Okay, those of you who know me, know that I do NOT enjoy cooking. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I loathe it, but it certainly wouldn't find a place in my top 20 things to do. Since my family of two became a family of three, I have tried to overcome my aversion to cooking. I am also much more cognizant of the fact that Kerensa needs to eat healthy (and I know Ryan and I do too).Since November, Ryan and I have also endeavored to follow Dave Ramsey's envelope system for budgeting your money. We've had a budget for years, but we never really got on the cash-only bandwagon. We are on it now, and I think it's been going well. This system also made me realize that if you don't plan how you will spend your grocery budget, it will eat you alive!!!
The culmination of these two realizations have turned me into a meal planner! I am very discriminating in my recipe choices, though. They have to have about 5 to 6 ingredients and sound easy to make. If I like all the ingredients, I figure I can't mess it up too bad when I put them together! I found the above-referenced website through a Harding alum's blog, and it has helped me and inspired me to become better in this area of service to my family. Every Monday, the host posts her weekly menus and others add links to their menus. I'm thinking that participating will help keep me on track with one caveat: I don't plan my meals weekly. I do it two weeks at a time for two reasons.
First, it works with my budgeting process. I take 1/2 of our grocery budget out in cash at the beginning of the month and make myself stick to that amount until the 15th. Then, I take out the rest. I figure if I don't do it this way I wouldn't have any money left by the time the last half of the month rolls around (really).
Second, I don't think I could stand going through recipes and making a grocery list more than 2x a month. As already mentioned, cooking and making grocery lists are not activities I really enjoy. I therefore spend the least amount of time I can thinking about it. An added bonus is only going to Walmart twice! So without further ado, here was my plan for the first two weeks of this month. I'm into the second week now obviously. :)
Monday: Salad
Tuesday: Black Bean & Gumbo Soup w/cornbread
Wednesday: Sausage Spaghetti Pie
Thursday: Chili w/cornbread
Friday: Easy Enchilada Casserole w/Doritos
Monday: Salad
Tuesday: Meatloaf
Wednesday: Grilled Fish
Thursday: BBQ Meatballs w/rice
Friday: Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos
I don't plan for Saturday and Sunday as inevitably something happens during the week, and we get a little off. Last week, it ended up being one of our little's birthdays, so we ordered pizza for him Thursday night. We ate the leftovers on Friday. So I made the enchilada casserole Sunday. Tonight we'll be having chili instead of salad. I try to make something easy on Mondays since I'm generally more tired that day. Fridays are usually Mexican because that's Ryan's favorite. I also make vegetables as a side dish, which consist of some assortment from the frozen food aisle. There were three new things for me in last week's menu, and they all turned out great (the soup, the spaghetti pie, and the casserole). You can find those recipes on the MPM site, but if someone would like me to post them, I'd oblige you.
Also, I would welcome any suggestions/tips any of you may have. When it comes to cooking, I am definitely a novice!
Also, I would welcome any suggestions/tips any of you may have. When it comes to cooking, I am definitely a novice!
10 comments:
Hi, Regina! I DO remember you! As soon as you said Regina and French, your face came right with it. :)
Way to go -- sticking with a budget and menu planning. We used to do the envelope system, too, and it worked really well for us.
One thing that I've heard of people doing that helps with meal-planning (which you sorta already do) is to plan certain types of meals for certain nights...then you don't have to think as hard when it comes time to find the recipes. You kinda already do this with Monday and Friday...What I mean is, for example, Monday is Quick and Easy or Crockpot night (since you're usually extra tired those days); Tuesday is Soup, Salad, and Bread night; Wednesday is Meat-Free night; Thursday is Italian; and Friday Mexican...you get the idea. Anyway -- I always have trouble sticking to a plan like that because I do enjoy cooking and a wide variety of foods, so I feel like making theme nights would be limiting for me. BUT I can see how it would make menu-planning a lot easier! Take it for what it's worth! :)
Thanks for commenting and your daugher is BEAUTIFUL! I love her eyes!!
