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Meal Planning

December 18th, 2013 at 12:24 am

So it's time to get back to meal planning again. I have been sick and lazy about cooking and relying on some convenience foods. During the holidays this year I need to make up some homemade convenience foods. I'd like to have pre-made enchiladas, lasagna, turkey TV dinners with stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy where I only need to open a can of green beans or add a salad to make it complete. I want some pre-made meatloaves and meatballs. I want to make up a bunch of Korean mandoo dumplings and some homemade French fries for the freezer.

I'd like to have some pre-made freezer kits for making quick stir-fries and for dumping into the crockpot. I need to get some potatoes canned. I need to make more meal plans that follow on from each other, like baked potatoes one night and baked potato soup the next, or spaghetti and meatballs one night and meatball sandwiches the next. I need to be thinking about double and triple batch cooking where I make one for now and one or two for the future.

I just need to make it easier to cook at home than to go get take out food. We are wasting too much money on take out. Anyway, I've made up a plan for the rest of the week, and I will start working on a plan for next week.

Tonight (Tuesday):

Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, onions, bell pepper strips.
Salad

Wednesday:
Spaghetti
Meatballs (made with pork and hamburger, garlic, and various cheeses I have on hand) (triple batch, 1 for the night, 1 for the next day, and one for the freezer)
Cole slaw

Thursday:
Meatball sandwiches made on homemade garlic bread
Green beans
Oranges

Friday:
Fried Rabbit
Baked potatoes (triple batch)
Broccoli/cauliflower
Canned peaches

Saturday:
Baked potato soup
Leftover broccoli/cauliflower
Leftover rabbit meat
Fresh baked bread
Canned pears

Sunday:
Chile Verde (double batch, one for freezer)
Fried potatoes made with leftover baked
Fresh baked bread
Canned pineapple

Next week is still a bit up in the air. I'm not sure yet what day we are celebrating with the in-laws. It was supposed to be the 21st, but someone's work interfered so now we are waiting to find out about the 27th or the 28th to see if my SIL can get her daughters on those nights. They are supposed to be with ex-BIL those days and he may not want to give up his time.

I will likely make a couple of lasagnas, one for whatever day we celebrate on. I do have another week's menu plan made up that I can slot into place once I know what is going on.

4 Responses to “Meal Planning”

  1. Buendia Says:
    1387332427

    I get "off" this time of year, too - even when I plan, I can't plan... dinners come up, we plan on a lunch with friends and they can't make it, etc... I have some stuff in the freezer - but I like your idea of making it easy!

  2. ThriftoRama Says:
    1387335476

    mandoo dumplings? I'm curious now. What are they and care to share the recipe.

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    1387345357

    I hate having things up in the air when it comes to food! We're very scrupulous about sticking to our weekly menu plan and only buy what fresh ingredients we need for each meal, so very little goes to waste. But starting Saturday, AS's mom is visiting for a week. I know from having my sister and nieces visit for a couple days that it's hard to stick to a meal plan with visitors, so I'm trying to figure out what I can make ahead and freeze out on the balcony so we can quickly heat things up. I still like to have fresh veggies with each meal when possible, so I'm hoping I somehow time things well and don't let greens or broccoli go to waste.

    I'm also not used to buying food for the whole family for a whole week (plus an extra family member), because our kids eat breakfast and lunch at daycare 5 days a week. So this will be interesting to say the least.

  4. LuckyRobin Says:
    1387370699

    Thrift--I used this recipe for mandoo/mandu (spelled both ways):

    http://www.insanitytheory.net/kitchenwench/my-guide-to-perfect-korean-dumplings-aka-mandu/

    Except I substitute savoy cabbage for the Chinese Napa cabbage, because it is easier to work with and we can use up the rest of it easier because it is a smaller cabbage and lends itself to coleslaw better. I have left the tofu out on occasion as well if I didn't have time to dry it or didn't have any on hand. I just add more pork instead when I do that. I also don't do the fancy crimp of the dumplings, but a more simple crimp. And we throw them in the deep fat fryer instead of pan frying them.

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