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Farm Kitchen:  Do you menu plan?  |
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ProgressiveHomemaker
True Blue Farmgirl
218 Posts
Rachell
Mars Hill
NC
USA
218 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 15 2012 : 2:22:47 PM
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I am about to rework our menu. Lately, we've either eaten the same old boring stuff or done worse and fell into stopping for fast food. 
I want to make stuff that is tasty, healthy, and affordable. It is my goal to home cook everything and to stock my freezer with pre-cooked meals so that in a pinch, when I don't have time to cook, I can re-heat something homemade out of the freezer. Anyone do this before successfully? If so, what did you freeze your food in, plastic or glass? Did you do individual proportions or family portions? What tends to freeze well and what doesn't?
For anyone else, do you follow the same menu plan weekly? Do you base it on what's in season or what's on sale?
Thanks for any input!
Life's short. Make today count. |
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22angel
True Blue Farmgirl
498 Posts
Pam
Manitoba
Canada
498 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2012 : 3:05:55 PM
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I try - but I fail lol. I figure as long as I have something in the freezer, I'm doing good! Of course with just myself to feed, it doesn't much matter. I make chilis & stews to put in the freezer, I've made curries & rice & lentils for the freezer. Most everything I put in there is in plastic, b/c I don't have enough jars to put in there. Good luck!
Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself.
"When I grow up, I want to be dirt." seen on a box through construction in Wyoming 2010 |
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jessabelluh
True Blue Farmgirl
349 Posts
Jessica
South Dakota
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2012 : 3:09:43 PM
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I plan weekly menus based on the sale ads. But I find I also seem to make the same old things over and over.
~jess |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Jan 15 2012 : 8:52:09 PM
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No, I never plan a menu. I just see what's in the freezer. I let my Sweetie (hubby) know of three things I can cook. He picks one. He usually says, oh I'd like a potato salad with the chicken gumbo. Then I think tea would go good with a gumbo. We never do desserts with meals. We have our desserts about an hour before we turn in for the night. My hubby loves ice cream, I don't. I usually have 1/2 cup of rice with chocolate syrup on top.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
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graciegreeneyes
True Blue Farmgirl
3107 Posts
Amy Grace
Rosalia
WA
USA
3107 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 06:09:06 AM
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I would like to menu plan but I never seem to get it together....I really need to have a better method though, because I end up with all this food in the freezer that I need to use. Just cooked a turkey and a ham at christmas that had been in the freezer for 4 years!! They were still fine but that is just silly - still working on the best direction to go. I would love to hear other people's operations....
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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tangledthreads
True Blue Farmgirl
185 Posts
Michelle
Middle Tennessee
USA
185 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 06:57:34 AM
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One of my goals for 2012 was to plan menus and grocery shop more, eat out less...so far.. major FAILURE. Ugh. I know I would save money planning meals and cooking more at home. So, why don't I do it?! Urrrr.
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´Michelle Farmgirl #85
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Ghandi
Well behaved women rarely make history.
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ProgressiveHomemaker
True Blue Farmgirl
218 Posts
Rachell
Mars Hill
NC
USA
218 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 08:08:48 AM
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Sounds like many of us have the same goal. Let's work on it together, like good sisters would. :) Share what you are trying, what's working, what's not, etc. We can learn from each others mistakes and successes.
So far, what I plan to do is look at what's on sale or in season by me and match it up with recipes I've saved and been meaning to try. This week will be my first week of doing this with a concerted focus so I will report back how it goes. Also, I plan to try to find good recipes for everyone's favorite stuff and try my hand at making homemade. Example, my dd/18 love babaganoush. Anyone have a good recipe for that? Otherwise I will just look one up. Goodness knows I have a million cookbooks and of course the web!
Life's short. Make today count. |
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Nanniekim
True Blue Farmgirl
206 Posts
Kim
Arizona
206 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 09:57:08 AM
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I have planned my meals for years. I just take a calendar, usually separate from my family calendar (or even just a piece of paper), and use my recipes to fill in the dates. I take into account busy days and put crock-pot or other quick recipes on those days. If I get up in the morning and don't feel like eating what I have written for that day, I make a trade but I find if I don't know what to fix for dinner in the morning, it's not going to happen. I always had one day a week as "leftover night" where I would take everything out of the refrigerator and place it on the counter. Everyone could fill there plates with whatever they wanted. We don't eat out much and when all of the kids were home I cooked almost every night. I always picked one day a week to try a new recipe (usually right before leftover night in case we didn't like the new recipe!). I would do meals that were easy to turn into picnics on nights my kids played sports because we had many meals eaten at the ballpark.
