Meal planning is for overachievers, isn’t it?
Back when my universe was entirely different (read: before I had a baby) I used to take my time planning out the meals my husband Graham and I would eat. This admission is probably grounds for getting me fired from this website.
In any case, the method I used to use for meal planning was carefully thought out. I would set aside an hour or so on Sunday mornings to sit with my cup of coffee, my laptop and a stack of cookbooks, leisurely thumbing through my clippings and selecting five weeknight meals to make for the two of us. We tried all kinds of different dishes…Thai, Italian, Greek, you name it. Any leftovers became Graham’s lunches for taking to work.
Now that we have baby Nate, it’s a lot harder to find time for such in-depth and self-indulgent planning. However, I loathe that time of day, late afternoon when everyone in the house (and by that I mean Graham) starts to wonder, “What’s for supper?” Standing bleary-eyed in front of the refrigerator or kitchen cupboard, seeing food there, but without the ability to imagine those ingredients coming together to form a meal…well, that is one of the most annoying moments in my every day life.
My meal planning ritual has taken a turn for the lazy, but it still gets the job done.
Now, instead of spending that chunk of time putting together a varied and interesting menu for the two of us, I do things a bit backwards. I squeeze in a trip to the grocery store whenever I can. I buy for our family whatever I see that appeals to me and that I think will satisfy Graham’s lust for meat. I shove the groceries into the cupboards and the fridge sometime between getting home and going to bed. After the Nate goes to bed, I take five minutes to jot down five meals I can make with the food I bought. I post the list of scheduled meals on the fridge door. I show the list to Graham. Whenever he asks, “What’s for supper?” I point to the list.
Is this the most economical way for us to eat? Probably not. Is it the healthiest way for us to eat? Definitely not. But I follow the schedule.
I bask in the glory.
- So Worth the Onion Breath
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- Go make me a sammich. Or could you pick one up on your way home?
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: thecaffeinatrix
February 24, 2010 at 8:12 am
I don’t know what you’re talking about. The fact that you have a LIST and five meals sorta planned is STILL more than I do. You shame me.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:01 am
I know how much you hate grocery shopping! Don’t judge me. heh
Twitter: amyjod
February 24, 2010 at 9:15 am
I was right there with ya once upon a time. Four kids later, I miss those well planned meals, but what I miss most is FLAVOR! and SAUCES! neither of which most of my kids will tolerate.
But Izzymom is correct, you do still have a 5 day plan, no matter how you come up with it. You might still be aiming too high!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:02 am
At least I’m not planning seven days…sheesh!
Twitter: LovinStilettos
February 24, 2010 at 9:27 am
That’s strikingly similar to my meal planning. It works!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:03 am
Oh yay, somebody else does it, too! Phew.
Twitter: Trav1sty
February 24, 2010 at 9:38 am
My wife and I are still in the meal planning stage. Now I know what I can look forward to if we ever have kids.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:23 am
You can make it work…like us, you might just have to alter your strategy a bit!
Twitter: lotsOspermies
February 24, 2010 at 9:49 am
OMG! You still outdo most of us. The fact that you go to the store without a list and come home with enough for five full on meals is incredible. Bitch.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:26 am
It’s way more fun to shop without a list. It makes it okay to buy stuff like hotdogs and chicken wings and call them “meals”.
Considering I suck at cooking, suck at grocery shopping, and suck at planning this would still be quite the achievement for me. For me I go looking for 5 days worth of main dishes, at least 3 come from the frozen food section. When I get home I may or may not have bought any sides to go with these foods… spaghettio’s is an acceptable side dish right?
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:28 am
Virginia, Spaghettios are an acceptable MAIN dish, if you ask me…
Me too but the hubs doesn’t think they are so I have to pair them with something “real”. Seriously if it wasn’t for spaghettios and easy mac I probably would have starved to death in highschool.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Spaghettios on toast?
That’s totally going to be my suggestion for dinner tonight.
