Hey, Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin'?

I stumbled upon a neat newlywed'sblog tonight, and the blogger sent out a request for some menu planning advice. I have a loose plan...more of the kind of thoughts that you'd jot down on a restaurant napkin, really; but a plan nonetheless. I'm actually grateful to Melissa for posting because it reminded me to sit down and think about some goals for 2009.



One of my goals is to do a better job with more regular trips to the grocery, doing my best to make frugal choices, and making meals more regularly so that my husband doesn't have to eat Ramen noodles because the kids' screaming in Super Target was so unbearable that we had to leave without buying any chicken. In my defense, T works some odd hours, and it is hard to chase after the kids all day, put them to bed all by myself, and get him another hot meal on the table after 9 pm without falling asleep and burning my face on the stove. Not exactly the microdermabrasion treatment you'd get at the spa.



Regardless, I want to do a better job of having a nice meal for the family to eat together on the evenings he is home at dinner time.Melissa, if you are reading this, you might have an easier time with this if you start making a habit of it now. When children come along, they have a way of making grocery store runs and cooking long, complicated recipes-ah- a bit more time consuming. Now that we have a freezer, I plan on making use of tips from my friends L and Meri and doing some make-ahead meals that I can keep in the freezer and pop in the oven in time for dinner. I am pretty sure L recommends ThisBook for some freezer meal ideas.



I don't think I'll have time to make meals for an entire 30 days, but it would be nice to have meals for a week or so at a time.When I am better about being organized, I do try to make a menu for the week and then prepare my grocery list from that. I try not to be rigid about my menu ideas because you never know when something might pop up and throw a wrench in your plans...we might be invited to dinner with Mimi or T might run off to France with a beautiful, young sales rep. (Ha! That would never happen because there are never any beautiful, young sales reps. Besides, T hates France, and even if he did decide to go there then I wouldn't have to worry about my meal plans anymore)


I'd love to start sitting down on Saturday or Sunday evening and thumb through my collection of cookbooks for inspiration. I didn't realize how many I have and how my collection is growing! But for now, I'll settle for a quick list of daily meals jotted down while the girls scarf their breakfasts down. The Sneaky Chef looks like fun, but Better Homes & Garden's Dinnertime Express may get more of a workout in our house these days.
Sooo...thank you, Melissa, for sparking my memory. This is something I need to think about more often. Hope you found some ideas here!