Meal planning, food freshness etc...long :)

13 years ago

I need some help from seasoned home cooks!

I would like to have fresh, home-cooked meals for my family but I am having trouble with organization and other issues, I am hoping others have ideas and suggestions that I haven't thought of! Here is what I am doing and where I am getting stuck:

I have time to menu plan and shop on Sundays and I like to have a fresh start to the week. I have about a million cookbooks and ideas for things to make. I like doing what I consider classic Sunday things for dinner. Tonight I want to make roast chicken. I save the bones to make stock or I start stock Sunday night if I have enough bones. I am making butternut squash soup using frozen squash that I baked last time I made the soup. In the winter I will make a hearty soup on Sundays or Mondays to eat for lunches. So far so good.

I like to make a casserole every week. I consider home-made enchiladas a casserole. My family is so small/young right now that a regular casserole will last for a while. We eat the left overs for a dinner and my husband will eat it for a "fourth meal"- he doesn't eat enough early in the day so he often eats another meal a few hours after dinner. This is where I run into problems. We can't have casserole on Mondays for scheduling reasons (I often make fish that is prepped and takes 10-15 minutes total to cook, a prepped casserole takes over 45 minutes to warm thru because it is cold...) So that means I could make the casserole Tuesday.

So, buy meat and fresh veggies Sunday and use to make the casserole Tuesday. Then we take several days to eat the rest of the casserole. Is it really ideal to be eating something on Saturday that was purchased the previous Sunday? How long do you all keep fresh food? I am the opposite of paranoid about food freshness because I have never gotten sick but I think I push the limits and I want to keep my family healthy. When I read official food-storage and keeping guidelines they strike me as absurdly strict and ridiculous, but I want to do what is best for my family...

Some trouble I am having with possible solutions:

-We don't love frozen veggies or frozen foods, I freeze mostly cooked chicken, stocks, baked goods, cooked squash and woody herbs. Oh, and I do have frozen raw meat and fish, of course. I haven't had the best luck with frozen meals per se. I like to save that for survival mode (morning sickness, newborn, surgery recovery etc.) Rather than everyday life :)

-I don't use a lot of prepared or pantry foods.(I try to keep things pretty low in starch and sugar)

-I can INTEND to go to the grocery store more often but it often doesn't get done and we end up eating take-out instead of home-made food. My husband and I have two dinner dates a week and often do take-out/movie night Fridays and that is a TON of eating out all ready!!

-I am good at following a recipe and I am a very good baker BUT I can not fly by the seat of my pants or throw things together. I worked in a culinary program for a few years and the the chefs and other helpers were aghast that I never cook without a recipe :( I use exact measurements, I take notes about what I want to change, substitute etc. I do know to double and triple some flavorings/spices because we like strong flavors but I still measure and take notes, usually. Yes, I know this is a weakness, but I love that things almost always turn out well :) We budget for quality ingredients and I find it agonizing to waste them on a "flop" I think you have to be willing to make mistakes in order to become a really great cook and I just am NOT there yet :)

Cooking resources seem to fall into two categories: gourmet, hobby, pleasure cooking and eating (so, a lot of what I see on this forum) OR just-get-food-on-the-table cooking which involves a lot of packaged ingredients, condensed soup and freezing complete meals. I have the sensibilities/skill set of the former but the lifestyle/priorities of the latter :) after my (hopefully many) babies are older or my husband is done with grad school/career-building and can join me I hope to get back to more involved culinary pursuits but for now I need a third way...

If you have made it this far, thank you!!

