April Meals::Meal Plans Revisited

A while back I talked about meal planning and getting myself organized in hopes stopping my multiple trips to the grocery store during the week. Well, I finally got myself ib gear and planned the remaining meals for March and all of April- yay me!

My basic plot is to attempt to use all of  what we receive in our CSA box (more on that here) and also include dishes we traditionally enjoy as well as include dishes that are new and exciting,while remaining within budget. Here's a look at my April meal plan as I have inputted them into my Google Calendar:

My husband typically cooks during the weekends, so those days may have vague descriptions or not be filled in at all. During the week I try and makes dishes that will create left-overs while using our basics we always have on hands: rice, dried beans of various sorts, tortillas, eggs, and cheese. I figure with Google Calendar not only can I readjust if daily plans and schedules change, but I can also share the meal plan with my husband and family, thus allowing them to make amendments and suggestions. On days that I use dried beans I have set a timer to remind me to start the beans the night before. I do the same with pizza because I usually make my own dough.  I have a timer set as to when to start the pizza dough production.

Each week I will still write the planned menu on our erasable menu I keep on the fridge, that way the rest of my family can see what's ahead and help them plan for what to expect. I am feeling oh-so organized and ready for the month of April.

How are you organizing your meals for your family?

Organizing Our Dinners

In a few weeks I will be heading back to work part time. A big change. It's been a full year since I have held a "real" job, OK, well I have had a real job this past year, and it's been harder than any job I have held in the past, but when you are living a passion it just doesn't always seem like work. I will continue to make art andsell it in my Etsy shop (no worries. In case, you know, you were worried or something). But I digress.

This post is supposed to be about meal planning, and it will be. But first you must know the anxiety I am experiencing having  a little less time to do all those household and family needs like planning and making meals. So I am going to start planning meals...um...again.

You see, the last few years I have been planning, buying, prepping, and doing everything I could to organize all those wholesome meals. I have used so many meal planning techniques I could probably write at least one chapter on each to complete an entire book! Plus antidotes on which technique WOULD work best for a certain type of person and family, because you know I tried it and discovered that all of them just didn't jive with my groove.

Here's the plan, thanks to Simple Mom blog, I am going to try and plan all of my meals using Google Calendar. Put them on a two week rotation because let's face it every week I have something easy like a variation on "taco night" that can repeat at least once a week. I will then generate am ingredient list for each meal, which will in turn generate a shopping list. Whew! I will be reporting how all of this goes here for your, uh, pleasure I guess.

First step is to create an additional calendar in the calendar section from gmail. This will be my meal calendar. I will share the calendar with my husband so he too can make decisions and corrections to the plan. I will still write out what meals are happening during the week on my menu board that way the rest of the household is in the know. Fingers crossed this technique will all work out!