Does anyone really do this?
Please tell me your secret. I've only been trying to pull it off for months and months.
When do you plan it? How do you shop? Most importantly, how do you convince your family to eat what you've cooked instead of something else? Do I start with baby steps? One day a week have a special meal? Or just boot camp it and stick to it OR ELSE?
Here is my attempt. I'll post my ideas every week (we'll see how that goes) and then I'll do a follow up and let you know how
This Pineapple Pie I found over here. Like how the pie is to priority? I do, too.
Artichoke, Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Pizza adapted from here
I make a weekly menu. It goes from Sat-Fri. I plan it on Wed/Thurs. Generally, I do it in the evening when the Mr. is home so he can look it over and give his ideas as well. For us, once it is up, it's really simple to stick to. There are times that there are hangups though, like last night, the chicken was STILL very frozen by bed-time. So, it's good to have "go to" quick meals, JUST in case. We are big pizza fans, so we eat pizza every Friday. I try to incorporate a new recipe in there somewhere. As far as grocery shopping, I make my list from my menu. I go through the kitchen, and try to fill in what I can into my menu, then get from the grocery everything that I don't have already stocked. I've noticed that I'm not spending as much on groceries this way. Plus my grocery shopping isn't as stressful. As far as getting everyone to eat what I fix, it's fairly easy. Mr. V is far from picky, and I always try to make sure that Lil Mr. V has something that he'll eat. Though I do give him what we're eating first. It's only after his marked refusal, do I give him something else. (right now he's partial to pb&j sandwiches)
ReplyDeleteI plan four days at a time. I don't really think you can expect produce you buy in this town to last longer than that. I get the fam's input when I am making the menu. After the menu is set, that's it, we stick to it. I've never made special meals for the kids though, they have to eat what is prepared and Bruce is just happy that there are healthy meals on the table every night. We take turns cooking but not in a regimented way. He has meals he makes, I have meals I make and so it pretty much just depends on what we are having. Some times one of us will end up cooking 2 or 3 nights in a row, but I think in the end it evens out. We have 20 or so meals in regular rotation (those change depending on the season) and I try to throw in a new recipe every 2 weeksish. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as Miss A. James gets older and the days become more structured, it will be easy to follow your menu because you won't have time to do anything else!
This house manager gig, can be tough!
We do a weekly menu, and have actually been sticking with it really well, but then again it's just us two! It does have some flexibility in that we don't have the meals planned down to the day, just a list for the week and we choose what we feel like that night from the list (or what we might feel like for the next night, in case something needs thawing). I like it because we don't have to run to the grocery every other day, and there's always something good and healthy to eat at home, which means less temptation to eat out, so we definitely save money! It was hard at first to stick with it (bad habits of eating out were hard to break!) but now that we've been doing it and are seeing the benefits, it's easy! Good luck :)
ReplyDelete