Comments (9)

lindac
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I would be miserably sick of Tuesday's casserole by Saturday. After eating some on Tuesday I would freeze it in meal sized portions.
When you are working and have little kids, you need to concentrate on simple basic quick stuff.
Like sauteed chicken breast or grilled chicken breast. You can season many ways and get different meals. Like Marlsala or with a dijon cream sauce or with Italian seasonings and tomato sauce. Or dredge with curry seasoned flour and serve over rice....deglaze the pan with a little broth and cream.
Grilled fish, or pan fried. make your won "shake and bake"...home made toasted bread crumbs with seasonings, use it to coat pork chops, chicken fish even ground beef patties and pop into the oven until done.
I think you are spending too much time trying to make "recipes" instead of focusing first on the basic way to cook something. Then work on the fancy frills.
But learn first how to broil a steak and bake a chicken, how to simply braise a chuck roast or some chicken hind quarters.
Learn the basics first.....like how to bake a potato, then how to roast one, how to boil one, how to mash one how to fry one.....and then go on to how to bake potatoes in a white sauce and how to bake potatoes in a cheese sauce and in an herb butter.

As I see it you need to learn to be comfortable in your kitchen. So when you have a certain piece of meat or other food item you immediately know some way to cook it.
And you need to make smaller casseroles....so the last of Tuesday's dish is gone by thursday.
Good luck....just wait until those kids become teenagers!!
Linda C
dgkritch
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I do a lot of weekend cooking to ease the time restraints during the week.
Just my DH & I now, but I did the same when we had 4 teens at home!

Choose 2 or 3 different meats for the week (i.e. chicken, beef, fish).

Roast your Sunday Chicken and serve with the usual potatoes, carrots, salad, whatever.

Save the rest of the chicken for later in the week.

Cook 2-3 pounds of ground beef at a time. You could make meatballs, crumbled and a meat loaf. Season the crumbled for tacos during the week. Slice the meatloaf for dinner one week night and save the rest for sandwiches.

Serve the meatballs in spaghetti sauce (made ahead and frozen).

Turn that leftover chicken into enchiladas, chicken pot pie, chicken salad (traditional or just sliced chicken on a tossed salad).

Serve the fish somewhere in the middle and nobody gets tired of any one thing. Hubby can eat the extra servings of any one of those.

Try making your own "convenience" foods.
Frozen meatballs
Spaghetti Sauce
Casseroles (freeze in meal size portions)
Lasagne
Quiche
Roasted veggies (freeze leftovers for another meal)
I make meatloaf patties. They can be eaten on a bun or just plain like a slice of meatloaf.

I rarely use prepared items. Exceptions would be when I run out of home canned things (tomatoes come to mind).

Make use of a crockpot during the week too. It takes less than 15 minutes to toss carrots, potatoes and a beef roast in there and turn it on. Go about your day and dinner is ready when you are.

I did Sticky Chicken today in mine. Served with steamed asparagus and mashed potatoes. Easy and delicious.

Prep fresh crunchy veggies ahead and store in fridge. Easy to add to tossed salads, just munch on with a sandwich instead of chips, toss in a bowl and steam for a dinner veggie. Prep is time consuming. If you can do some of it ahead of time, it'll pay off later.

Keep at it! I admire that you want to feed your family fresh, healthy food. Too many kids today are being raised at McDonalds and the like and they don't know how to make food at home. Get them involved as soon as they're old enough!!

Deanna
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grainlady_ks
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
This is the meal plan I've followed for years and perhaps it and the others I've posted will help you out a bit to build one for yourself. I like it because I can switch days or leave them out completely if necessary. Many of the basic foods are prepared in advance and portioned in the freezer in serving sizes (2 people for us). That would include spaghetti sauce, freezer mashed potatoes, soup/stew/chili, taco meat, etc. You could easily rearrange the choices to work best for you. I don't like to work out a "perfect" menu, but I like the guidelines I've set out for myself. I know if I have a few simple ingredients on hand - shredded cheese, lettuce and other fresh veggies, and a well-stocked freezer, no meal is very far away.

MONDAY: Big Meal
Includes a large cut of meat that will also serve as leftovers, possibly sandwich meat, base for stir fry; and served with all the "normal" side dishes that go along with that type of meat. Usually there is enough leftover to freeze a portion to use later. Baked chicken or roast beef also get used to make soup. Occasionally when I don't have time to make the whole meal from scratch I'll use whatever has been waiting the freezer (leftover roast turkey or beef, etc.)

