Foodmomiac

Weekly Menu, Week of October 2, 2011

I actually meal planned this week - whoo!

Here's what's on tap:

Sunday (last night): pot roast, cheesy mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts and french green beans

Monday: Mujadara, lamb meatballs, greek salad

Tuesday: Staff Chicken, salsa verde, brown rice

Wednesday: Baked fideo, fresh veggie TBD (CSA delivery is Wednesday)

I'll need to figure out the rest once we get our delivery of veggies. What are you guys cooking this week?

 

The Pitfalls of Meal Planning

Much has been written about the huge benefits of meal planning (less wasted food! saves money! saves time!, less stress!), but I don't know that I recall ever reading anything about the drawbacks. I will still try to meal plan each week, at least casually, but there are definitely things about it that annoy me:

- Meal planning doesn't always take advantage of what looks best at the store. The best meal plans are created pre-shopping trip, and the shopping list is generated after the plan is written. But.. what if you plan to make steamed artichokes, and the artichokes look gnarly? Or... what if you were going to make meatloaf, but there is a sale on whole chickens from a local farm? 

- Meal planning doesn't take whims, cravings and aversions into account. Last night, the plan was to make Jambalaya. Come 4pm, I was totally NOT in the mood for Jambalaya. Nothing could have sounded worse. But... that was the plan, my Wednesday meal couldn't be subbed in (the whole chicken wasn't yet defrosted), and I didn't want to screw up the whole week. So, I made Jambalaya. This was actually fine, and it tasted great, and everyone loved it, but I spent the afternoon annoyed that I was trapped into making Jambalaya. 

- Meal planning actually CAN lead to wasted food. What if something comes up? You defrost a whole chicken, and then you fall down the steps of the school bus at the end of your son's kindergarten field trip to Little India (why yes, this did just happen to me two hours ago). My chicken is defrosted and needs to go in the oven, but I'm laying prone on an ice pack feeling sorry for myself. What is a woman to do?

 

So... meal planning. Love it? Hate it?

Hey... I meal planned this week!

As I mentioned yesterday, one of my daily goals is making dinner. With both of us working outside of the home full-time, it became really difficult to do this every night. Even when I did my best to plan and prep, it was just hard to get home at 6pm and then commence with the dinner preparations. We started getting really lax and ordering in a LOT. And, you know, it wasn't that satisfying. I know we were (are) very lucky to be able to afford to do this, but it does end up wasting a lot of money (just because we can afford it, doesn't mean we should do it) and it really isn't very healthy. So, I'm cooking more. And I am remembering again why I named this blog Foodmomiac. When I have time to cook, I LOVE to cook.

I'm not fully meal planning every week because I want to be able to run out and grab fresh ingredients midway through the week. This is especially important to me during the warm weather months, since I can run to farmers' markets around town on weekdays, stocking up on in-season produce.

That said, I did plan our meals through Wednesday of this week.

Sunday (last night): Marinated lamb kebabs (lamb was from Mint Creek farm), salad made with living lettuce and arugula from the Green City farmers market, Crash Hot Potatoes from Pioneer Woman

Monday: Shrimp Kebabs (I'm kind of kebab happy lately - so easy!), dill and onion brown rice (made in the rice cooker), grilled asparagus

Tuesday: Jambalaya with white rice, green beans

Wednesday: Roast chicken, macaroni salad

 

What are you guys making this week? Have you hit any farmers market lately?

Back in the groove (with this week's menu!)

Wow, so great to be home for the weekend with no plans for travel anytime within the next few weeks. I have really missed my routines!

The major activity of the weekend was gardening. We planted some herbs (flat leaf parsley, oregano, peppermint, basil, Thai basil), vegetables (roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, two kinds of peppers, cucumbers) and flowers (marigolds, impatiens, salvia). My arms are all scratched up, but things are looking pretty damn good. I still have some more annual planting to do at front, and the mulching will be a major project next week, but I'm really proud of what we accomplished!

I also managed to squeeze in a run with my friend Katie (only three miles, but we rocked a 10:30 pace, so I feel good about it) and create a weekly menu. Here's to routine!

Weekly Menu, Week of 5/2:

Sunday: Tomahawk steak, mushroom sauce, green beans with pine nuts in browned butter, macaroni salad

Monday: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green salad with cucumber and radish

Tuesday: Moroccan tempeh with cous cous and green beans

Wednesday: Brats from Paulina Meat Market, leftover macaroni salad

Thursday: Homemade pizza with dough from Trader Joe's

Friday: Family dinner out

Weekend Update and a Weekly Menu

Michael left for Austin (to attend SXSW) last Friday, so I had the kids all to myself this weekend. It went surprisingly quickly. Usually, I struggle a bit when I'm alone with them on the weekends, but it was easier this time. Probably because they are older, but it was still somewhat of a shock.

