Eat at home 2!

[Emteach]

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

I know what you mean. My advice would be to make things in doubles. For example if you are making a casserole double the recipe so you can pop one in the freezer for a busy night and then you can just pop in the over and reheat. For me I love to cook but I had to learn not to be overly ambitious, otherwise I would end up buying the ingredients and not having the time to make them. I plan a week at a time (sometimes less). I think having it written down, with the ingredient list, helps me stay organized. Also, have family members help. We are a household of five so we take turns cooking supper (I do this to help my mum out a bit), my sister also has started making easier suppers and my dad is an allstar at boiling pasta (he is not a chef lol). Hope those help a little.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Or you could add a can of beans, a can of diced tomatoes, chili powder and cayenne and make chili! Serve it with white rice or cornbread (I make the jiffy one, shhhh don't tell my husband, lol!)

Oh don't tempt me! We had chili recently. We love it! We even had the cornbread (Jiffy!) too.

I have to tell you a secret ingredient I add to the jiffy mix. I put a couple of tbsps of (light) sour cream into the mix. I don't really measure it. I just put a few heaping spoonfuls into it. It gives it a lighter, softer texture. Do you add anything? I'm all for tips!

 

[queenofthehive]

Avery&Todd - Welcome!! I work full time as well with some busy evenings so I know exactly what your are going through - been there myself... To get started first plan a weeks worth of meals down on paper and post it on the fridge. Take in consideration the nights that you will need quick meals. Go thru your pantry, freezer, fridge etc to see what you have and what you need from the store. Make your shopping list. It is that easy. Some nights it might not work out as planned and you might just end up eating soup and sandwiches/leftovers but the key is you have a plan. Just push that planned meal to another day or next week. A tip for meals on busy nights - precook chicken / ground beef and bag it up to put in the freezer. Take these out on busy nights to help with a quick dinner night. Also, make use of your slow cooker. Menu planning -like with anything - the more you do it, the easier it is....

 

[girli565]

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

I take inventory of my pantry, freezer, and fridge. Once I know what's in it I can plan my meals. And I also can plan what I need to buy at the grocery store. Once we use something and it needs to be replaced we add it to the "to buy" list stuck on the fridge.

Once I know what we have I plan my menu for the week. And I make enough so that we can have a small amount of leftovers for lunch the next day or for a weekend clean out the fridge meal with a variety of foods, lol, my mom calls it the Sunday buffet.

Oh don't tempt me! We had chili recently. We love it! We even had the cornbread (Jiffy!) too.

I have to tell you a secret ingredient I add to the jiffy mix. I put a couple of tbsps of (light) sour cream into the mix. I don't really measure it. I just put a few heaping spoonfuls into it. It gives it a lighter, softer texture. Do you add anything? I'm all for tips!

Ooh, that sounds yummy, I hate how dense they come out sometimes. I usually add in a heaping spoonful of brown sugar and a tablespoon of honey. my family likes them sweet. And I make honey butter (mix softened butter with a few tablespoons of honey and salt to taste) to serve with them. my family would protest if I didn't make the butter.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

I do a lot of what pp have stated. I *try* to get two different meals out of one big dish when I can. Like when we have tacos I make extra taco meat. Another night I'll take the extra, add drained & rinsed kidney beans, place the mixture down the middle of a tortilla wrap it, put a slice of cheese over it, nuke it for about a minute and there's a burrito.

When I get a rotisserie chicken, we'll have it as it with some sides one night, another night I'll take the leftovers and make chicken enchiladas, or a chicken pot pie. Something like that. That's how I plan going into the week. A couple of nights are taken care of by one main dish.

Then we like to do some sort of variation of breakfast for dinner (eggs, or waffles, or French Toast) w/ a variety of sides.

The rest of the time I have a loose plan, have stuff on hand & wing it.

I take inventory of my pantry, freezer, and fridge. Once I know what's in it I can plan my meals. And I also can plan what I need to buy at the grocery store. Once we use something and it needs to be replaced we add it to the "to buy" list stuck on the fridge.

Once I know what we have I plan my menu for the week. And I make enough so that we can have a small amount of leftovers for lunch the next day or for a weekend clean out the fridge meal with a variety of foods, lol, my mom calls it the Sunday buffet.

