I hate being bossed around. I think that's the reason I've been such a miserable failure at menu planning in the past. Every time I try to sit down in advance and write down what I'm going to make each night for the next couple weeks, I feel suffocated. Like the "lemon chicken with pasta and broccoli" under Monday in my planner is being forced upon me. Yep, I know, I am the one who wrote it in there... I feel bossed around nonetheless. And what if we don't feel like lemon chicken that Monday night? Then what?
So lately I'm trying a new thing. Instead of getting out my planner and penciling in a couple weeks worth of meals, I've been buying the ingredients for several meals that I want to make. Then, when Monday morning rolls around, I have three or four choices to make for that night's dinner, thus alleviating the stress of my bossy planner.
It's only been a couple weeks, but the regime change has been a positive experience so far. Even better, we've tried some fabulous recipes lately! If you're wanting some easy, healthy, yummy (and cheap!) recipes, check these ones out:
noodles with lime-peanut sauce (we added chicken to the mix... delight!) from cheap healthy good
lemon chicken on pasta from five dollar dinners
shoestring fries with garlicky dijon mayo by cooking light (we had these with hot turkey sandwiches one night and burgers another night... glorious!)
sara moulton’s orecchiette (er, macaroni) with broccoli and chickpeas (with a healthy dose of extra red pepper flakes) also from cheap healthy good
spicy sweet and sour chicken (I used all frozen veggies, canned pineapple and whichever of the vinegars and soy sauce varieties I had around and it turned out great) from cooking light
6 comments:
That's basically what I do, b/c I too need the illusion of flexibility. :) I count out how many nights I need the meals to cover, then figure out how many meals I need to fix. From there, I create my grocery list. Then, I just have a list on my refrigerator, like this:
Hamburgers w/ sweet potato fries (2)
Chicken wild rice soup w/ salad (2)
Burritos (3)
etc...
Then, I keep track of what we've eaten & how many nights of each are left. This gives me the freedom I need, and allows me to quickly see what we need to eat up, so nothing gets forgotten in the back of the fridge.
haha! the illusion of flexibility. it's a wonderful thing. I like the idea of keeping a list so that you don't waste food! we'll have to swap recipes- we're always looking for healthy, cheap dinner ideas. :)
k
Thanks for sharing some of your cheap and good recipes! I am going to have to try some of them out!
Oops...I accidentally deleted my comment.
I am going to try some of the recipes too. You are getting creative with your menu planning :)
Thanks for sharing the recipes. We had the Lemon chicken over pasta and it was delish!
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