We are talking about meal planning during this week of the Kitchen Cure, and we started out with a look at sample seasonal menus. Seasonality is one thing to consider when building a meal, whether it is a quick supper for yourself or a sprawling weekend brunch for friends.
But another aspect of meal planning is building blocks. Some of us think of our meal building blocks in a very traditional Western European way: meat, vegetable, starch, sweet. Others of us may have a different idea of what consitutes the basic parts of the meal.
What are your basic building blocks? What do you consider essential to have on the table for a well-rounded meal?
This is a helpful way to start thinking about meal planning for the week. You can start breaking down five nights of suppers, for instance, by thinking about the different parts of the meal. Let's say you want a meat or protein at each meal, plus a vegetable, plus bread.
Well, when you start thinking in those categories you can plan more comprehensively for the whole week. For instance, perhaps you think up a salad that will stay fresh all week (like a coleslaw) and can be made slightly different on later nights with an addition of herbs and nuts. Well, make that big bowl of salad and you've now covered your vegetable for every supper of the week.
Same with the bread. Make a batch of muffins or biscuits that will toast up well for dinner each night for several nights in a row.
Then that leaves you space, time, and open creativity to think of different dishes for the protein each night. You aren't putting together an entire meal each night; you have already knocked out 2/3 of the building blocks, leaving you to focus just on the final 1/3 each evening.
This is basic, intuitive flow for many of us, but it helps to think through it a little more purposefully sometimes.
So, the first question is: what are your building blocks? What do you feel you need every evening for a well-rounded dinner? Tell us!
Related: Seasonal Menu Planning from Around the U.S.
(Image: Flickr member yoppy licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Color is definitely a useful building block or guideline for me. I try to have something green at every meal, and then something that's not green: orange, yellow, red, blue/purple. That's usually a vegetable but fruit for dessert does the job, too.
view cmcinnyc's profile
I try to have a protein, a starch, and a veggie at every meal, and to have each meal be large enough for the two of us to each have lunch the next day. There are some things that don't reheat well that are left out of that arrangement, but that's my plan. I can't eat the same salad/veggie/bread every night of the week, so when I plan my five meals, I plan, generally, five completely different ones. Sure, they might share something--a red pepper this week goes into a stir fry and a pizza--but rarely does an entire element carry for us from day to day. The occasional batch of biscuits or cornbread is the exception here.
view sweetpeacooks's profile
i usually think in terms of the protein, vegetable, grain/starch too. its the way i was raised i cant help it. Like sweetpea I cant have the same element in each meal I get tired of that pretty fast especially with eating leftovers for lunch. But will carry over/use up extra ingredients for sure. but always in a different way
For example my meals this week so far have been:
grilled chicken (protein) on a bed of spinach (veg), stir fried bell peppers & onions (veg), and some garlic toast (grain)
pasta (grain) with chopped clams (protein) and the leftover stir fried peppers and onions mixed in (veg)
few pierogies (grain/starch), bowl of vegetable soup (veg) - no real protein in this one I guess.
tonight, rajma (kind of an Indian chili), kidney beans (protein) and tomatoes, onions etc (veg) served over rice (grain/starch) and probably cucumber tossed with salt and lime juice on the side (another veg)
view adamwa's profile
Yeap, I second the protein, vegetable, grain/starch thing. Although it's usually grain for us, and whole grain at that.. Brown rice, wheat bread, or multigrain pasta!
I too would get tired of it pretty fast if the same ingredient were prepared the same way across different meals.. =(
But what I do is I make more plain pasta, shredded chicken, browned beef, washed and cut veg, etc, and refrigerate or freeze it to use in different dishes.. it saves lots of prep time! I always have chopped onions in my fridge.
I think it's best if 'sweet' doesn't constitute a basic building block.. much healthier! Desserts only happen with company, on special occasions.
view irry's profile
I too was brought up on protein, starch, veggie. We do less starch these days and more protein and veggies. We eat lots of fish which is quick to cook on a weekday night after work and working out. I keep frozen sweet potato fries on hand, lots of asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, avocado and squash in the summer. If I have really tasty veggies and protein I don't miss the starch. Our schedule is sort of erradic so having items that can go from frozen to done in 30 minutes is a big plus (frozen fish for example). That way I don't thaw something have a change plans which would be a waste of food. And after a meal I MUST have something sweet - a piece of fruit, small bite of chocolate even a breathmint will do, oh or those fennel seeds with candy in Indian restaurants I love those.
view fmktjod's profile
I hardly ever use the same building blocks for dinner two nights in a row. I'd get bored of coleslaw however differently it is dressed. If it's coleslaw on Monday, then it's hot vegies on Tuesday (not coleslaw again).
Though I'm happy to have coleslaw on Monday and then buttery stir fry cabbage on Tuesday using the same cabbage.
view buda's profile
Can gravy be considered a group?
view Kit's profile