TUESDAY: Leftovers
It may take on a completely different look than what was served on Monday - your choice. If you don't like leftovers the next day, use them on Wednesday instead.

WEDNESDAY: Stir-fry
If you prepared vegetables on Monday or Tuesday that can be prepared in advance to include in this meal you'll save time by chopping enough on the previous days. Use a combination of fresh and frozen veggies. Almost any kind of meat can be used for stir-fry - both raw or pre-cooked. Serve with a side of rice and fresh fruit for dessert. I might take a large amount of meat (chicken or steak for instance) and cook it and portion it for the freezer and used later for more stir-fry meals, or used as the meat topping on a dinner salad, or used in a wrap on sandwich day.

THURSDAY: International
Usually something Italian or Mexican using spaghetti sauce and some kind of pasta or taco meat (which are already portioned in the freezer). Both meat bases can be used in a plethora of things.

FRIDAY: Vegetarian
A great way to save on our most expensive food item - meat. If you don't have time for a traditional breakfast, it could be a good time for pancakes or crepes. Something egg, cheese or bean based.

SATURDAY: Soup and/or Sandwich
We're always busy on Saturday, so instead of eating out, having the freezer stocked with homemade soup and fixings for sandwiches on hand (as well as wraps and other sandwich-type things) saves time and money.

SUNDAY: Homemade Pizza or a Dinner Salad
Homemade pizza is a good way to use up small amounts of leftover meat and clean the vegetable bin. When the weather is too hot for baking pizza, or the garden is in full swing, those same meat and vegetable ingredients make a great dinner salad.

All meals include nature's "FAST FOOD" which are fresh vegetables of some kind and fresh or canned fruit for dessert. The freezer is stocked with homemade tortillas, homemade burger and hot dog buns, homemade dinner rolls, cornbread (all wrapped in foil in servings for one or two) ready to reheat.
------------------------------------------------------

Here's another eating plan I jotted down from a book I read years ago:

-Meat on Sunday and Wednesday
-Casseroles/Leftovers Monday and Thursday
-Pasta - Tuesday
-Fish, eggs, cheese - Friday
-Soup and or Sandwich - Saturday
--------------------------------------------

This one I read on-line:

Monday - Pasta
Tuesday - Soup, salad, and/or sandwiches
Wednesday - Stir-fry
Thursday - Crock-pot
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Something new
Sunday - Something easy

-Grainlady
shannonaz
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thank you so much for the great ideas! A lot of these are things I have done but either forgotten about or gotten bored with. I realize that there probably is more that I can freeze ahead...
lyfia
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I usually take the approach of making enough for dinner the day before to cover lunch the next day except for the weekends when DH actually eats with us and he isn't one for left overs unless it is the type of food that gets better with sitting such as soups/chili etc.

I have a spread sheet where I have the tabs divided into weekday vs. weekend. Weekday needs I also make enough to freeze things from weekend dinner/lunches and use that for our Thursday dinner as that is left over day due to commute taking longer on that day so need quick heat up time when we're home. Often Thursdays are left overs from the weekend prior so we get some variety each week. I repeat lunch/dinner during the week and that is about all I can take for non-variety.

We often do left overs one other day during the week from a previously frozen weekend meal too due to other commitments or just wanting a break.

I also have a lot of other frozen things that I make large batches of such as chili, soups, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, etc.

I tend to use the tender fresh veggies that doesn't last as long earlier in the week and then towards the end of the week I will use those that last longer.

