Because everyone is probably sick and tired of hearing every bite I’ve eaten this week, I’m moving on to fashion and other more frivolous adventures for a few days, but not without a word about menu planning. Early in my marriage, when I realized that there was nothing more frustrating than standing in my kitchen an hour or so before dinner with no idea what I had or what to make, I developed a very, very simple system. Every weekend, I peruse my cookbooks and food magazines and choose a few recipes, 3 or 4 at most, for the week. Then I check my kitchen to see what I already have, draft a shopping list, and head to the store, usually on Monday morning. I try to make the recipes that have the most perishable ingredients first, and keep the ones with the frozen or canned items to the end of the week. I only shop for 3-4 dinners for the week because, inevitably, something comes up. One night we will go out to eat, and one night almost every week we have whole grain pasta with jarred sauce or something that I’ve defrosted or that old standby, leftovers! I also make my grocery lists based on category so I can zip through the grocery store, even more critical now that I usually shop with my high maintenance Eva! And of course, there’s an app for this! I know this isn’t revolutionary or anything, but I am always amazed by how many of my friends struggle with this, when it’s virtually the ONLY area of my life that I’ve managed to get organized just because it’s so easy!
I also try to make things as easy on myself as possible, in whatever way I can. I just recently discovered that even in our small town, there’s a company, Front Porch Pickings, that delivers organic or green produce directly to your home, once a week or once every other week. It’s amazing and will save me so much time running around town trying to find organic apples at Public and organic raspberries at Target and organic everything else from the health food store. Yippee! If you have a service like this in your town, and you can work it into your budget (Front Porch Pickings is so affordable!), by all means do it and make your life as easy as possible!
Hope tomorrow is the start of a healthy, happy week for you and your your family!
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