Do you know anyone who plans meals a week or even a month
in advance? I once had a friend who kept a dry-erase board
on the fridge, and written on it were seven squares, each
with a day of the week noted above it. In each square there
was a specific meal; Tuesday might have been taco night, or
Friday might have been do it yourself pizza night. I asked
why she did this, and she simply said, "If I plan ahead I
never have to worry about throwing together a last minute
meal."
I thought about that, and you know what? It's true!
Planning meals before you even go shopping can save time
wandering up and down the aisles in the grocery store
trying to decide what to make for supper, which also means
less trips to the store altogether if you can buy the items
a week in advance. You may be thinking, Yes, but I'll have
to go back to the store for my fresh items. This isn't
necessarily true. Many fresh vegetables and breads can be
frozen as soon as you buy them and will keep for up to a
month.
Some meals can even be prepared in advance and frozen or
refrigerated until it's time to eat. Take for example
spaghetti sauce with meat balls. If you like to make it
from scratch, cook it during your free time on the weekend,
then pop it in the freezer. On spaghetti night, preparing
your meal simply consists of heating up the sauce, boiling
noodles, and popping garlic bread in the oven (if you
like). Other great foods to prepare ahead of time are cold
pasta, potato salad, and soup. Chicken, turkey, and beef,
can be cooked and then frozen, but it's important that you
cool them quickly after they are cooked. Also, the more
air-tight your freezer container is, the better the meat
will fare. It's recommended that you use the meat within
one month of freezing. It may take a full day spent cooking
a week's worth of suppers, but the result is a less hectic
schedule overall!
A good tip for planning your meals ahead of time is to get
meal suggestions from the rest of the family. Sit down with
the members of your household and ask what foods they want
for dinner throughout the week. If you don't have the time
for a sit-down discussion with everyone, leave a piece of
paper somewhere noticeable—like the
refrigerator—with a note asking everyone to write a
meal suggestion on the paper. You can collect the advice
and devise up the meals yourself.
You may decide that it's easier to manage your shopping
budget by keeping the ingredients fairly similar every
week. For instance, every Monday and Thursday night's meals
may have beef, every Tuesday and Friday's meals might have
chicken, Wednesday's meal could have fish, and Sunday's
could be turkey. So every time you go to the store, you
think: I get two packages of beef, two packages of chicken,
one package of turkey, and one package of fish. As your
shopping list (as far as meat goes) is always the same,
you'll be able to breeze through your shopping trip, plus
you will have a better idea as to what your total spending
will be on a weekly basis. This doesn't mean that every
meal has to be the same, just that you use a lot of the
same meats week-to-week.
So you see, meal planning doesn't have to be an impromptu
process of "What do we have in the pantry?" or "What does
everyone want tonight?" By planning ahead, you cut back on
shopping and meal preparation stress, and you also free up
some valuable time to spend with loved ones!
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