Saturday morning, the kids had their ice skating tests. They have just completed their third session of ice skating lessons. After each of the first two sessions, Dylan graduated to the next level. Not Max, though. He has stubbornly refused to do anything required of him in the tests, and we were kind of resigned to watching him skate in "Tot 1" until he was 12. But, as you can likely glean from the above photo, this week he passed! Tot 2, here we come! (Dylan's streak ended this time, and she will repeat Beta this spring).

Saturday was also the day I tried to introduce Star Wars to the kids. I thought for sure Max would be enthralled. Not so much! Dylan kept talking about how stupid it was (we watched Episode 4, so I guess the special effects were too old fashioned for her?) and Max asked me to turn it off after about 45 minutes. Oh well. Yesterday, in line with our movie theme, I took them to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the IMAX. Dylie loved it, but Max hated it. That's his new favorite verb - he hates everything these days. It's very charming.

Moving on, I managed to get some food prepped yesterday for the week.

Our menu:

Sunday (last night): Meatloaf, roasted fingerling potatoes, peas

Monday: Jambalaya (prepped yesterday)

Tuesday: Shrimp stir fry (maybe)

Wednesday: Michael's choice, as I'm heading out with some friends

Thursday: Corned Beef and Cabbage, one day late! (the beef needs an extra day to corn - I didn't start it until yesterday)

Friday: Family dinner out

Saturday: Date night!

Dinner Reality

As I mentioned a week or two ago, we instituted a new budget at the beginning of the year. My love affair with mint.com has not abated, and I am very pleased to report that we are still being really good. This is a total shock. This is absolutely unheard of in our household. Typically, our budgets last about a week.

One of the areas (not surprisingly) where we realized we were spending/wasting the most money was for food. Grocery shopping, takeout, and restaurants. Not to mention lunch at the office. It was kind of scary. However; in the past, I think our budgets have failed because we have gone the total opposite direction and created budgets that were totally unrealistic. "We'll cut our restaurant spending in half!" "We'll eat beans and rice every night for dinner!" It's just silly. So, we made a budget we could live with, and it is working.

That said, it's not always a total walk in the park. Last night, I had no desire to make dinner, Michael was working late, and we didn't have anything pre-made in the fridge. So, we kept it real, and ate a full-on Trader Joe's meal: chicken tenders, canned corn (theirs is the BEST) and garlic fries. Everyone ate it. Everyone was happy. And we didn't order delivery.

Our other meals this past week:

Sunday: Homemade pizza using Trader Joe's pizza dough (I was going to make Pastitsio, but I was sick, so Michael simplified)

Monday: Macaroni and cheese, peas, and kielbasa (I was at a work dinner, so Michael did his part to keep it real - the kids LOVED THIS DINNER)

Tuesday: This recipe, which took 10 minutes to prepare and was well-received by all. (Again, not what I had originally planned, but because I was sick Sunday, my usual pre-prepping did not happen)

Wednesday: Vegetarian stir fry (made with bok choy and broccoli), topped with peanuts and served over sushi rice

Thursday: The above fanciness

Tonight: Family dinner out at Sun Wah.

Starting Fresh - The Beginning of a New Year Step One: Meal Planning

Remember the first day of school? I always wore a brand new outfit, and had high hopes that only good times were ahead. That's how I feel now. Our au pair (our last one - we are done with au pairs - another story for another time) is gone. The new nanny/housekeeper/dog walker/Alice Brady starts on Monday. School begins on the 8th. My new attitude starts now.

I'm tired of feeling like I'm drowning in my own life. I'm always behind on something and feeling like I need to catch up. No more. It's a new day.

One of the first things I'm going to (re)implement is meal planning. Yesterday morning, we went to the Holland Farmers' Market and stocked up on fresh produce. With those ingredients in mind, I sat down this morning to create a meal plan for the week.

On the menu:

• Roasted Broccoli and Shrimp with Brown Rice
• Pasta with Raw Tomato Herb Sauce and Garlic Bread
• Organic, Farm-Raised Otto's Chicken on the Grill with Corn on the Cob, Potato Salad and Cucumber, Tomato Feta Salad
• Lisa/Baba's Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers with ??? (Recipe to come - this is a winner, and you can make extra for the freezer, which is awesome.)