This worked for me. We didn't get bored with eating the same thing because I would rotate meals from my recipe collection. I planned seasonally - more soups in the winter, more salads in the summer, what produce did we have in abundance, what meat is in the freezer. I still have my meal calendar hanging inside one of my kitchen cupboards even though my husband and I are "empty-nesters". I don't cook everyday but on the days I do cook, I have my recipes written.
Kim |
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ProgressiveHomemaker
True Blue Farmgirl
218 Posts
Rachell
Mars Hill
NC
USA
218 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 10:48:46 AM
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Kim, great advice, thanks!
We tend to eat our leftovers for lunches but I do like the idea of leftover nights and tend to do one of those before grocery shopping day each week.
Life's short. Make today count. |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 11:05:26 AM
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I grocery shop around a menu plan, but it's sometimes difficult because a) we never eat the same thing, really and b) when it comes to "Wednesday, curried chicken" it might be stormy and rainy out and my husband will say, "I don't want curried chicken, I want chili..." so I'm often deviating from it that it isn't worth it. Now that he works 5 nights out of the week, I really only plan meals for 2 nights and I pick 4 recipes and do my marketing for those 4 recipes and then he can choose, and I still have the other stuff on hand for another night!
I freeze a lot of soups and stocks, and mashed potatoes, but I don't freeze a lot of complete casseroles or anything like that. Not a lot of room for one, but also, I just find them as easy to make up as to thaw out.
"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile..."
The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon |
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Jan 16 2012 : 9:14:15 PM
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I do off and on. I find keeping a blog on my recipes I have tried (new ones) with my review of them, and exact recipe, or exact place to find such recipe, helps me a lot to make new things, but also to go back and see what we liked before when we get into ruts. And also not to repeat recipes that flopped in taste/liking. I like to also take pics of new recipes we have tried as well.
I just joined pintrest and been having fun trying recipes I find on there too. I make a chicken chili from there that was to die for!
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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ProgressiveHomemaker
True Blue Farmgirl
218 Posts
Rachell
Mars Hill
NC
USA
218 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 06:34:00 AM
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Heather, I have lots of recipes I've clipped out of mags and such that I have all in a folder file. I want to sort through them all anyway, so I am going to do that a little at a time each week until I've gradually made them all. All the ones I like will go in the handwritten cookbook I now keep for favorite recipes. Al the ones that flop will get tossed.
Life's short. Make today count. |
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musicmommy
True Blue Farmgirl
430 Posts
Wendy
Oregon
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 06:52:14 AM
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I have been doing menu planning off and on for a few years now and we definitely eat better and have more interesting meals when I've got it all planned out. We eat home for all three meals usually and I plan for that.
For breakfast and lunch, I have a list of the things we eat and just rotate through them. I do have it written down for each week though. I used to try and plan to have leftovers for lunches except that we rarely have any leftovers thanks to the three rapidly growing boys and my hubby.
For dinners, I generally plan by the month. We buy pork, beef and chicken from a farmer here so that is stocked in our freezer. I also can and freeze during the summer months or we stay within the season. I've kind of given up on planning on our menus with sales in mind since we just don't eat that much of what is on sale. I started by just taking the months calendar and writing in our categories: chicken, beef, pork, Mexican food, pizza night, crock pot, etc. Then I pick recipes or dinners that fit in that.
Each Wednesday, I check the menu and figure out if we want to change anything and make sure I have everything I need for the coming week.
Also, since I don't eat meat, I need to menu plan to make sure I get the nutrients I need.
I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it really doesn't take all that long. One of the boys is in charge of the evening meal every Friday night. They plan it and make up their shopping list. Saturday evening is always a pizza night, but it varies between calzones, regular pizza, grilled pizza, Chicago style, etc. Monday evenings is either a crock pot or something that my oldest can make without my help since that is my big teaching day.
