"I wish I could cook like you do, but I just don't plan well."
"My biggest challenge is deciding what I want to eat in advance."
"Teach me how to not eat like a toddler!"
These are some phrases I hear a lot, and it seemed to be time to share some tips and tricks on how to make menu planning and your food life a success. We'll go through the process of menu planning and then use my actual menu from the past week as an example to show how to implement the system and make a grocery list. Big thanks to my professor, friends and colleagues who contributed to the ideas for this post: Dr. Chris Linder, Tim Mousseau, and Chandler Thompson (check out their blogs too)! I hope that you find planning in advance will help you have less stress, reduce food waste, and save money.
Make it a habit: I think the most important way to make weekly menu planning a reality is to incorporate it into your weekly ritual. For me that means I sit down with a cup of tea and Pinterest (you can follow me on Pinterest here) every Sunday morning to create my list. Some weeks I'll do this on Saturday if my Sunday plans prohibit me from going shopping, but it's almost always a Sunday endeavor. Pick whatever day works best for you and stick with it.
Figure out your formula: There's no prefect formula and this will be different for everyone depending on your appetite and the size of your household unit. I'll share what works for me and offer some amendments for you to try to have enough food for your needs. Most people who know me know that I'm all about moderation; I generally eat pretty healthy and I'm also not too concerned with things like calories and carbs. Especially carbs, this Italian guy loves carbs. My rule of thumb is to have at least one vegetable with every meal, including breakfast. With that in mind, I cook four meals a week which is enough for dinner and leftover to bring to work for lunch. I always have pasta once a week (a self-imposed restriction because I could eat pasta every day) and one meat-free meal. Since I don't buy anything additional for lunch this could be an easy way to make the same four meal system work in your multi-person home. Play around with the proportions until you find what works for you.
Check your calendar: This step is especially important for my student affairs colleagues. With all of our late nights, programs, and after-hours meetings we need to be cognizant of what our time limitations are. I know that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't get home until around 7 because of meetings for the organization that I advise so those evening have to be quick and easy dinners that don't require a lot of prep. On Wednesday nights I have an evening class that doesn't end until 8pm, so Wednesdays are always a night for leftovers. For the extra-busy weeks, like Welcome Week, where I have an event every evening I switch up the plan and cook a couple of big things on Sunday that will last all week. For those weeks I'll do something like a big batch of chicken enchiladas and a sausage and superfood hash.
Utilize leftovers: Now that you're ready to start making a menu and list, take stock of things that are left over from last week. I always seem to have leftover tortillas and fresh herbs. This week I'll use the leftover tortillas to make egg and arugula quesadillas for breakfast, the leftover rosemary for the panko crusted chicken and roasted sweet potatoes, and the leftover chives for kotlety. If you use Pinterest you can search by ingredient if you need ideas for what to do with something leftover. You can also search "just my pins" as a way to cull the results down to things you had already shown interest in.
Look for overlapping ingredients: Similar to repurposing leftover ingredients, looking for ingredients that overlap throughout recipes is a good way to cut costs and reduce waste. I make a point to do this whenever I'm buying bagged greens like arugula, spinach, or kale because any leftovers are unlikely to remain fresh into a second week of cooking. This week arugula is becoming a big overlap player as a filling for my breakfast quesadillas, a bed for my panko crusted chicken, and a side salad for my kotlety. The panko breadcrumbs will do double duty as a coating for the chicken and a filler in the kotlety. Lemon zest will be used in the chicken coating and the juice from that lemon will be used to make the salad dressing.
Pick a splurge item: Do something good for your emotional health each week and pick a splurge item. This could be something luxe like prosciutto, a fancy cheese, or an expensive cut of meat or something downright comforting like a frozen pizza or boxed macaroni and cheese. Either way I think it's important to incorporate some little food items that make you happy as long as you do so in moderation. This week I got an awesome frozen pizza from Trader Joe's, the Tarte d'Champigon (not as fancy as it sounds), and had absolutely no regrets about it. Self care, y'all!
The Menu
- Breakfast all week: Arugula and Egg Quesadilla
- Sunday: Lemon Rosemary Chicken (from The Country Chic Cottage) and Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Monday: Kotlety (from Natasha's Kitchen), Orzo, and Arugula Salad
- Tuesday: Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry (from Skinny Taste)
- Wednesday: Leftovers
- Thursday: Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Chickpeas (from Buzzfeed)
The List(s)
Each week I go to both Kroger and Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's and find that some produce items like mushrooms and bagged greens are much cheaper there (organic spinach for $1.99, what?!). Other TJ's items are simply much better quality. I get everything else from Kroger. The two stores are across the the street from each other so going to both is not much of a hassle, but all of these items would be available at your grocery store. Please note that these lists are not exhaustive of everything you would need to make all of the dishes for this week. The lists do not include things like rice, pasta, oil, spices, and seasonings that I always have in the house so take stock before you go shopping!
- Trader Joe's
- 1 head fresh broccoli
- 1 head fresh cauliflower
- 1 lemon
- 1 bag arugula
- 1 package white button mushrooms
- 4 apples (for snacks)
- 3 sweet potatoes
- panko breadcrumbs
- frozen pizza
- smoked gouda cheese (for snacks)
- Kroger
- 1 lb. chicken cutlets
- 1 lb. chicken tenders
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 bunch asparagus
- 1 inch fresh ginger
- 1 lb. pasta
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1/2 dozen eggs
- 1 bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
I hope this guide helps you to plan your weekly meals and run a more efficient kitchen. Let me know if you have any questions or other tips and tricks in the comments!
