One of the things I like so much about reading other people’s blogs is having the ability to get a glimpse into how other people do things and what their life is like. It’s that opportunity to be a fly on the wall and to potentially learn from other people’s experiences (and in some cases, mistakes) that can be so entertaining and rewarding. So in that spirit, I thought I would share a little bit of how we go about our weekly meal planning in the event that it might be useful to those of you out there.
Generally speaking, we make one trip to the grocery store per week, most often on Sunday morning. I know there are people out there who shop every few days to ensure they have fresh ingredients and/or to allow themselves more spontaneity in deciding what to eat on any given day. That doesn’t really work for us given our busy schedules, my dislike for grocery shopping in general, and my plan-ahead nature. So once a week works best for us.
Breakfast and lunch are super easy to plan for since Jason and I are both creatures of habit. We both eat cereal for breakfast 5 days a week; Jason will eat a banana and usually has some OJ in addition (I hate bananas and try not to drink sugar-y juices very often). Jason usually brings his lunch to work and it almost always consists of a sandwich (turkey or ham with swiss or cheddar, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and mustard on a kaiser roll), an apple, and either a granola bar or pretzels. I usually eat yogurt and crackers or fruit. So those things are always on the menu/grocery list.
Not surprisingly, dinner takes the most time to plan out. Depending on our schedule (which can vary as a result of things like book club, working late, dinner out with friends, etc.), I usually plan on making dinner Sunday-Thursday. (Fridays and Saturdays we usually eat out.) Since January, I have tried to adhere to a few rules when planning out the week’s menu—at least one new recipe (to justify my many cookbooks, food blogs, and magazine subscriptions), one vegetarian recipe, and one light recipe per week. Some weeks are easier than others to plan—sometimes Jason will have specific requests, sometimes I have a recipe that I have seen recently that I really want to try out, etc. Other weeks I have no idea what I want to make and then I turn to my cookbooks, recipe binder, and bookmarked blog recipes for inspiration. I also subscribe to two food magazines which help fuel our weekly menus as well—Everyday Food (which I’ve said before is a great source for simple, weeknight meals) and (more recently) Cook’s Illustrated.
Here is what we’ve got planned for this week:
Sunday: Salmon with Pinot Noir Mustard Sauce (new recipe)
Monday: Spring Vegetable Risotto (vegetarian recipe)
Tuesday: Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa and Corn (light recipe)
Wednesday: On our own (I am having dinner with a friend so Jason will likely eat leftover or something of his own making
Thursday: On our own
And that is meal planning in a nutshell. Do you plan your meals out ahead of time? Or are you more spontaneous in deciding what to eat for dinner each week?
I love picking out recipes from my ever growing cookbook collection, but I usually get lost in them for hours so it isn't very practical. Typically, Mike calls me at 5:00 every day and asks what's for dinner, to which I respond, I don't know and after some hemming and hawing (and griping on my part) I am required to stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up ingredients for one of the four meals we seem to be stuck eating over and over...pasta, pasta w/sausage (yes, those are two separate meals in our house), fajitas, or curry from a jar. I think I like your way better.
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