Menu planning. The phrase brings to mind words that might describe television moms from the 50’s: frugal, housewife, efficient, homebody, coupon clipper. Nothing negative about any of these other than they are “not me”. Financially, I could afford to stop by the fresh market everyday and pick out whatever I wanted. I could eat out or take out any and every day of the week. For some reason words that didn’t come to mind were gourmet, exotic, fresh, and that’s what I wanted my life to be. Without a little bit of planning, the truth included phrases like time consuming, wasteful, unprepared, and woefully disappointed.
I realize now that the phrase was tainted for me and that doing some planning was the key to me being able to have great gourmet meals every day that were healthy and fresh and essential for setting up an environment in which I could be successful in my health goals.
Spending about 20 minutes a week planning what meals we will be having and creating a shopping list means that we are prepared and have everything we need as soon as we arrive at home to put together a recipe we have selected. It means that whoever gets home first knows what to start doing and we can work together in the kitchen and enjoy the time together instead of one of us having to spend time in the produce aisle every evening. It means that when I get the munchies and open the fridge or the pantry, there are only good things to tempt me and they are all part of the plan. A lapse in will power doesn’t have dire effects because my environment doesn’t allow it.
I created a great planning spreadsheet that lets me choose recipes that I like for the week, then with the press of a button, generates a shopping list that any of us can take to the grocery and fill in one trip. Our list is flexible. It has items like “seasonal vegetables” and “seasonal fruit” so that I can be impulsive at the store. This is flexibility that I build in for my own personality quirks. Others may want everything spelled out. What I’ve learned is that a little bit of planning makes it easier to be creative and I can spend more time doing the fun parts of cooking.
Here is a link to the spreadsheet. You'll have to download it and open it in Microsoft Excel...it won't work in google. There is an instruction sheet so you can see how to put your own recipes in.
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