sorry for my lack of posting

…but I have been having a very painful bout of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I never knew that it could get this bad. But now I am sufficiently medicated and should be back on track soon. But this bout of IBS gives me a lot to think about in the food department. After I am finished discussing menu planning, I want to take a hard look at how diet influences health. Can you eat healthy and still eat foods that are good and interesting? I know that healthy food is also good but I have trouble with variety when it comes to cooking really healthy foods. Eventually you get tired of baked chicken.

My take on menu planning

My goal with menu planning is to minimize my time in the grocery store. Therefore, I plan 3 weeks worth of menus at a time. I then buy all the groceries I will need for those 3 weeks at one time. Here is a detailed breakdown of how I plan my menus.

1. Plan my dinners for the next 3 weeks. I decide on 6 new main dish recipes. I usually find my recipes at AllRecipes.com (which helps with the next step–compile a grocery list). This will give me 2 new, special dishes to cook each week. Also I plan additional basic things to cook for the rest of the week (for example, we usually have baked chicken once or twice a week, spaghetti once every three weeks, eggs for supper once a week, etc.). Now remember, you don’t need to plan on cooking 21 dinners for 3 weeks. Some nights you are going to have leftovers and other nights you may want to go out to eat. I typically plan on 17 dinners a week, but we are trying to cut down on the meals we eat out.

2. Create my grocery list. Since I use AllRecipes.com to find my main dish recipes, I use their shopping list feature to create the grocery list for those 6 dinners. I then add to that list the ingredients I need for my “basic” dinners. Then I add the items I will need for breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and desserts (we tend to eat the same things for breakfast and lunch, so this part is easy).

3. Order/buy my groceries. I use a grocery delivery service to purchase my groceries. For a $10 fee, I can order my groceries online and they will deliver them to my home. This is part of the reason I get 3 weeks of groceries at once–I don’t feel so bad spending that extra $10 when it is for 3 weeks worth of groceries.

4. Prep my meat. Unfortunately, meat will not stay fresh for 3 weeks. Also, since I buy 3 weeks worth of food at once, I usually buy the large family packs of meat (which I then have to separate into smaller portions). I separate out the meat into meal size portions, wrap each portion in foil, and then place the portions in Ziploc bags. I also label the meat (you can’t really see through foil). Why do I use foil when I could just stick it in a freezer bag? I find that using the foil helps keep the meat fresher.

There are pros and cons to my method. I like the freedom of not having to go to the grocery store so often. Granted I have to make the occasional run to pick up milk and eggs but that is nothing compared with a major grocery store trip. I never liked planning out my meals for a week–sometimes I would get stuck eating something I wasn’t in the mood for. But when you have 3 weeks worth of food, you have more to choose from and more of a chance to have something on had that you are in the mood for.

On the negative side, buying 3 weeks worth of food means that you have a huge grocery bill all at once instead of spreading it out over the month. And, you have to make sure that you have room in your fridge and pantry for the food (I always clean out my fridge before my groceries are delivered).

I hope that my experience can help you find the best way for you to plan out your menus. Good luck!

Menu Planning

For the next few days I want to discuss Menu Planning. My definition of menu planning is the process you go through to select, purchase, and prepare the food you will eat for a select period of time. In easier terms, how do you decide what you will cook, buy your groceries, and then make the food.

Menu planning has always been something that I have struggled with. I remember reading in an old Betty Crocker cookbook that you should decide what you will eat on which days before you go to the grocery store so that you would know what you need to purchase. Well, I agree with half of that concept–you have to know what you want to make before you go to the grocery store, but how can I ever know what I will want to eat in a week. I take a more casual approach to menu planning. Over the next few days I will tell you how I plan my menus and I will also explain some other menu planning techniques (like Once a Month Cooking, Pantry Cooking, and creating a core list of recipes). Menu planning strategies are definitely not a one solution fits all type of thing. What may work great for one person may not work for others.

Versatile White Sauce

White sauce is a versatile sauce that you can use to create many different dishes from. You can add cheddar cheese to it and serve it over macaroni for an easy homemade mac ‘n cheese. Or add Parmesan and mozzarella to it for a mock Alfredo sauce. Or add Monterrey jack cheese and green chilies for a great sauce to top enchiladas. Add breakfast sausage to it and you have sausage gravy. The options are endless.

White Sauce

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk*

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add flour and stir until the butter and flour are well combined. Pour in milk, stirring constantly as it thickens. Add more milk depending on desired consistency.

*For a richer and creamier taste, use whole milk or condensed milk.

After you have made the sauce, you can season and add cheese. The sauce definitely needs salt added to it and then any other seasoning that you like. If you are making macaroni and cheese, try adding a little dried mustard to it.

 

 

The other day I had some leftover broccoli that I need to use up. Using the basic white sauce recipe, I made a mock Alfredo sauce (I added Parmesan, mozzarella, and Swiss cheese to the sauce). Then I served the sauce and broccoli over noodles. It made a great, fast lunch for my daughter and I, and it only took 12 minutes to make.