Ooh, that sounds yummy, I hate how dense they come out sometimes. I usually add in a heaping spoonful of brown sugar and a tablespoon of honey. my family likes them sweet. And I make honey butter (mix softened butter with a few tablespoons of honey and salt to taste) to serve with them. my family would protest if I didn't make the butter.

Thanks! I'll have to try those tips out!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Monday: Homemade cheese pizza, green and yellow beans
Tonight:steak and noodles with broccoli and cauliflower
Wed: Homemade cheesy macaroni (hamburger helper copycat recipe), rolls, salad
Thurs: Soft tacos, nachos and cheese, salad bar of fixin's
Fri: parmesean chicken strips and fries, not sure of veg
Sat: pasta casserole, salad
Sun: leftovers

I found all kinds of recipes online for how to make sauces and mixes from scratch. I hate buying stuff full of additives and preservatives so I'm starting to work all these babies into our repertoire. The hamburger helper recipe will be my first try as well as some salad dressings. Not sure I'll make my own mayo but I may attempt homemade ketchup and pizza sauce.

 

[buckirj1]

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

It's not always easy to get started, but it flows much better once you get going. Don't try to do everything at once. To start, just plan a few simple meals and stick to the plan. Add onto that as you get more comfortable. The website home-ec101.com has a primer on menu planning you might find helpful. Nope, I'm not affiliated with the website, but it has a lot of sensible information on good old-fashioned homemaking. Good luck!

 

[OceanAnnie]

Monday: Homemade cheese pizza, green and yellow beans
Tonight:steak and noodles with broccoli and cauliflower
Wed: Homemade cheesy macaroni (hamburger helper copycat recipe), rolls, salad
Thurs: Soft tacos, nachos and cheese, salad bar of fixin's
Fri: parmesean chicken strips and fries, not sure of veg
Sat: pasta casserole, salad
Sun: leftovers

I found all kinds of recipes online for how to make sauces and mixes from scratch. I hate buying stuff full of additives and preservatives so I'm starting to work all these babies into our repertoire. The hamburger helper recipe will be my first try as well as some salad dressings. Not sure I'll make my own mayo but I may attempt homemade ketchup and pizza sauce.

I'd love for you to post some of those websites!

It's not always easy to get started, but it flows much better once you get going. Don't try to do everything at once. To start, just plan a few simple meals and stick to the plan. Add onto that as you get more comfortable. The website home-ec101.com has a primer on menu planning you might find helpful. Nope, I'm not affiliated with the website, but it has a lot of sensible information on good old-fashioned homemaking. Good luck!

I'm glad you posted that site! I will read it later.

 

[bigsis1970]

bigsis1970 - congrats on your weight loss!!

Thanks very much!

I'll second that! Good job!



I'll be paying close attention to your Adkins meals! I need some ideas!

Thanks to you as well.. I'll post both meals here.. if you have facebook my username is the same as here and I post lots of pictures of my meals there.. just let me know so I can friend you..

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

Welcome - getting started can seem overwhelming but I did see some great suggestions like take it one week at a time, take inventory of what you have to make that weeks menu's, and to work around the busy nights..
my week goes from Sun - Sun and I write in my son's activities and if my DD will be home from college then I look in my cupboards/fridge/freezer to see what we have left from the prior week and make the menu - sometimes I ask for input like have my DD pick 2 nights my DS pick 2 night and my Hubs pick 2 nights .. Once you get a few weeks done you can choose to rotate them .. I once had 5 weeks worth that I did that with..

 

[bigsis1970]

Hi Gang.. short week for me but I'll post anyhow.. Work has been super busy and it's cutting into my Dis time.

this week is just me and the Hubs..
Wed - barber chicken, garlic noodles and carrots for Hubs, the Hellsman Parmasean chicken and salad for me
Thurs - leftover corned beef dinner for the Hubs and gorton's grilled shimp and cabbage for me
Friday - Normal cheeseburgers for the Hubs and my Mom (who is coming to visit) and a cheese burger rollup for me (made on 1/2 of a flatout 3.5 net carbs) with cut cold veggies
Saturday - we are going out to our local casino so not sure yet where we are eating but I can have steak or fish and cooked veggies or a salad.
Sunday - we have my DS's HS ice hockey banquet at a local seafood place so I am sure I'll have fish and salad there..

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I hate to crash this fabulous thread, but I need some help in this department!!

I would LOVE to be able to plan my dinners out a week ahead of time, and Im usually a very organized person (you should see my Disney spreadsheets!!) but Im lacking when it comes to planning dinners!!