I've found that when I don't plan meals for some reason, we eat a lot of junk food or fast food. I love to see other people's meal plans for the week though because it gives me some new ideas.
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
Bob Marley
www.becomingwendy.wordpress.com |
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Calico Hen
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Meg
Middle Tennessee
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 1:09:10 PM
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Probably my biggest reason for menu planning is to make sure I have all the necessary ingredients as running to the grocery store is not an easy or quick option.
My hubby travels for work and there is just the two of us so I menu plan for the days he will be home and I eat up the leftovers when he is traveling. I have been challenging myself to try at least one new recipe each time he is home. Yesterday I made two new recipes: honey butter dinner rolls and a new marinade for grilling chicken. The method of cooking the chicken was new to me also - cut out the spine and butterfly the chicken open, grill breast down with alum. foil and cast iron skillet sitting on top of it (for holding it splayed) for 15 min. and then turn it over and grill breast up the remaining time. Hubby liked both recipes and said "they are keepers".
We have ordered bees for April and I am trying to gather recipes that use honey rather than sugar. |
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Jan 17 2012 : 2:18:51 PM
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Yeah that's what I have been doing too Rachell, through all those magazine and such recipes, keeping and tossing. I like to keep though records of what we didn't like either, cause sometimes since recipes can NOT be copy writed, a few times, I have came across the same exact recipe in more then one magazine, newsletter, etc. So I like to keep records of the bad ones too so if another recipe comes along that sounds the same (oddly enough I have a uncanny memory on ingredients and if I did that before, however, if I liked it or not is another story! lol. I can compare and see, and see if we liked it or not.
I do the planning as far in advance as possible. I don't really go by sales, cause when there is a sale I stock up and fill the freezer or what ever and will probably use in plenty of time before expiring. Right now I have the menus planned for about 3 months. I like it that way.
The thing is I have to, I'm cooking for about 20 people and you can't make stuff on the fly most the time for that many people, cause you HAVE to have a lot of a lot of ingredients. lol So...must have them on hand, we live in the country and the country store closes early, and no one wants to go into town to get stuff for dinner-would take too much time, might as well eat out by then. So....yup a plan is always good.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2012 : 03:56:02 AM
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Never have
I cook by what the craving of the day dictates. So if it's cereal, that's what we eat. Or I cook one thing and hubby makes his own thing. Helps that it's just two of us . Sometimes too if he's out riding his bike and I'm too hungry to wait on him, I'll eat a little something and then sit with him when he comes in to eat his own meal
Sometimes I'll cook in bulk and we'll eat off that for a few days too.
We keep enough of the staples on hand in the house both in the pantry, frige and (chest) freezer that allow for flexable cooking at any time, so that really helps.
The only processed food I will buy (and trust the taste) is frozen pizzas- rising crust variety) so on those days when we are either too tired or just can't put a finger on it, (and the pizza joint is too far-like a 20 mile drive) this always saves the day. DeJorno is the best in my humble opinion. |
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GirlwithHook
True Blue Farmgirl
922 Posts
Alyce
Madison
WI
USA
922 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2012 : 09:43:51 AM
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I've tried. However, the Mister is a fussy eater and also has a lot of digestive problems. It has yet to fail: if I plan more than six hours ahead, either he won't eat it or he won't be able to eat it. Generally I just ask him about two hours ahead of time, "What do you want for dinner?"
I've noticed, though, that the longer we're together the more often he says, "I trust you" instead of making a big deal about it. Who knows? In a few years' time, I might be able to plan ahead!
A hook, a book, and a good cup of coffee.... |
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Jan 18 2012 : 6:23:32 PM
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Alyce for me for a long time it was control issues. I was afraid of being controlled. This may or may not be a problem for your hubby.
Either way how I over came it. Is I would just loosely meal plan.
I would meal plan a weeks worth of food. And then each day pick from one of those meals.
I know how your husband feels though cause I used to be that way too, even if I LOVED the food if it was planned all the sudden I would want to vomit.
Giving myself lee way of any day of the week helped a lot. And letting myself know it was ok to be in control of myself. The bad people were no longer in control, it was safe for ME to be in control.
Any way, now I can meal plan for a year in advance by the day! And be fine with it. It took me about a year of baby steps though.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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Farm Kitchen: Do you menu plan? |
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Do you menu plan?
