I know I am a bit of an odd-ball, but I will never be ashamed of telling you how much I enjoy sitting down with my menu journal, a good pen and note paper for the shopping list, plus a few cookbooks, to write a weekly menu. It's probably as relaxing to me as a bubble bath would be to others (I despise long, quiet - boring - baths, so much so that I whenever we get around to building our dream home, I am not planning for one in my master bath - give me a good size walk in shower with a decent shower head any day!).
In general, here are a few menu writing guidelines I have developed over the years:
Meals are planned around vegetables, rather than meat or even grains.
I plan for two meat dishes a week, and probably one fish every two weeks.
I never do more than one kind of starch a week, for example I wouldn't plan for more than one pasta, rice, or potato dish.
I add "cheater meals", like the roast potatoes and omelet this week, from extras already in the pantry, to stretch out the menu week and also give myself some fast, no-fail dinners. This often includes fruit salad, waffles, and sunny eggs. Or pasta either handmade stored in the freezer or dried in a package, with a quick homemade marinara.
I add snacks that need to be made, this week I am making another batch of Roasted Red Pepper Hummus for our veggies. Other weeks I make muffins, cookies, or even a banana sorbet.
If I am not cooking from memory, I always add the cookbook title and page number for quick reference.
When I am short on time or imagination, I can look back in my journal for menu ideas from weeks past. Although this is a rare occasion!
What are your menu writing strategies?
1 comment:
I need to do this!! As always thanks for the inspiration!
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