I don't have time to keep running to the store so my shopping is done once a week. The spread sheet helps me with making my grocery list as well as an app on my android phone called groceryiq. It now takes me less than an hour from when I leave until I get home to get my grocery shopping done. If I stop at the meat market a little longer, but it is a whole lot better than the 1.5-2 hrs it used to be and I really dislike grocery shopping so that is a huge plus to me.
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Grainlady, I like your plan but that well stocked freezer does take a lot of time and (some) money!
Sometimes all I can do is open a bottle of barbecue sauce and pour it over some chicken pieces.
grainlady_ks
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
bumblebeez-
Takes time...you are soooooo right! But the last I looked we all have 24-hours in the day. I happen to start the day at 3:30 a.m. and end it at 9:30 p.m.

Cook once - serve many times... Sometimes called once-a-month cooking - except I do it as necessary. When we're almost out of chili, and ground beef is a bargain price, I'll make up a pot of chili destined for the freezer.

-I bought #5 ground beef on sale last week ($1.99/pound) and boiled it to quickly cook it all at once (approx. 15- minutes). Drained. I mixed it with homemade "wheat meat" in order to extend the meat with a lower-costing, high-protein meat substitute to stretch the food dollars. Divided it into user-friendly amounts and froze it. A portion was plain, a portion was seasoned to use for Mexican entrees, and another portion was made into spaghetti sauce. The same goes for almost any meat or entree.

-That large batch of chili will serve many meals, not only as a soup, but also as a topping on baked potatoes or as a topping for a taco salad.

-I only make mashed potatoes 3 or 4 times a year - usually when I can purchase them buy one 5# bag get one free and prepare them for the freezer.

-I start my bread the night before by making a sponge and finish it early the next morning, so that helps speed things up a bit. With the 2-pound amount of dough I can make a 1# loaf of bread (which is what we typically use each week) and one other thing - 6 burger buns, OR 6 hot dog buns, OR 6 cinnamon rolls - so those go into the freezer. Some weeks I make 2 loaves of bread and one goes into the freezer.

-Hubby likes to make whole wheat or spelt tortillas (it's a gadget thing - he mills the flour and uses a tortilla maker/baker), so he makes enough to keep a stack in the freezer. They are used for Mexican entrees, sandwich wraps, and we bake them for tortilla chips.

-We eat a lot of whole foods - which are nature's "Fast Food" and they take a lot less preparation (wash, peel, slice). My favorite lunch is a wedge of a good cheese, some almonds, a stalk of celery and an apple for dessert.

Takes money... I have a $125/MONTH food budget (for two adults). Therefore, it's even more important to make things from scratch. I mill my own flour from grains/seeds/beans I keep in storage. We use powdered milk products to save money, and try to keep meat purchases to $2/pound, OR no more than $10/week.

I don't purchase convenience foods. What I consider "convenience foods" I make with ingredients I have in the pantry (i.e. homemade baking mix, pudding mix, pancake mix, Magic Mix, etc....).

I also only have the freezer space on my refrigerator, so I have to use the space wisely.

-Grainlady
lpinkmountain
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I loathe grocery shopping so I don't like to stop at the store a couple times a week to get fresh ingredients. I eat week old leftovers all the time. Depends on the food, but for me, it's not a quality issue. The issue is that I get sick and tired of eating the stuff!! Hence I use my freezer a LOT. It's great for baked goods and casseroles in individual servings. I haven't noticed big quality issues with the kinds of things I eat, and it is marvelous to have a nice dinner casserole to pull out on nights when I just don't have it in me to cook. I eat a lot of soup and that freezes well. As does bread, which I freeze so I don't have it go stale or mold on me all the time. I also freeze bits and bobs of cooked vegetables to use in casseroles, soups and the like. Many vegetables are quite good frozen, if you're not eating them uncooked. Caramelized onions are a perfect example. I make a big batch of those in the crockpot and freeze them in little containers to throw in a dish for a little zing. I also make herb and seasoning pastes and put them up in ice cube trays and then package up the little blocks to throw into making a dinner. Like some dill herb butter to throw on fish before cooking, etc. Learn to love your freezer, it is your friend!!

Meal planning, food freshness etc...long :)

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lindac

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Meal planning, food freshness etc...long :)

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