I was talking with some friends the other day about a new plan that I've devised to make dinner 5 nights a week. Did I say "healthy dinner"? Nope. Just dinner. That's an accomplishment for me. Anything more than chicken nuggets, hot dogs or soup - where we all (if Greg's home on time) sit down and eat together - is considered dinner to me. Well, to be honest, nuggets, dogs and soup with us all sitting down would still count in my book. If I don't have a plan, then I end up waiting until the last minute and throwing something together that's usually not healthy at all and not very yummy. Is it Emeril that says, "Food is Love"? Or something like that? Well, me making food is a way that I'm going to love on my family. So in an effort to be better about making dinner, I came up with a plan and have started to execute it.
Step #1:
Come up with 20 main courses that my family will eat. 5 each week. We always eat out on Sundays after church and I figure Saturdays can be left-over night. Either way 5 nights is a big upgrade for me! The main courses I chose are:
Chicken n' Dumplings
Burritos
Spaghetti Pie
Polish Sausage
Taco Pizza
Chicken & Noodles
Southwest Chicken Soup
Meat Loaf
Crab Salad
Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
Chicken Bundles
Walking Tacos
BBQ Beef Cups
Pork Chops
Top Your Own Pizza
Chicken Pot Pie
Chili
Cheeseburger Pie
Chili Dogs
Meatball Subs
If you can only come up with 10 or 15 then you'd do a 2-3 week rotation. If you can come up with more, then you could do a larger rotation or plan to cook 6-7 nights a week.
Step #2:
Make a calender grid and fill in your main courses. Space them out however you like. I chose do chicken stuff on Mondays, "tex-mex" type things on Tuesdays, something using burger on Wednesdays, something easy on Fridays and fill in the rest on Thursdays.
Step #3:
Fill in any sides that you need to turn your main course into a meal. A lot of mine are meals in themselves. Some need a salad or a veggie and rice/noodles added.
Step #4:
Figure out which meals can have parts made ahead. My friend, Jerilyn, taught me to make "Handy Hamburger" and "Easy Shredded Chicken". HH is just burger cooked up with onion, garlic, salt and pepper and then frozen in 1-2 cup portions that can be added to things like chili, spaghetti pie or jazzed up for burritos or BBQ cups. ESC is boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked in the crock pot with whatever yummy spices you like and some water until it is super tender and easily shreds - again, freeze in 1-2 cup portions. It is used in several of my meals, like dumplings, noodles, bundles, soup, etc. My 4 week calender uses 7 portions of HH and 5 of SC. So, if I find hamburger or chicken on sale then I know I can buy it and get it ready for future meals. The whole point is that you are cooking once, making a mess once and cleaning up once, but reaping the benefits several times! I've found that you can never have too much HH or ESC on hand and there are SO many uses for both of them.
Step #5:
Figure out which meals can be doubled (or more) and frozen. For spaghetti pie, I double my recipe and then half the portions so I end up with 4 meals from one mess. Others that I make extra to freeze are SW Chicken Soup, Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Chicken Bundles & Chili. Having something made and frozen makes life that much easier. I've done a whole day of cooking just to make meals to freeze a few times and it is such a great way of doing things. Again, one cook, one mess, one clean-up, several benefits. That's another blog though!
Step #6:
Make your shopping list for each week's meals. Because they are already written down it's pretty easy to know exactly what you'll need when shopping. I made 2 columns. One with all the stuff I know I'll need to buy each time and one with the "staples" that I need to make sure I have on hand before I head to the store. Things like butter, eggs, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. that I usually have in the fridge, but need to double check. My plan is to type up my grocery lists and have them printed ahead of time so I can add things to them as I need to through the week before. For now, they are on a little notepad that I wrote on while we were driving home from Florida and I just make a copy of that weeks' page.
Step #7:
Shop! I'm assuming that shopping is going to be easier and cheaper than it normally would be. I've only shopped once in this manner and it was right after we got back from vacation and right before we were getting geared up to go back to school. So, I spent way more than I would have if I'd stuck to my list. But who can pass up goldfish crackers for $1!
Step #8:
Cook! Whichever night is the first night that uses Handy Hamburger cook the whole amount and get it frozen in portions for later. Do NOT do like I did and forget about the $10 worth of hamburger that was not on sale and let it go bad in your fridge before you cook it! UGH!!! Also, be flexible. If you're not in the mood for what's on the menu that night, switch it up. We were supposed to have chicken and dumplings last night but I forgot to cook the chicken. So, we had burritos instead. I cooked up all the hamburger (which I rebought on Sunday) and then put the chicken in the crockpot this morning. So, I'm off to make chicken and dumplings now. If you have frozen any meals then you'll have to think ahead just a little and thaw out that meal, if needed, the night before.
If you want any of my recipes, let me know. None of them are extraordinary, but they are all pretty yummy and almost all of them are really easy. I'm no Rachel Ray, but I bet 90% of my meals are done in 20 minutes or less! And my kids and husband like them all so that's what works for me! It's all about giving them something that they'll like and getting us all around the table at night.
