After working for a few years as a personal chef, the most important skill I learned from the job wasn't how to wield my knife like a pro or how to cook super fancy, it was the ability to plan a menu for the week ahead. Do you plan your meals in advance? If so, what does this look like for you?
Every weekend, I think about what's coming next on the calendar and try to get a grip on our food situation. Usually I grocery shop over the weekend as well as make a ritual trip to the farmer's market. At my cheffing job, I wasn't given much freedom to cook creatively, but I did rely on seasonal produce to lead the way, as I do now.
I learned a lot cooking day in and day out; here are some tips I still implement in my home cooking/planning routine.
5 Tips for Vegetarian Menu Planning
• Include mostly tried and true favorite dishes on your menu for the week — for us that's enchiladas, egg dishes and tons of green salads — but then branch out and try something new one of the days. I tear out or bookmark easy recipes that feature favorite ingredients and make an effort to create one new dish per week. Everyone gets in a cooking rut, and this makes for a more lively way of eating.
• Wash and bag a half week's worth of lettuce right when you get home from the grocery store. This was one of my more loathed duties while cooking for someone else, but now that I do it at home, I love the chore because it means my husband and I will be eating greenery with every dinner. It's very simple but very effective way of getting dinner on the table faster each night.
• Make a pot of beans or brown rice once per week. I usually use grains or beans as a canvas for new and exciting fresh herbs, precious oils and vinegars and lots of tasting salts and fresh ground pepper. Tonight I dressed brown rice with a balsamic vinaigrette and tossed in fresh peas, walnuts, apple chunks, dried cherries and shallots. It was delicious and we'll eat this rice for lunch and dinner throughout the week. It also gets even better after sitting in the fridge for a few days.
• Chop up fresh fruits you like. Having fresh fruit prepared really makes me want to eat fruit as a snack. With a dollop of yogurt and topped with shredded coconut, I can have a tropical fruit party every afternoon with a cup of tea. It is such a luxurious treat to open the fridge and have glistening, washed berries, cubed mango chunks and watermelon wedges just begging to be eaten.
• Go to a grocery store you enjoy. My favorite grocery serves an array of samples, has fresh coffee in little cups and lets you try anything from the bulk bins. They also have a beautiful selection of organic produce. For me, shopping for food here is such a pleasure, I look forward to going. With all the freebies and stunning flower section; it's a sensory experience, hardly a chore. And for buying organic, it's the same price as the so-so chain grocery down the street. It costs the same, so why not enjoy?
Do you have any favorite, frequently-followed tips for getting a better set of meals on the table each week?
• Related: Seasonal Menu Planning from Around the US
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I keep a running list of items in my pantry (beans, pasta, canned goods, etc). Then on Saturdays, I go to the farm market. I pick what looks freshest, what inspires me, and I try to get one new item that I haven't tried or am not sure what to do with.
Then when I get home, I look at my pantry list and the items from the market, and create a menu around what I have. The next day I go to a regular grocery store to fill in any gaps as needed. This system really, REALLY keeps our grocery bills down, but I still eat high-quality food.
I definitely meal-plan and do one big grocery store trip once a week. It's just me and my spouse in our house, so I plan for three four-serving meals per week. That seems to give us enough leftovers to make a soup one night and typically we get pizza or takeout another night.
I like the tip about trying one new, fun recipe per week!
And I cannot agree more with the bit about going to a grocery store you love. I used to loathe grocery shopping, but now that I shop at a smaller, cheaper store with less selection (Aldi), it has cut way down on my stress and time spent at the store.
I plan out most of the week before I (or my boyfriend) goes shopping. I usually write out the days and anything scheduled so we know who can cook, who needs to be somewhere at a specific time ect. Then I usually get most of my recipes from a running google doc full of links of things I find online. I add words under the links so a quick ctrl + F and I can scroll through all the things tagged 'spring,' 'quick,' or 'protein' among other words like specific ingredients that I know are in season. Then if I get to the store and something particular that catches my eye (like rhubarb yesterday) I'll grab that to throw in something later or to make a strawberry rhubarb crumble that night.
