Meal Planning For All Those Busy Days
I love to cook. I love to take a recipe and change it until it’s uniquely mine. I also love to hear from friends and family that they loved it.
Sadly I don’t have time every day to cook, nor the energy. Meal planning is a must in our house or we end up eating out. Besides being very expensive, it’s also not very healthy to eat out frequently. When I cook once a week, I have a list on our fridge of meals to pull out for the next day. I get the kids involved in all aspects of it.
I started purposely freezer cooking and meal planning in 2005 when I went back to school full-time. The family schedule was pure chaos with my husband and I both working and having younger kids. I got to a point that I’d be at school at night and worried about what they were eating. Not a good option for anyone.
I took over Once a Week Cooking in 2009 and I’m so happy I did. At this time I run a six month subscription for weekly meal plans. You take a few hours one day a week and cook 6 main meals for the family. I have a family of 4 adult eaters and we still have leftovers from most meals that we use for lunches.
There are a few great ideas for using the meal plans. My top suggestion is to create a large binder and print out each weekly report. Reuse them and notate meals your family loved or disliked. Also make notes about adding or removing ingredients. Your weekly meal plan report will include the menu, shopping list, recipes in order with an action plan and usually an article.
If you love to freezer cook and fill that freezer, then take a weeks menu plan and double up. You now have at least 12 days of meals in the freezer. On the second week, double up the meals again and you have created most of the months meals.
I have many ebooks and specialized diet meal plans in the works. My family has said that I’ve become addicted to filling up our freezer and it’s true. I enjoy cooking again by cooking on days that I have the time. I love telling another family member to go to the list on the fridge and choose what is for dinner tomorrow.
By cooking once a week, I get out of the kitchen and enjoy more life with my family!
Val Selby - Owner
www.OnceAWeekCooking.com
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Sunday, October 10, 2010
Meal Planning For All Those Busy Days - By Val Selby
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1 comment:
This is a great idea! I make so many meals that I end up freezing because I just don't have enough time to cook every night of the week. I have lots of freezer ready recipes on my blog and I'd love it if you would take a look and follow me! http://thefoodistachronicles.blogspot.com/
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