Meal Planning

"I'm leaving you for someone that does care what we have for dinner."

In our kitchen we menu plan in order to make the most of the foods we grow and purchase. Our number one goal is to never waste food.

In our planning we always go to our pantry/fridge/freezer/garden first, not the grocery store.

When we look at what we have, we see what needs to be used first. What needs to be eaten takes precedent over what we may "feel" like eating.

After that we make out our menu based on our findings from above. 

If there is anything we don't have that we need for a meal we try to find a substitute that we have, or change the meal. 

If it is a nice day for a bike ride I might go out and get the needed item from the store.

We do long range planning that looks at the big picture. 

We also always have the next day's menu planned before turning in for the night. 

Linda likes to have several days of meals planned that take into account the order that things need to be used.

That way we never find ourselves with food that has expired/gone off, or staring into the fridge wondering what to make while our tummies are grumbling. 

We also avoid the stress and cost of,

"What do you want to eat?"

"I dunno, what do you want?"

"Uh, don't know. What do you feel for?"

"Let's just order a pizza/Chinese for delivery."

When we do buy groceries, the majority of the time it is planned for purchase when on sale, in bulk, or both. We stock up on things when they are marked down. Items that have grossly inflated prices are dropped from our list.

Using this method we always know what we are going to be making and eating, and we find that we very rarely waste food.

And our meals are as wholesome, healthful, fresh, and pleasing as they can be.

Meal planning. It is the only way to go to maximize on your food, and your dollar.