What a great idea! I, too, hate to plan meals and cook (and clean up, now that I think about it!), so I could really be doing better in this area, too. I'm intrigued by the Black Bean & Sweet Potato Burritos--is that recipe on the site?
Thanks for the tip, Sandi. I think that would help. :) Katrina, I'm pretty sure I did find that recipe through the MPM site, but I'll copy it here. I wish I could give credit to the author, but I didn't copy their blog link. I haven't made it yet, but I'll let you know how it turns out.
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos
3 medium sweet potatoes
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (frozen also works fine)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-oz. cans black beans
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (adjust for your heat preference)
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
8 large tortillas
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350° F. (Skip this step if you are making these to freeze!)
Microwave sweet potatoes on a plate so they are cooked all the way through (pierce with a fork, cook for 12-15 minutes on high). Let cool until they can be handled easily. Remove and discard skins. Mash potatoes and season with salt & pepper. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large pan and saute onions until soft and golden, adding garlic for the last few minutes of cooking. Stir in black beans (including all of their liquid). Add soy sauce and seasonings to taste. Simmer uncovered until liquid is reduced and beans aren’t runny, about 15 minutes.
Layer sweet potato, beans, and shredded cheddar in tortillas and roll up as burritos. At this point, you can either individual wrap the burritos in foil, and freeze. Or, place rolled burritos in a casserole dish or on a baking pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, until browned.
Serve with salsa and sour cream.
Hey, I've definitely struggled with planning and cooking meals, too! I'm still trying to get it together. I'm not big on cooking either. Some of those recipes sound good. :)
Your method of taking out half the cash for half the month is similar to ours! We only do that part with the "spending money" though. I take out half on the 1st & half on the 15th like you.
We're really trying to get on the Dave Ramsy envelope system! :)
I typically take $150 cash and buy the next two months worth of meals. :)
I will search the web and find six to eight recipes that are all "freezeable". I figure out how much meat, ingredients I needed, etc. Then I go to Costco and buy it all in bulk. I do not spend more than $150.
The next evening, I come home from work and I cook/ prepare the meals from the recipes I found. Altogether I make about 30-meals. I wrapped them in foil and put them in freezer bags.
Now, at the beginning of the week, I take out the meals I want to eat and keep them in the fridge. It works great, because it's all ready to cook or microwave or throw in the crock pot. The planning only happens every two-months. :) I love it! It's great!
I use my crockpot as much as possible. I don't feel trapped in the kitchen that way, and the recipes are often short and simple. We also generally end up with at least one meal to freeze. Another thing we used to do was but chicken or pork chops in bulk, then put them in marinade in plastic bags and freeze. They marinated as they froze and thawed, cutting prep time. All I had to do was throw together a side item and dinner was on! Good luck! It looks good.
Thank you for this link! I am the same as you in that I don't really enjoy figuring out what we are going to have. Usually I am deciding about 30 minutes before we eat. I went through a time in the past where I was organized and wrote on the calendar what we were going to eat and on which day, and that was wonderful. You have inspired me to get back on the wagon! Thanks! And best wishes with your meal planning too!
I took a page from Chad Gardner's blog and made out a list of, for us, 20 meals we like to make (We really like variety). I pick from that list and grocery shop accordingly. Then we just mark off which meals we ate.
I have found that I can usually double the recipe and serve half that night and freeze half for later. Frozen veggies, side salad & sandwich bread w/ butter are typical sides. We only began this month but so far it's going well.
Thanks for posting the Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos. I may have to add that one to the rotation if you deem it yummy!
I kind of do the same thing. I pull out our grocery money at the beginning of the month and then make my menu. I just print off a calendar and then put the name of meal and page number of the cookbook on there. Then I shop for those things I need to prepare the meals. That way I really only have to get the everyday things, like milk, eggs, bread on a weekly basis.
The cash only thing has really helped me curb what I create and buy. I still buy a few "pop in a heat" meals for the days that I am running late getting home from work. That way we still have healthy choices, but still on our budget for the 5 of us.
Good luck! Thanks for the ideas too- I'm excited to try them!
Thanks so much for typing that up, Regina! I'd love to hear how you like it when you make it.
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