I'm not much of a planner at all, to be honest. I'm always the one on vacation who forgets to pack something essential and I often get soaked on rainy days because clouds are not enough of a warning for me to grab my umbrella.
That being said, I'm giving meal planning a try.
Monday afternoon, I grabbed my pretty new notebook and scribbled my work schedule for the month in it. Then, after taking inventory of my freezer and pantry, noted recipes for each night. And when I say recipes, I mean vague lists of food items that probably would taste alright when tossed together in a pan or crockpot.
Example:
Monday: NYE
Tuesday: Dinner at work- hummus
Wednesday: Crockpot chicken+onions+black beans+rice
Thursday: Leftovers (tacos)
Friday: Dinner with Laurel (Canceled. Leftovers.)
Saturday: Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, frozen veggies
Luckily, I was able to eat my leftover chicken 3 different ways. But there's got to be another way to go about this. Something with a little more variety.
And then I came across its a muegge life ! Ahh! The heavens opened up and said duh. There's a billion better ways than randomly jotting down a protein and two veggies!
Here's the long and short of it:
Take 90 notecards and write a recipe on each card, including cooking times, serving size, and grocery lists.
Put them in a recipe box.
On Sunday night choose 3-5 notecards for the week. (I figure that'll allow for leftovers and for nights my lovely Manfriend wants to treat me ;) )
Make a grocery list for the week and do my shopping Monday afternoon.
3 months worth of recipes seems like good amount to rotate through without getting bored.
Or I can always just continue eating my famous rice and beans with Sriracha.
Cost effective AND delicious.
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