The addition of extra kids living here also meant we were cooking for more people and of course everyone has their likes and dislikes. Emilie only eats 'white foods', Shannon (19) eats a similarly limited diet. Lucky the boys eat almost anything. Everyone work different shifts across the day and night so meals often need to be reheated late at night. Remember the old saying by your parents "this is not a restaurant".....well this is actually a frigging restaurant. Nightmare!
So, I started by making a list of all our regular meals, about 20 of our favourites. Some are cheaper than others, most are quick, some are meals just Michael and I eat on date nights, and most are suitable to reheat.
Each week I now work out which meals we will have for the next 7 days, lunch supplies and back up meals like pasta bake and homemade fish and chips (fondly known as FnCs) I don't set in concrete the night we will have each meal because it is meant to be flexible, but I do work out what meals I need to have the ingredients available for.
I make my shopping list based on the meal selections plus some basics and we do the shopping. I then decide according to our work schedules or other plans, what we will have for dinner each night.
It is working a treat! So simple, why didn't I do it sooner! We still need to go to the supermarket for the basics like bread, milk and dunny paper, but not as often. It is great knowing what I am cooking ahead of time rather than having to think about it at the end of the day. My mum used to call dinner time 'arsenic hour' and I can now see why. Meal and shopping planning has definitely reduced stress in my day and helped us with our budgeting.
Loved your blog! Good on you!
ReplyDeleteI got into meal planning a while ago, because I just couldn't cope with the stress of 'what am I going to cook!', and I don't face anywhere near the challenges you do with so many bodies in the house to cater for.
Have you heard of the 4ingredients cook book? if you can, get your mits on a copy of this book. I'm talking about the first one (green book). four ingredients are all you need, and it gives you a list of basic, non perishable items you should keep in your house to be able to cook anything in that book. all you need is fresh stuff, which if you plan ahead, you can get in one shopping trip. it's a fantastic book that changed my outlook on cooking, and you know how much I love to cook!
Good blogging my love!! I really enjoy reading what you're up to!! xooxxo