Meal Calendar

I got an email this morning from someone asking me about make-ahead kind of cooking, and since my response turned into a book instead of a quick reply, I thought I'd post it here too in case there is someone else out there who needs some encouragement in this area...

Hi M---! Boy do I feel your pain... It took us a looooong time to get into a healthy groove, and I must say, the cooking department remains my most daunting "homemaker" task. I hate it, really. But, we hafta eat, so whaddawedo? lol! And because we have three kids, we just can't afford to be running to a restaurant every other night as "in the old days."

Truthfully, I've found that what has helped me most wasn't necessarily a pile of recipes, but instead developing a good system. This is what I try to do. I print out a blank calendar, and on each day of the month, (or just two weeks, depending on how I shop), I fill in a different "meal" option. THEN, I make out a shopping list for those meals. When I do this, (which I've been doing a few years now except for some stressful months when my life is chaos!), I am MUCH less inclined to pop in a frozen pizza or ask John to pick up Burger King for everyone. If I have a plan, and know I have the ingredients, I'm not overwhelmed and it takes my decision-making off my stress-pile for the day. I find that no matter how stressed or tired I am, if I can just look at my calendar and pick a meal, then I can just buck up and do it. But if I just shop generically for two weeks and then "hope" I have two weeks worth of groceries in the pantry once I get home, I just flunk out in the meal-making department. I just can't function that way, though that's exactly what I used to do. I'll be eating frozen pizza every night, no matter what ingredients I've brought home for other things. I also spent a gazillion more dollars on groceries in the "old days" since I'd have to keep running to the store for this or that, or else going out all the time. I suggest that you don't start off with exotic meals scheduled every night, or you'll quickly burn out and get discouraged. Mark down meals you KNOW and love and are comfortable making.

Another thing that helped me was that when I fill out my meals on the calendar, I keep a guideline written for myself on the bottom. It changes with the season, but it says something like, "Pizza twice monthly, 3 new recipes monthly, vegetarian meal once per week, dessert twice monthly, soup once a week, (or in the summer "grill out once a week"), roast or chicken every Sunday, etc." John also has a favorite meal or two that have to make it on the menu once a month. :O) Ask your hubby what he'd like to see on the menu, and then make sure to follow through. Makes you happier those nights to be in the kitchen, and it warms his heart to know you're going out of your way to please him. Actually, as I made my "guideline" I really consulted John a lot as to what he'd like to see on the menu; took some of the work out of it for me, plus it made me feel all nicey-wifey. ;O) You can also make sure you're inviting people over more regularly because you just fill it in on the calendar instead of constantly thinking, "Oh, I really should invite so-and-so over, but I wouldn't know what to serve, and I don't know when to plan for it..." You may be better at this than we are, but I'm not naturally very hospitable. When it happens it's great, but I just don't think to plan for it like I should.

Also, save those calendars! I have over two years' worth of them that I consult heavily especially when there is a season change to get my mind thinking "summer meals" again, or whatever. I can either reuse the calendars, or just steal the ideas from off of them. I have a special "yellow" folder that holds my calendars from previous months. This month's calendar is actually on my kitchen table under a thick table cloth of clear vinyl plastic that I got at Walmart. I stick all kinds of notes and things under that table cloth, and they are right there for me to be able to consult whenever I'm seated at the table. I've put verses, notes about appointments, recipes, etc. under there, along with a world map for the kids (we homeschool)... And when we have company, all I do is throw a cloth table cloth over the top of everything to hide my housewife stuff. :o)

Another thing I do on my calendar is that on the days I have "special" recipes that I want to try, I write the name of the cookbook and page number right under the name of it. Or, I'll just write, "in recipe file" or whatever. It saves me a lot of headache that way wondering where the recipe is. For some recipes, I'll even flip the calendar over and write it out right there. I just have to make sure I don't trash my calendar when I make the recipe. (Done that!) I just heard a tip the other day that when someone is cooking, they'll put their recipe on the range hood with a magnet up and out of the mess and then their recipe card stays nice. Fabulous idea! If they are loose recipes, I'll just stick them inside my yellow "meal calendar" folder.

You asked about "make ahead" kind of meals. Well, I honestly only really do that occasionally anymore, and for my dad's meals. But! I do cook a lot of meat ahead of time, which is my biggest "hangup" for wanting to cook... If I have a burger recipe, I'll cook double the meat (usually with onions), and freeze half of it for the next time. It takes about the same amount of time to brown four pounds of meat as two, so I like to get a little ahead for my next meal. I'm much less inclined to pop in a pizza if my "burger recipe" meal already has the burger cooked up and ready for me in the freezer! (Actually, I use venison burger). Same goes for chicken. I'll roast a whole bird, and then de-bone the leftovers for another meal, and throw the bones/carcass in a big ziploc bag to make soup later on.

Hope that helps! Let me know how it goes! If you need some accountability on this project, let me know that too... I'd love to help, as I TOTALLY understand that desire to throw up my hands after poking around the fridge and pantry and say, "Let's go out tonight!"