Thursday, September 17, 2009

Organizing your Way Out of the What's For Dinner Funk

Do you ever find yourself stuck making the same foods over and over again?

Try this: make a file folder of your favorite recipes. On the back list the non-staple ingredients for making quick shopping lists. Put a divider in the back, and one in the front. As you find a new recipe your family likes, make a new card. Place your cards between the two dividers.

When you are planning your meals for the week, choose the number of cards for the number of meals you want to make. Copy the ingredient lists on to your shopping list, and put those recipe cards in front of the front divider to refer to over the upcoming week. Your pantry will be stocked with the necessary ingredients, and you won't be locked into a calendar menu that isn't flexible. Just pull out a card that sounds good and make it.

Once you have made a recipe, tuck it behind the back divider. This will help you keep track of what you have made recently, so no too-soon repeats. But if you want to make something again, you know exactly where to find it.

What is your best tip for making meal planning quick and easy?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great idea! I do something similar, whereby I have the recipe on an index card, and the grocery items on the back.

All index cards are held in plastic sleeves and when I menu plan, I simply take the appropriate plastic sleeves, line through the items I already have (with a whiteboard marker) and make up my grocery list that way.

Love the help you provide!