Mastering the Weekly Shop

I am often asked about weekly menu planning for my family.  This is a long question to answer and it could vary greatly from family to family.  Menu planning has been a life saver for me.  It has evolved as my family has grown and the kids’ eating has changed as has their afternoon and evening activities.  It is easier than you think to take some time to plan your family’s menu week to week.  As with most things, a little preparation up front will certainly help you along your busy week.  This is not a prescription necessarily.  The formula that works for our family may or may not fit yours.  Each of these ideas can be tweaked to suit your family’s needs.  Give yourself some slack.  There are many ways to do it.  By taking the time to do a little pre-planning, you will save time + money, you’ll find yourself eating at home more frequently, and your meals will be more healthful.  Hopefully you will find a new idea that makes your meal planning a little more simple.

Preparation

Take stock.  For a few weeks, notice what things you use all the time.  These are your staples.  I’m not referring to salt and flour, but to items like your go-to breakfast foods and your family’s favorite fruits + vegetables.  Knowing these will allow you to be sure they are always on your list.

The List

Making a list is crucial.  I do a list similar to the one above from iheartorganizing.  There are a lot of electronic versions as well as apps for smart phones that can help facilitate this for you as well.  I am an old fashioned girl that still uses paper and pencil for everything.  On my weekly page of my trusty little notebook, I have our dinner menu, my shopping list, and my to-do list.  It can also help you at the store if you try and group your items by type.  Fresh foods, frozen foods, boxed + canned foods, meats + cheeses, etc.  My basket tends to look like a balanced meal with fruits and veggies taking the most space, lean proteins next, then grains, and lastly a treat or two.

Planning

Before you step foot in a store, plan your week.  I typically aim for all breakfasts from home, most lunches from home and 4-5 dinner each week.  This feels comfortable to me.  The reality is that take-out is easy and fun.  And my hubbie and I look forward to a date night or dinner with adult friends at least once a week.  Because I love to cook {and write a blog}, I typically try one new recipe a week.  This could be a new muffin recipe, lunch idea or main dish for dinner.  It keeps things fresh for me and my family.  They don’t always like my new ideas, but hey, it’s worth a try!  It’s also important to me to keep my shopping restricted to one day.  I find that I am more efficient, better planned out, and end up saving time and money.

Sample Week of Dinners

M – salmon + zucchini pancakes

T – taco night

W – soup + grilled cheese

Th – meatloaf + veggie

F – take out or dinner out

S – kids home with sitter, mom + dad out

S – leftovers, soup, or breakfast for dinner

Cooking Tips

* Double your recipes and freeze anything you can.  Why wouldn’t you?  If you are making a batch of tomato soup, it’s hardly any extra work to double or even triple your recipe.  Now you have tonight’s meal, lunch leftovers and meal in your freezer when you need it.

* Have a few ‘sorta homemade’ family favorites in your repertoire.  Prepared meatloaf from the store, chicken apple sausage for breakfast for dinner night, a roast chicken {entire post on this coming soon!}, or ready made pizza dough.  These are great for nights that you will be short on cooking time.

* For activities that end late, cook beforehand.  When needed, I cook most of dinner before picking up the kids from school.

* Try a few recipes for a slow-cooker.  They are great to have on hand especially as the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop.  It’s so awesome to walk into the house with dinner smelling delicious after having been freezing my you know what off at soccer practice or a baseball game!

* Learn a few recipes by heart.  Marinara sauce, soup, pork chops with cranberry sauce, whatever it is, you will be happy to have it in your back pocket.  Life saver.

* Browse blogs, mags, and cookbooks for fresh ideas.

* Leftovers.  Some people aren’t really into them.  I hate to waste, but also love the creativity of what can I do with the left over, salsa, taco meat, salmon, etc.  You’d be amazed at what you can come up with from leftovers sometimes.

Recommendations

Dinner: A Love Story is a terrific book and blog by the same name.  I came across this book at Anthropologie several months ago.  She covers a number of topics about dinner time, feeding kids, the family dinner, etc.  a great read.

The Smitten Kitchen is such an inspiration.  While her recipes are not always short on ingredients or directions which tend to be my rule of thumb for weekdays, but they are always spot on!  She really tests her recipes so you can be sure it’ll be a winner –  every time.  Check out her blog or her book being released this month.

Sunset Magazine has a regular section called “Fast and Fresh” that has some great ideas for quick fresh meals.  You can check out their website, magazine or their Fast and Fresh Facebook page.

This won’t be the last post on this topic.  For busy families it can be an ongoing struggle to beat the dinner time stress.  I hope you find at least one new idea or resource to help you with yours.  How does it work for your family?  What do you do to minimize the stress of meal prep on busy days?