site, please let me know!