Twitter: alotofnothing
February 24, 2010 at 10:06 am
The fact that you have ANY plan at all, is amazing.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:29 am
It’s just self-preservation, Angie. Otherwise we’d all go hungry.
Twitter: sabolab
February 24, 2010 at 10:25 am
That’s already sooo much better than me going “let’s make a menu plan for this coming week, so we don’t have to worry about it!”… Then nothing happens. So we’re left with random things that appealed to me at the shop, and nothing coherent to make of them.
So, see, you’re not as underachieving as you might think! :D
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:30 am
Thanks, Severine! I guess we all just do our best.
Twitter: mariamelee
February 24, 2010 at 10:27 am
I planned meals more wen I was pregnant (read, twice) than afterwards. I think I did once or twice before I started working more and now I’ve REALLY wanted to get back into it just to save money. Cause that evening “Ugh, nothing looks good” dance gets expensive really quickly.
It really does take a lot of time and effort though!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 10:32 am
There are a few websites that will send you a whole week’s meal plan and shopping list, which would take all the thinking out of the equation. But then there’s be a lot more cooking of recipes and a lot less of pre-heating the oven and making frozen lasagna!
The only list I’m making is what they wont eat? really why bother if the only thing I hear is “yuck”,so here’s a hotdog!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Hopefully someday they’ll be more adventurous at the table!
Thank Goodness for the Kraft website! They have a meal planning thingy that prints a shopping list and all the receipes that you need!!!! It’s called 1 Bag 5 meals, and the great thing is, one of the meals is a digorno frozen pizza! AWESOME! ;)
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 24, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Oh Christen, thanks, I’m heading over now to check it out.
Twitter: mommabird2345
February 24, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I didn’t realize there was another way to make dinner. I have never heard of these things you call grocery lists and menu plans. :) With 3 kids and a Husband, it’s hard.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 27, 2010 at 12:38 pm
@mommabird2345, I can only imagine, since I’m dealing with a husband and just one kid! My hat is off to you.
Every week I say, “I’m gonna do the menu plan,” and every week I don’t.
So, every day I say, “What do you want for dinner?” to my husband and kids.
I think I should just bite the bullet and make a damn plan already!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 27, 2010 at 12:40 pm
@Mishelle Lane, maybe you could get them involved in the plan? Like everybody gets to pick one night to decide what you’ll be eating. Within limits, of course. You can’t eat Kraft Dinner and hot dogs every night (or so I’m told)…
Twitter: thecaffeinatrix
February 25, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I’ve given this a lot of thought since I read it yesterday and I think the reason I don’t plan meals is because I only like to cook/eat what I’m in the mood for right then and I know I would ignore the meal plan if it wasn’t what I wanted.
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 27, 2010 at 12:41 pm
@IzzyMom, Oh, I switch nights around all the time. So there is SOME flexibility there. It’s just knowing that there are the fixings for a decent meal in the house that makes the difference for me.
A few (five?) years ago there was a tv series set in the 60′s… I remember the teenage son asking his mom if she ever got tired of having to make dinner. She responded that she did, and when that happened she just made tuna noodle casserole. His reply: “We have that like twice a week!” Heh… we had that all the time when I was a kid!
My grandma told my mom that she was really happy she went into labor with her around 4 o’clock in the afternoon- she was so relieved not to have to make dinner!
Twitter: Amy_Urquhart
February 27, 2010 at 12:41 pm
@Parker_B, Oh, to have been a new mom in your grandmother’s generation! haha!
i let everyone(me, my husband, and 10 yr old daughter) pick one meal a week that they want me to cook!! otherwise, it’s peanut butter and banana sandwich, cold cereal–your choice, frozen pizza, mac and cheese, red beans/rice in a box, but a salad is considered cooking!!
Pre-kids my planning was similar to yours… the coffee, the books, the laptop… wow, that feels ages ago. Now I do my best to make a plan before I hit the store, but quite honestly that only happens about 25% of the time.
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