Do you (or someone in your home) meal plan? I go through periods when I don't meal plan at all, and just wing supper every night. Then sometimes I get inspired to go through my recipes and decide to make some old favorites - making a list so I don't forget what I want to make.
Sometimes I inventory our food supply just hoping to be inspired to make something.
Sometimes I look through what's in the pantry and freezer to find anything close to expiring, and make that my motive to plan out a menu.
Sometimes I challenge myself to a no-grocery shopping month (except for needed perishables).
This week, I just looked in my refrigerator freezer and decided I was tired of seeing the same things in there for months now.
I decided to take everything out and clean the freezer. That's when it occurred to me to take some pictures and make a post out of this activity. And because I know you are immensely curious, I have itemized what is in each picture.
The top drawer contained almonds, walnuts, shredded pork, dressing from Thanksgiving, some cheese logs from Christmas, ham slices, some crescent rolls, dinner rolls leftover from Christmas, and some homemade all-fruit popsicles.
Next, I sat down with my laminated erasable menu planning page, and without bothering to look through my recipes, I quickly jotted down a week's worth of ideas for using a good portion of what's currently in this small freezer.
A mixture of healthy dinners and some lesser so, but it feels good to have a plan and resolve to move the food out of the freezer inventory. Also, I've added salmon from the garage freezer because I'm trying to get fish into our diet every week. As always, I reserve the right to completely ignore the suggestions I've jotted down, or change the days we eat things, but as long as I make a dent in the contents of this freezer, I'll be happy.
If I'm feeling brave, at the end of this week of dinner plans, I'll post a picture of my revised menu. Now that I think about it, I won't be home for dinner on Friday night because I'm going to a ladies' pitch-in. I said I'd bring cheese & crackers and summer sausage, so there goes the rest of my cheese logs to that effort.
I printed out my menu page years ago, and laminated it so I can write on it with a dry erase marker. If you're interested in a printable menu page, there are lots to be found online, but here's a link to a colorful one:
This might have been where I found mine, I don't really remember. This blogger has a whole bunch of free printables for all sorts of purposes.
Happy note: Before we even got started eating through our menu this week, I gave some chili to a friend, along with a package of dinner rolls, a cheese log and a package of crackers. It's terrific to have good food ready and easy to share.
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Back to share my amended menu:
The value in planning a menu is about making life a little simpler, hopefully saving some money by making meals with food one already has, and lessening the waste of forgotten food stuff eventually being thrown away.
As the week went on, I realized I had cabbage in the fridge, and a pie crust and half a quart of cream that needed to be used. Having bacon and swiss cheese on hand, it was easy to change out a meal that could be held for another time for Quiche and slices of Roasted Cabbage.
Finally, something worth noting that I've recently done: In November, after roasting a turkey, I made bone broth with the carcass. Making bone broth is a slow nearly all-day process, but I'm so glad I did it, and froze the bone broth in ice cube trays. I have begun using this bone broth, adding it to all kinds of things. It was added to the Chicken Skillet Dinner on Wednesday above. The next week, I added bone broth cubes to some leftover stuffing I heated up for a meal of turkey and stuffing (all frozen last November). I added some to chili that was heated up out of the freezer. Really... in anything that can take a few tablespoons of liquid, a few bone broth cubes can be used.
Bon appétit!
Thank you for the link. I will also laminate it as you did. Menus are made in this house every week. I went through my entire deep freeze 2 weeks ago and made a digital list of everything in there. We won't be purchasing any meat for the foreseeable future lol. Have a blessed week!
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised you are a menu planner, Marsha. I keep a white board on my larger freezer and manually keep track of things going in and out that way. While I try to keep it updated, it never seems to fail that once or twice a year, I find myself needing to reinventory and "clean up" the white board. I don't know how anyone keeps a large freezer and knows what they have without an ongoing inventory. I, too, am trying to cook out of the freezer for the next couple of months - and minimize my grocery shopping.
DeleteBecki, we have started using an erasable board for meal planning as well - with schedules getting more and more spread apart, it is helpful to know who is here and how much we have to account fore.
ReplyDeleteIn December (when we had the 25% employee discount) we did a lot of stocking up and are slowly working our way through our purchases. The idea is we bought the things we need for the main course and are supplementing with things like vegetables and fruits (that go bad more quickly).
TB, that 25% employee discount was nice! Normally, when I write up a menu, I include "mustgoes" which includes fresh stuff in the fridge, and they are being incorporated this week, as well. Most of the time it is the mustgoes that drive my menu planning (when I do it). I didn't think to mention that!
DeleteSadly, I don't do menus. I do like yours and I would never be judgy on anyone's food choices.
ReplyDeleteGo you for following through on your clearing out! :)
You all be safe and God bless.
I don't get judgy about other's choices either, Linda, but after posting about a health issue that will benefit from some specific nutritional choices (mostly, the addition of calcium to my diet), I am perhaps feeling a tad self-conscious about posting a weekly menu of dinner ideas. Thank you for the comment, friend.
DeleteYour organization is inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI've not meal planned much since stay at home mom days early 1980s. Wing it with some plans sprinkled in is how I plan my meals today. I think meal planning decreases food waste because too often I forget something that makes its way to the back of the fridge.
I understand the dilemma of food waste, May. Most of the time, my dinner plans directly correspond to what must go in the fridge. :)
DeleteI would love to plan meals and I do sometimes it makes it so much easier. I always intend to keep a record of what's in my freezer too but either I forget when something goes in or forget to cross something off after it's been eaten, I'm hopeless! I like your menu choices. xx
ReplyDeleteLinda, the greatest advantage to me of meal planning is that it eliminates having to think of what's for dinner on days I have no interest in doing that - I just have to remember to take something out of the freezer to be ready to make. And, truth be told, I sometimes do forget that part. It also usually means if we're out and I have a plan for dinner, we're less likely to stop somewhere to pick something quick up eat.
DeleteI do menu plan and am pretty flexible about switching things around if need be. We also try to keep an inventory of what's in our pantry storage and what's in the freezer, but we are needing to update our inventory sheets. It'll make a good snow day activity.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun and inspiring post to read. I enjoyed seeing what was in your freezer and reading how you are making use of it.
Mrs. T. probably because my pantry isn't all that large (though it's ample), I've never bothered to create an inventory. But I have lost some things in there 'till past their prime, so an inventory is a really good idea. I'm glad you liked the content today! :)
DeleteI leave menu plans up to Resident Chef and he always comes up with something good. Most of our recipes use ingredients we pretty much always have on hand and at this stage of our lives the criteria for trying a new recipe generally has to use those ingredients. It's rare that he makes anything that means a trip to the store for an ingredient. Some would say we're in a rut but we're happy with where we are.
ReplyDeleteMary Anne, you are very fortunate to have Resident Chef. And he is very fortunate to have you. :)
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