I work full time, and my boys are 13 1/2 and 11 and we have baseball games like 2-3 times a weeknight (and practice too, but they're usually over by 5:30/6pm).

DH works too, and he's a fabulous cook but rarely gets home before me..

so if I want to start planning our dinners, HOW do I get started?? Do we just sit down and make a list of all of our favorite dinners and then just plug them into a calendar?? Since I never pre-plan dinners, we have a TON of food in the pantry and freezers...that way, whatever someone suggests, I usually have the ingredients!!

Im ready to learn!!

Just started myself less than a year ago. Here's what I did:

Made one long list of all the entrees I make. I typed this on one sheet of my Excel workbook.

I made a spreadsheet (it looks a lot like my Disney trip sheets!) with a column for each day of the week. Then there are these rows: Entree, Sides, Comments, Groceries needed.

As I've been going, a lot of my recipes are now on tabs in this same Excel workbook.

The comments row is where I note things like when we're going to be out later than normal, if DH is out of town, etc. That way I remember to plan a meal that works with our schedule.

Then I also keep on hand frozen tilapia and frozen shrimp for when the plan falls apart--both of those can be pulled out of the freezer and dinner's on the table less than half-an-hour later.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Thanks to you as well.. I'll post both meals here.. if you have facebook my username is the same as here and I post lots of pictures of my meals there.. just let me know so I can friend you..

Thank you for the offer! Can't take you up on it cause I'm not on facebook. I'm on the net too much as it is.

----------------------

Tonight we had rotisserie chicken, steamed yellow squash (w/ onions, "I can't believe it's not butter", & bacon) and coleslaw that I put together at home. It was good.

 

[tinkmom2]

I made the Banana Split Cake: http://tinkmomfoodie-foodobsession.blogspot.com/2013/03/banana-split-cake.html

 

[OceanAnnie]

Darn, darn, darn. I was multi-tasking last night and forgot to put the chicken in the fridge after we ate! Ugh. I had it wrapped and ready to go and got called away. Darn! First thing I saw when I went into the kitchen this morning was the chicken on the counter. Goodbye chicken.

Don't know what we're going to have tonight.

 

[girli565]

Darn, darn, darn. I was multi-tasking last night and forgot to put the chicken in the fridge after we ate! Ugh. I had it wrapped and ready to go and got called away. Darn! First thing I saw when I went into the kitchen this morning was the chicken on the counter. Goodbye chicken.

Don't know what we're going to have tonight.

I hate when I do that!! I left a pot of cooked rice out the other night, totally forgot about it. pregnancy brain has been killing my short term memory lately.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I hate when I do that!! I left a pot of cooked rice out the other night, totally forgot about it. pregnancy brain has been killing my short term memory lately.

It's a bummer alright! At least you have a great excuse!

I have to laugh about it. Last night was one of those super busy times. Reminds me to slow down!

 

[girli565]

It's a bummer alright! At least you have a great excuse!

I have to laugh about it. Last night was one of those super busy times. Reminds me to slow down!

Great excuse but very frustrating. Lol. Hopefully you'll find something for dinner

 

[OceanAnnie]

Great excuse but very frustrating. Lol. Hopefully you'll find something for dinner

I remember well!

Thanks. I have Nathan's hot dogs as a back up (some left over coleslaw, and squash) + chips. It would make the kids super happy. I think I'll go with it!

ETA: We ended up with chili dogs. Chili made w/ ground turkey. It was really good for a change!

 

[Mom_Rides]

I am so over cold weather and sick season! I've been in bed since Sunday with strep throat. Man, I don't wish that junk on my worst enemy! I have been so suck this winter and Im just over it!! Just starting to feel human today so I took DD to school and hit the grocery store to pick up a couple of things.

Tonight we are having beef tips in the crockpot with mushroom gravy over noodles with applesauce.

Going to attempt to go back to work tomorrow so we are just going to do tacos and cheesy nachos with salsa.

Saturday we having a joint birthday party for my DSSs and our nephew at my SIL house. Thankfully I have the best SIL and she bought all the food and is making everything, I just have to split the cost with her. Thank heavens for small favors! The party is in the early afternoon so I may just pick up a big sub and a bag of chips for dinnertime.

 

[Bribrittmom]

Tonight we had brats,baked beans,chips, and cut up veggies.An indoors picnic to remind us that even with the cold weather spring will soon be here,Hopefully!