Other changes I'm making in my life:

• Getting my home office filing system in order
• Going to the doctor for all of my checkups (dermatologist, gyn, general practice)
• Weekly masques/mini-facials at home
• Keeping the house in order (with the help of Sammy, our new Alice Brady)
• Going back to my old work schedule which involved leaving at 4:30 to come home

Weekly Menu, Week of 2/8/09

This is a pretty easy week for us. We leave Wednesday to go visit my mom and step father in Massachusetts for some skiing and relaxation (no blackberry or cell phone service there - how awesome is that???). The short week means I only needed meals for last night, tonight, and tomorrow.

I never mentioned it, but last week was kind of a disaster in terms of meal planning. I was gone in NY for two nights, and on those nights the family was covered with pre-made meals. Unfortunately, once I got back, we were out of steam (and out of food). On Wednesday, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant (which came to WAY more than we had expected). On Thursday, we got home late from work. The kids had Amy's pizza rolls with some frozen peas. I ate leftovers from the restaurant. Michael walked down the block to the hot dog shop. Friday was a bit more practical. I ran to Costco for a pizza. We should probably do this one night a week. It's $10.98 for an 18 inch pizza with everything (pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives).

Well, anyway, I knew I had to be more prepared this week, and the fact that I only needed to worry about three nights made it easy. I was incredibly motivated yesterday, so I made all of it and put it in the fridge.

Sunday: BBQ ribs (I made the sauce), potato salad, Greek salad with homemade creamy Greek dressing
(Note: I bought 5 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, and boiled them all at once. Half went into the salad, half went into Tuesday's mashed potatoes, which are sitting in the fridge.)

Monday: Sticky Chicky (a Relish! recipe that I won't make again. It was too sweet for me.), Roasted Broccoli with soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic, brown rice that I prepared in the crockpot on timer

Tuesday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas

Finding a meal planning system that works

I love the concept of meal planning. As I mentioned in my budgeting post a few weeks ago, I know for sure that meal planning helps us save money. The problem is that I have a hard time sitting down and actually doing it. Though I'm always bookmarking great recipes to my del.icio.us account, I can never recall them when it's time to plan the meals.

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but a few months ago I started writing for Cool Mom Picks (THE best mom shopping site out there, if I do say so myself). Mir, one of my fellow writers, wrote about the Relish! meal planning system a few weeks ago, and I promptly signed up for an account. I love this system, and, surprisingly, it's actually working for us. (I am surprised because I am never consistent with anything.)

Every Thursday, I get a link to the following week's dinner options. What I love about the site is that there is a lot of flexibility. I can choose any five meals I want from a list of 15, and they are very varied. Once my meals are selected, I choose the number of people eating each meal (I do six servings to cover the au pair and leftovers), and then a shopping list and recipes are generated as a PDF for easy printing.

Shopping is a BREEZE with this system. Everything is broken down by aisle, so I can easily write in any extra items I need (like Max's beloved apple juice or our never-ending supply of milk). I think it's really important to note that I don't follow the system exactly. Sometimes I use it just as a jumping off point. Like, last week I printed out a Mexican recipe, but because it was election week, and my emotions were making me tired (seriously), I kept it simple, and we did plain 'ol tacos instead of the Relish! option. All main dish recipes include a side dish recipe as well, but sometimes I'll adjust to make things easier on myself. For example, I'll use those organic Alexa French fries instead of making rice.

All of the recipes are coded with symbols that indicate the type of meal. For example, some are KF for kid-friendly, or C for crockpot. I have been choosing one crockpot meal each week, and for next week's menu, I made sure to also select one labeled with an M for morning prep.

We've only had one dud recipe (chicken in a crockpot with butternut squash), and I've been really impressed with the variety. I am making things that I would never usually make, and finding new favorites for the family. I also love the use of fresh herbs and nuts (an underused ingredient in dinner planning).

Next week our menu looks like this:

- Buttermilk unfried chicken, broccoli with herb butter (I'm guessing my family will want me to add potatoes as well, and I might swap out the broccoli since it's featured in another recipe as well)
- Apricot lemon chicken in the crockpot, butternut squash, couscous
- Bleu cheese burgers with sauteed onions, spicy french fries (kids will have regular cheese burgers, I'm sure)
- Creamy pasta with lemon and prosciutto, boston lettuce witih shaved parmesan
- Peanut rotini with broccoli, Asian spinach salad

Are you guys using systems that aren't your own? I know that Lauren played around with Six O' Clock Scramble for a while.

Weekly Menu - Week of 3/31/2008

Monday: Tonight, the kids and I are on our own for dinner. They are going to be treated to some roasted vegetable risotto, and they better eat it. ;-)
Tuesday: Pasta and Meatballs
Wednesday: Chicken Thighs (maybe in the crockpot?)
Thursday: Pizza Night
Friday: Out to dinner
Saturday: Date Night

What are you guys making? Post a link or post the menu in my comments if you don't have a blog (the horror!)