It's funny - planning out the week's meals is something my mom did, and something I'll never feel old enough and responsible enough to do, despite the fact that I'm a mom (and 42!) I let the produce be my guide. I freakin love the produce section of any grocery store. I'll buy what looks good and is in season, I'll buy certain staples like beans, nuts, and grains. Then I'll go day by day, thinking about which veg should be used first, and new ways to fix it. At the risk of sounding a little crazy - when I can't sleep I'll lie in bed thinking about the vegetables in the fridge, and deciding ways to prepare them.
lol just noticed the hangul on your notepaper. nice!
claireooto, you and I must be sisters! I always pick up some of whatever veg is in season and cheap that week and plan meals around it. I keep reading that meal planning is the way to eat cheaply, but I don't really see that; I keep a well-stocked pantry, then supplement with what's in season. And since I belong to a CSA, I also have to plan meals around that, and what's in the box always differs a bit from what they predict will be there.
Oh, and I think about what to do with what's in the fridge when I can't sleep, too. :)
i usually scope out weekly specials from four or five grocery stores that i like in my area. i've found most supermarkets these days post the specials online, so between wednesday and friday when the sales change over i try to make a well-planned list. this might seem like a pain, but it really ends up saving a lot of time and money once i'm in the store; i already know exactly what to look for, plus i can try to figure out ways to incorporate ingredients into meals before i've even made a trip to the store. i will say that i live in brooklyn, so it's fairly easy to hit up a variety of different grocery stores if i need or want to, but even when i go back to virginia to my mom's (supermarkets few and far between) i still do this kind of online planning. i think the key is to have your standard list staples (beans, eggs, bread, dairy, etc.), but to be flexible when it comes to things like produce.
When I was a kid my parents would just buy random stuff that looked good at the time and think about a meal later. That left a lot of perishable items knocking on expiration's door. It always seemed to me like a waste of food since we had to throw out stuff that didn't get used.
Now that I'm an adult, I plan carefully. I shop once a week and only buy the food I will need for that week's meals + some pre-planned snacks. We usually cook 6-7 meals a week that serve 4 so we can have lunch the next day.
My bf and I have a small kitchen so we only have a mini fridge. It's actually worked out for us because we buy only what we will actually eat. It's been good for the wallet and waist line. I usually look at the circular and plan meals around the produce that is on sale. We sometimes get a CSA box and forego the grocery store. So those weeks are planned around the CSA produce plus whatever is in our pantry.
But we do allocate one day a week to eat out. Every couple needs a standing date night!
I've had to revamp my system when I had a kid, and revamp it again when the kid got old enough to have opinions and make requests. (And whisk the eggs and dump things in a bowl and otherwise "help.") I used to be quite experimental and try new things all the time, but now I really have to get dinner on the table on time, and my innovations are less appreciated than the family standbys. I use a template that I switch around seasonally for the days of week. It's basically Monday/pasta, Tuesday/soup (sandwiches or salad as it gets warmer), Wednesday is husband's problem, Thursday/beans, Friday is husband again, then 2 weekend brunches and more labor intensive foods, like risotto. And that's when I bake.
Boring, effective.
I plan my week out. Even with planning I wind up with unused food as often things like unexpected dinners out with friends pop up. There's been a lot of saturday lunches consisting of "this vegetable is about to go bad" soup.
I might be the world's worst meal planner. It's something about the sticker shock of buying a week's worth of food in one go [too many years as a broke college kid, maybe].
However, I always have bananas and peanut butter, as well as something to put them on. That's planning, right?
STH - it's nice to know I'm not alone in that! I feel slightly less crazy now.
We belong to a CSA, too. It's seasonal, and it hasn't started yet. Any week now!! I can't wait.
I find it easier to shop every day, and cook according to what is fresh/seasonal/on offer or to satisfy a sudden craving for a particular food. I find that this allows for greater variety in our meals. We don't tend to plan social activities either, and often find ourselves doing things last minute so it's easier not to be tied to a rigid meal plan.