An old-fashioned art, apparently. I should have guessed, things that are old-fashioned seem to be my forte. But menu planning has come up from time to time lately, and I was sincerely surprised to find out that I'm one of the only people I know who consistently do it.
The more I thought about it, though, it explained a lot. I've often wondered how and why most people tend to eat food that is expensive and unhealthy, despite their own better desires, and chalking it all up to "it tastes better" or "it was quicker" didn't seem to ring true to me. Plenty of cheap and delicious food tastes marvelous too, and is quick to prepare, if you just take the time to plan on it. Aha! I've been assuming all along that people take the time to choose their food in advance. And in an additional revelation, which again should not be surprising but was, I found that the few people who bravely try to bridle their busy life into a semblance of menu order use meat as their starting point.
I'm not saying my way is better for everyone -- I'm certainly committed to it, but it takes a ton of time and energy. Still, just as an academic exercise, I thought I'd do this week's menu planning on the blog instead of just in my calendar. So here we go.
I usually sit down Sunday night and look over my calendar for any special needs. For example, we're feeding the missionaries on Monday this week, so I'll have to make sure to plan a meat-based meal, nothing too outlandish. Thursday will be Lucy's first soccer practice and we'll get home about an hour before dinner, so even though that hypothetically gives me plenty of time to cook, I might want to think of a crock pot meal until I see what kind of timing those soccer practice nights are going to have in real life. And lastly, we're camping Friday night, so I have to do a meal on a propane burner.
So a crock pot meal that I've been meaning to do for a while pops into my head, German Crock Pot. That will do nicely for Thursday. And luckily I've kept a word file of my favorite camping menus if I need ideas for that. I think macaroni and cheese with hot dogs and canned corn will be an acceptable one-dish meal, if a little high in starch. Sunday I don't have to plan, my husband cooks pancakes and bacon every week to take some of the chore off of me, for which I am grateful. So that leaves me with four meals, of which one needs meat. I'll probably figure that one out last.
As a side note -- people have asked me if we eat a lot of beans or what else we use as meat substitutes. I don't think of my food in those terms, as either meat or meat substitute. I usually use grain/starch as my organizing principle and try to vary my week around the different kinds, with as many vegetables as I can feasibly cram in. For example, rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, and occasionally cornmeal. I almost always use high-fiber whole grain versions at least half and half, such as brown and white rice mixed together, at least half the potatoes with the skins on, etc. Incidentally, those types of foods contain abundant high-quality proteins (as well as lots of fiber and nutrients), so if you're rotating through those on a regular basis, you're likely getting plenty. Of course, to be doubly sure, you can occasionally add some beans or dairy to make sure you're getting complete proteins.
So back to the menus for this week. For a rice dish, I'd like to have Cuban Black Beans. I kept thinking I'd have garden tomatoes to use up this summer, but I haven't ended up making this yet, so I think it's time. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, so I'll flip back through my calendar so see what I've made in the past. Curry rice pilaf also sounds good, maybe I'll space the rice meals out for Tuesday and Saturday. I just saw that I haven't made barbecued chicken in a long while, so I'll cook that (maybe on the grill? that would be a rare treat) along with homemade biscuits, salad, and cooked carrots for the missionaries tomorrow. Lastly, I have a cucumber I need to use, so I think I'll have sesame noodles the remaining night.
So that makes bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, pasta, rice, and bread the order of my week. In terms of protein, if you're keeping track, we're having chicken, then beans, a little nuts, a little kielbasa, hot dogs, nuts again, then some bacon.
Now I'll need to go update my shopping list to include a few produce items I don't have on hand, specifically tomato, lettuce and cabbage. Also the makings for s'mores for our campout. Other than that, I already have all the ingredients I need.
I don't know if this helps anyone, but I love to make lists, so it was fun for me. Happy eating!
