What's for dinner?
As you may have noticed, I have been posting my weekly dinner plan on Instagram (@malilistmayer) every Tuesday. I plan on Monday and grocery shop on Tuesday mornings (A perk of working at home). By doing this, I only have to shop once a week, and my daughter can check the board to see what’s for dinner. This doesn’t prevent her from making a face now and again.
“Do you find yourself stuck with the “What’s for Dinner Dilemma?” If so, you are not alone. Many couples, individuals, and families face extra stress, uncertainty, and often anxiety around mealtimes after a busy day. As a result, deciding what to eat and having the necessary groceries on hand can seem like wishful thinking. Consequently, takeout becomes an alluring, expensive and a common default that can compromise nutrition and our noblest intentions to cook more at home. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Meal planning can help end the indecision and the infamous “What’s for Dinner Dilemma?” — Alexandra D’Ambrosio, Get Cracking
I have been meal planning in some format for decades. Single and in my 20s I used to visit my favorite China Town (NYC) fish market (sadly closed) once a month to stock my freezer. I was already thinking then about what I would use the fish for and bought enough for a month of salmon and veggie stir fry, shrimp with rice, skate soup, etc. Now there is once-a-month mom, a method of cooking, prepping, and using your freezer to store a month’s worth of meals to reheat and/or put together (want to know more? Link here). This isn’t my cup of tea because I like my veggies fresh, not fresh then flash boiled, cooled, and frozen.
Back at the beginning of the pandemic, I posted a video on meal planning and all the tips still apply even though we may be through the worst of the pandemic (no more being a short-order cook as schools are back in person).
As stated in the video there are three basic ways to meal plan for 1-2 weeks (some people do 4 weeks).
1. Recipe-based (choose a recipe for each night)
2. Theme-based (i.e. meatless Mondays, taco Tuesdays, etc.)
3. Ingredient-based (i.e. fish Fridays, meat Mondays
Once you decide your method, then you can get to work and put together your pantry staples list and weekly shopping list. Now if you are like most people you shop on the weekend. A Saturday or Sunday is a good day to prep your meals for the week such as marinating chicken, cutting off the ends of string beans and pre-measuring out rice and storing it in a container. “There’s nothing we love more than a meal prep Sunday. Prep as many healthy meals as you can within a few hours on a Sunday, divide them into containers and you have nourishing meals all set to go for your work week. It saves you time, and money and helps you stay organized and on track.” — Abigail Keeso, The Everygirl. Once you have this done, making dinner, breakfast and even lunches can go smoother and quicker.
Another way to get ahead of the dinner time rush is to use a slow cooker or Insta Pot. Unclear of the difference myself, I googled it. Broadly put a slow cooker does slow cooking and an Insta Pot does pressure cooking. “By using pressure to raise the boiling point of water, a pressure cooker makes it possible to cook things much more quickly, so you can make things like beef stew or braised short ribs, which typically take several hours, in less than 60 minutes. “ — Sharon Franke, The Ktchn. My slow cooker which I have had for nearly 2o years is my best friend in the kitchen. I can make veggie broth with frozen scraps and water overnight; I can make Sunday sauce in an afternoon or roast a chicken. If you plan on using one of these, make sure your recipe goes with it. You can easily find recipes for both online or from cookbooks. Which one is better? That is a personal preference. Just be sure you get what will work well with your family and your lifestyle. Since a slow cooker is great at making meat tender, I don’t use it as often as I used to since my daughter is vegetarian (Boo Hoo!) It is still the winner to me (over a pressure cooker).
Now to the air fryer. I’ll leave that for another time and let you know if my daughter gets her wish of having one.