Food: Planning Your Meals

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Planning Your Meals
Thursday, December 29, 2005

Okay, now we have gone over our food planning. Once you have your master shopping list and your regular meals list done, you are ready to begin preparing for your shopping adventure.

Remember that you are going to begin to shop monthly. First you will need to find a ready-made calendar. You can use a monthly planner as a template, or you can purchase an inexpensive desk calendar. You will need three calendars for each month - one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for supper (or dinner).

You will need to sit down and write out what your family will eat for each meal. Breakfasts are particularly tricky, especially if everyone is on his or her own to decide what to eat. If that is the case, then you are going to need to get everyone on board with the scheduling. You need to know that you have four people who will need cereal for seven days during the course of the month so that you can plan how much food to buy.

Remember to schedule in the new meals you planned to try over the course of the month. Create a copy of the master ingredient list. Close out the original. Once you have the list of meals in hand, then you will look at the regular meals. Copy the ingredients from any of these meals to your current ingredients list. Multiply them to determine what you need to buy. Let us return to a sample we used previously.

Chili
1 pound ground turkey
2 cans kidney beans
1 can basil-seasoned tomatoes
chili powder
2 cans tomato sauce

If you were having chili three times in a month (a chilly month), then copy this recipe, then multiply so that under your master ingredients list, you have

3 pounds ground turkey
6 cans kidney beans
3 cans basil-seasoned tomatoes
6 cans tomato sauce

Note that chili powder is missing from the later list. You will not need three jars of chili powder. Putting it on the list is simply a reminder to you to check to see if you have chili powder.

Once you have added in the regular meals and any new meals you are trying, then you will need to print the list. Now, look at the master ingredient list. Do you need those items? Circle or otherwise mark the ones you need to get and check now if you are uncertain whether or not you have enough eggs.

While the process of listing and then creating a monthly menu may seem difficult, it really will help you to get everything together. Once you complete this process once or twice, then you will begin to get the hang of it. After you go through the monthly routine, you will need to stop at the store weekly only for produce and other perishables. After a couple of months, you will be a pro.

The next step for you, which we will tackle later, is how to store your food once you get it home. Be sure that you have a plan and enough room for your foodstuffs or you could end up with tons of food sitting in your kitchen. The key to making cooking and other food-related tasks just another part of your day is to make sure that you are organized about the process.

After you have established this routine, you need to explain to your family that you have a monthly menu now. They are to consult the menu anytime they are making a meal. You need to have what is on the list each month. Do not be afraid to experiment with the list. While you may love your meatloaf, if you find that all of the other family members are begging to put it off when its time comes on the menu, then you should reconsider whether that should remain a regular meal. Expect some changes normally as your children grow up and then leave home.

The best part of this system is that you will be able to keep track of what new recipes you will try. Because you will pay attention to what you are eating, you will have a record of that meal you just loved and wanted to take to Aunt Emily's next week. Trust me. This plan will work.

By Julia Mercer

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