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Post by lattemomof3 on Mar 31, 2015 13:40:47 GMT
By the size of this thread we can tell how we feel about dinner planning, no?  . There are 5 of us, and we live in a tiny town where eating out is just not an option, unless you want McD's or Subway, so we literally only eat out about once a month, anything else is a fairly long drive each way. I used to hate meal planning, until I was searching for a solution and randomly found the you tuber How Jen Does It, she has a video on menu planning for a month at a time, and another on her recipe binder. I took the time to set up the system, and it has been life changing!!! I still don't love the planning but doing it only once a month is awesome!! She also does a big grocery shop once a month and then just goes to the store weekly for produce & milk, I haven't tried that yet but it would probably work well for me, since I could travel to the nicer store an hour away once a month and then get the weekly things at our small town store. To make cooking more fun I pop my headphones on (because the kids are home then, doing homework or watching tv, although I do have to hit pause often because someone needs to ask me something) and I listen to YouTube videos or audiobooks as I cook. This helps take the hate out of it quite a bit!! I actually like to cook, but the doing it every.single.day for 3 kids & dh gets tiring. The kids are teens/Tweens & eat a lot, so there are rarely leftovers & I have to double things. I also pack their lunches, I swear that 50% of my time goes to thinking about, shopping for, or making food. Sigh. |
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Post by lattemomof3 on Mar 31, 2015 13:46:22 GMT
And I am totally stealing the idea for having DD15 be responsible for planning and cooking one meal a week in the summer! Thanks to whoever posted that! I have been meaning to get her in the kitchen more, to help but also because I want the kids to learn how to plan/shop/cook before they leave home, but she's so busy during the school year and doesn't get to eat until later in the evening most days, so doing it over summer vacay will be great!
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~Susan~
Pearl Clutcher
You need to check your boobs, mine tried to kill me!!!
Posts: 3,259
Jul 6, 2014 17:25:32 GMT
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Post by ~Susan~ on Mar 31, 2015 13:47:39 GMT
I can commiserate. I really don't enjoy cooking anymore, especially when it warms up outside. I do try to make it as painless as possible. Being the organizer that I am, I wrote down every meal that we eat on a regular basis. I then wrote each meal and the ingredients to make it on an index card and put them in a recipe box. When I get ready to make out my meals for the week, I just pull out the next 6-7 meal cards that appeal to me or family members and make out my grocery list. Then I rotate. It takes time to do initially, but I did this over 15 years ago and I still use this system today. I have a friend that got married and became a stepmom, instant family. She started doing this and raves about it as a great method. She will try new recipes when she can, and if it's a success, she will add them to her recipe box. That is what I do also. It works better than anything else I have ever done. |
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Post by lattemomof3 on Mar 31, 2015 13:55:18 GMT
Part of the How Jen Does It menu planning is using the recipe card method that a lot of you have mentioned. I don't know the YouTuber, but I like to carry my phone around & listen to her videos while I'm cleaning/doing laundry etc. She inspires me, mostly because she seems to take pride in and enjoy the mundane tasks we all have to do, while I am more likely to do it begrudgingly & with lots of grumbling  , I'm working on trying to enjoy the process more, as these things make up a large part of my life as it's the season I'm in now with 3 kids at home. |
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Post by sues on Mar 31, 2015 16:36:39 GMT
I agree. I hate shopping for food, packing it up, unpacking it and putting it away. It feels like that's enough of an effort. Like dinners should be obvious, once I have all this food in the house.
Of course, it never is. I have to figure out what to do with it. If I was smart, I would plan a week at a time, and then just go along with the plan. But- (and this is another one for the 'what do you do, even though you know you shouldn't' thread - I don't. I wait until the last minute every day to figure it out, then I get cranky about actually doing it.
I wish I enjoyed cooking. I try to do a nice Sunday dinner where more effort is involved. I feel good about it when I do- but I don't really enjoy it.
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Post by cadoodlebug on Mar 31, 2015 16:42:04 GMT
Haven't read the 4 pages of replies but I'm sitting on this bench with most of you. I'm a pretty good cook but the *deciding & shopping* weighs me down. Remember on the old 2Peas there was a poster who would post her weekly meals and include recipes?
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mlana
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,525 
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Post by mlana on Mar 31, 2015 16:51:33 GMT
I haven't read thru the thread, so forgive me if this has been mentioned.
Sandy Cook, a homeschool mother and child advocate, wrote a book about how she conquered this problem for her family. She does all her meal planning once a year!!!! She wrote a book about it and it's available from Amazon. I got it when it was free, but I'm not sure what, if anything, it costs now. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but you can search for Sandy Cook and it should come up. Her method and strategy are worth a read.
Marcy
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Post by bluebird71 on Mar 31, 2015 21:09:21 GMT
This thread is cracking me up and also making me feel guilty for how I acted as a teen! My mom was divorced, worked full time, and there were 4 of us, plus my grandfather who had diabetes and leukemia, and so was blind. More than once I can remember her snapping when we asked: WHATS FOR DINNER, MOM?  She'd reply: Shit on a stick! That's when we knew we better leave her alone. If she followed it up with AND SELF SERVE!! we went and hid In our rooms. Poor Mom. She's calmer now that she only cooks for her husband. Lol |
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Post by Woobster on Mar 31, 2015 23:31:51 GMT
I love to cook... But I rarely have time to do so. I also don't mind grocery shopping, but I always end up buying too much, and since it's just two of us at our house, we always end up throwing food away.
That said, I HATE meal planning! I wish someone would plan the meals foe me and deliver the food... I'd be a happy camper!
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Post by lucyg on Apr 1, 2015 3:14:39 GMT
Somewhere on this thread someone mentioned how slow they are at cooking, which is part of the problem for her. (can't remember who said it, sorry). I laughed at that because that is me, totally. I have a cookbook called "Desperation Dinners" and right on the cover it says "home-cooked meals in 20 minutes flat". hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha If that author is cooking those recipes in 20 minutes then someone else must have come in and done all the prep for her. Seriously, even the recipes that I cook regularly from there take me longer than 20 minutes.  That was me! I don't know why everything is so slow when I do it. Well, part of it is probably that I clean up as I go along because I don't like ending up with a kitchen that looks like a tornado went through it. But yeah ... 20 minute meals? More like two hours in my house. My super-efficient sister can make six different things in the time it takes me to do one. That's why she's in charge when we entertain, and I just do what she tells me to do, and she doesn't give me much responsibility. hmmph |
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. There are 5 of us, and we live in a tiny town where eating out is just not an option, unless you want McD's or Subway, so we literally only eat out about once a month, anything else is a fairly long drive each way. 
, I'm working on trying to enjoy the process more, as these things make up a large part of my life as it's the season I'm in now with 3 kids at home. 
