Meal Planning

My sister started a "recipe tag" on her blog in an attempt to get out of a cooking rut. She is making the same meals over and over again, and she and her family get sick of them really quickly. I'm not going to post a recipe here (I emailed her a couple so I could still be a good sis), but I did want to share something that has been really helpful to me in keeping out of a cooking rut myself.

It's so simple, but it has saved me loads of time and helped me to be inventive with our meals. I plan our family's dinner menu for an entire month at a time! I actually got this idea from a friend's blog (thanks, Bont!) and I have been using it since last May. I know it sounds kind of daunting to plan out a whole month, but it really only takes me maybe a half hour max. Plus it keeps my long trips to the grocery store to a minimum and saves me from stressing about what to cook 20 minutes before Josh gets home from work! :)

One thing that makes it easier to plan a whole month is that I have each night dedicated to a certain type of food that our family enjoys. For example, Tuesday is Mexican night. So I think of four or five Mexican meals that our family enjoys and I'm good to go! Some of the other days are more generic (like chicken night), leaving a larger variety of recipes open. You set up your own meal categories for whatever your family likes. Some ideas besides the ones I use below are crockpot night, Asian night, leftovers night, pizza night, etc. And to help keep the monotony out of our meals, I try to look through my cookbooks and Allrecipes and find at least 1 or 2 new things to try each month.

Here's an example of one of our monthly menus. This is what we did for January:

Sundays: "Whatever" night - basically anything I want to cook that I didn't fit in elsewhere. I like having this more open, but if you like structure feel free to make sure each day of the week has a plan! :)
4: Baked potatoes w/cheese and broccoli
11: Sweet and sour chicken, rice, green beans
18: Tomato basil chicken, salad
25: Shortcut stroganoff

Mondays: Breakfast for dinner night
5: Eggs and toast
12: Breakfast burritos
19: Omelettes and fruit
26: Waffles and sausage

Tuesdays: Mexican night
6: Chicken quesadillas
13: Chicken tortilla soup
20: Beef enchiladas and corn
27: Salsa chicken w/ rice

Wednesdays: Soup/Salad/Sandwich night
7: Broccoli chowder
14: Chicken taco salad
21: Chicken noodle soup
28: Chef salad

Thursdays: Chicken/pork night
1: BBQ pork sandwiches and carrot sticks
8: Steamed seasoned chicken, brown rice, green beans
15: Curry chicken, broccoli
22: Teriyaki chicken, broccoli, rice
29: Balsamic chicken, noodles, salad

Fridays: Italian night
2: Three cheese chicken and penne, salad
9: Spaghetti and green beans
16: Pepperoni Pizza,salad
23: Minestrone soup
30: Calzones, carrot sticks

Saturdays: Beef night
3: Out to eat with my parents
10: Steak, baked potatoes, zucchini
17: Chili on baked potatoes
24: Hamburgers, oven fries
31: Moving day - probably just get a pizza

So it's really not too hard, and it has been a big help to me. I recommend it to anyone trying to get a grasp on this whole dinnertime thing! :) It also helps to plan meals that have similar ingredients close together so items don't get wasted by expiring before you can use them up! I only make a big grocery shopping trip about every two weeks. I do usually have to go back for a small trip once just to get things that don't keep well or we don't have a lot of room for in the fridge, like produce and milk. But it really does cut out a lot of wasted time for me!

You also don't have to feel super committed to it--if something doesn't sound good to me one night, I'll switch it out with another meal I have planned soon, and I don't end up wasting ingredients. I also like to save each month's meal plan so I can pull it out a few months later to get ideas. Anyway, just thought I'd share! If you read all the way to the end of this super long post, good for you! I owe you some brownies or something. :)

We're in Trouble

Well, we've started collecting boxes to pack stuff up in. I got several from the grocery store, and Josh brought some home from work. With the large haul we already had, we figured they would hold most of the stuff we needed to box up. But apparently we either overestimated the boxes' holding capacity or way underestimated all the stuff we have. Josh packed up our books last night, yes, just our books. And they filled SIX BIG BOXES, which is probably about a third of the boxes we picked up. Crap. And since we're not willing to part with any of our books (or all of the other stuff we've pack-ratted away), we are probably going to need about ten times the boxes we have now. You truly don't realize how much junk you have until you have to move it all!

And, here's a quick note on my OCD son. When we brought all the boxes home, I just kind of dumped them in a pile in the middle of our living room. Alex quickly went to work to bring order to his parents' chaos. Within ten minutes, the boxes were all lined up perfectly straight in single file, stretching from our front door, down the hall, and then making a quick turn into Alex's bedroom. The things that kid has to put up with! :)

Hey! A New Post!

The first one in a while! And the reason: I just didn't feel like blogging. Sorry if you felt you were left out in the dark through our Christmas and New Year's. They were good. :)

But I am finally posting now because we have some news that is truly blog-worthy.

Yes, we are moving! We've been in the same apartment for nearly four years (since we got back from our honeymoon) and finally decided it's time to upgrade! We are sad to leave behind all of the good friends we've made in our wonderful ward, but happy to have this new opportunity as well. Moving day will probably be sometime around the end of January/beginning of February, and I'll be sure to post pics of our new apartment as soon as we are settled.