WHAT’S FOR DINNER? MEAL PLANNING AND PLANNING YOUR TRIP(S) TO THE GROCERY STORE.

I don’t know about you, but if I go to the grocery store without a shopping list, I can come home with bags and bags of food, but no idea what I’m doing with it. Yes, there are certain items that are staples in my pantry at home. (Hmm, should I share some pantry stocking tips with you in the future?). But, pantry staples, while helpful in meal planning, can’t always make up a meal, so here is how I plan my menus and shopping for the week at home:

First, I take a look at the calendar. What do we have going on? Do I have a late night at work? Is there an appointment in the evening? Is it someone’s birthday or holiday? Is there someplace we need to be after dinner? Then I look at the refrigerator. What’s already in there? What needs to be used up? How can I incorporate that into a meal? Finally, it might seem odd, but I look at the weather. Is it going to be colder than normal, or do we have several days of cold or hot coming up? Do I want a quick meal or am I willing to take a bit of time to get dinner ready? Do I want to make something that will have leftovers? I cook almost every day at work, so you would think I wouldn’t want to make a big deal of dinner at home, but I truly enjoy cooking, so most nights, I walk in the door, say hello to my dog and my husband, and head to the kitchen.

Once I’ve taken stock of what I have in the house for food already, I begin to plan out what I can make with what I have. I also get produce delivered every other week, so I try and make sure I’m using that up when planning menus. We mostly eat vegetarian, so I don’t necessarily plan for meat in my meals each day, but once in a while, I will grill some chicken or something to go along with what we already have planned. On busier nights, when one of us might be late, or have something going on, I’ll usually plan to use up items I already have. For example, I may have half a jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge and half a bag of frozen ravioli in the freezer. That is the perfect item for a night when I might be running late or have someplace to be after dinner. This week, my produce order came with cauliflower, lettuce, & tomatoes, so I’m going to make buffalo cauliflower and a side salad. I’ll double check to make sure I have sour cream, mayonnaise, and rice wine vinegar, and hot sauce; and I’ll add blue cheese to my shopping list so that I can make homemade blue cheese dressing to go with dinner. I will keep going, combining items I have and noting what I need until I have seven dinners planned. Then I’ll add them to my menu board (aka pantry door painted with chalkboard paint), and make sure I don’t have similar items side by side.

Once I’ve got my menu for the week planned, and missing ingredients noted on my shopping list, I’ll double-check the pantry and make sure that I’m stocked up on staple items we like to keep around – milk, cheese, yogurt, bread if I haven’t baked any recently, pasta, beans, peanut butter, spices, oils, fruits, frozen veggies (I always try and keep broccoli, peas, spinach, and corn on hand) and snacks like nuts, chips, and crackers.

I don’t spend a full day prepping my meals for the week, but I will often take on a larger, bucket-list kitchen project on one of my days off. This could be almost anything, including bread, soap, dog cookies, or something I’ve seen online that I want to try. I try and include this in my planning, so I can limit my trips to the store, but like everyone else, there’s always something I forget. Oh, and don’t think I follow my plan exactly each week. Life happens, and not usually according to plan.