Working on Wellness: Weekly Meal Planning

Here's why I meal plan:

1. I'm a weirdo and I love it;
2. I like being organized;
3. The more I get to think about food, the better;
4. I don't have to stress about what dinner will be during the afternoon of the day-of;
5. I avoid multiple trips during the week with the kiddos, which is a) hard work and b) costly, since I definitely don't just get the milk I was planning to buy but also end up getting Starbucks, treats for the kids, extra goodies, etc.;
6. Easier to track the budget for groceries (less trips = less marking on the budget sheet);

Here's what works for me:

I've shamelessly stolen Sara's original spreadsheet and have tailored it with my own recipes and grocery shopping pattern. I also added a "fasting/meat/fish" column to be able to filter according to the fasts of the Orthodox church. It helps me to adhere to the fasts! Up front, it takes a bit of time to think of your family's favorite recipes and separate the ingredients into the columns in the spreadsheet. But then, as time goes on, you will have a pretty good selection of recipes, and now usually I am just adding one or two recipes at a time as we try new things and like them.


Early on Monday morning:

Each weekday I wake up with husband (~5:30a) and spend time doing whatever I want sans kids. They typically wake up between 7:30 and 8 so I usually get a good amount of time to myself to have my coffee, listen to the daily Bible readings from Ancient Faith Radio, do dumb/enjoyable stuff like check Facebook and reading internet articles, catch up on housework, and sometimes work out using Nike Training Club app. On Mondays, I use that time to plan out the week. I print out a blank schedule for the week, populate it, then print and hang it on the fridge. I choose 5 recipes from the spreadsheet (filtering for fasting as needed), hide all the other recipes, then print that. It's the grocery list for the week! Then, once the kids get up, we pack up (making sure to bring the list!!) and head to the store to shop. I love grocery shopping on Monday morning because they are typically restocking so I know everything is fresh! And sometimes we get treats from Starbucks if I'm feeling generous.

Ongoing maintenance:

I periodically try new recipes from cookbooks I have, and I only have a few that I keep around that have awesome food photography; that's the only way I'm compelled to look through them! My favorites are Oh She Glows and a book from Williams-Sonoma called A Taste of the World. I also have my own recipe book for scrawling family recipes or frequently-used internet recipes so I don't always have to find the link. This pancake recipe is one the ones I had to write down!  I sub coconut oil for the butter. Srsly it's the bomb dot com. The touch of vanilla, the coconut oil, and little tidbit of sugar....nom nom.

I also love looking at food blogs (OSG, Smitten Kitchen, and Food Network everything are frequent stops when I'm clicking around the internet)

What are some of your favorite (fasting or not) recipes?  How do you stay organized in the kitchen? (Or do you not?)

xoxo Phae