Every weekend, I take some time to plan our weekly menu. Since I love cooking, it's usually exciting. On those weeks when I'm lacking inspiration, it can be slightly painstaking. Usually I have heard of some new recipe or ingredient I want to try (this week was chayote squash). I peruse my favorite blogs, cookbooks, magazines and websites for ideas. I also look at the Klesick Farms website to see what will be delivered to our doorstep Thursday, so I can incorporate it into meals for later in the week. I'd like to think that all of this planning saves time and money. We're never left hungry at 6:30 with nothing in the fridge for dinner. Since there are only two of us, I recently started serving the same thing for dinner two nights in a row. I used to send leftovers as lunches. Now I am making two less entrees a week which has been saving us about $25 on groceries. I make salads for my lunch and Ben has sandwiches, and sometimes salads. It's nice to plan ahead. I use a 5" by 7" index card to make the menu and list. On one side, I list the days of the week I need to cook for, and the recipes I plan on making. I also note where I found the recipe, with an abbreviation of the name and page number:
This week I primarily used my recent issue of Vegetarian Times, Vegan Express and Veganomicon. On the other side, I make a shopping list which I usually organize by category to make shopping faster:
Taking this time once I week saves time, money and headaches later in the week. It's also nice to know you have a balanced menu. I can make sure we aren't eating too many similar items in a row. We can mix it up with foods inspired by different ethnicities, and in different forms. So, for example, we aren't eating too many tomato products in a row or something.
Once the shopping is over, it's time to relax and enjoy cooking and eating.
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