Meal Plan Monday

One of the best and, dare I say it, most brilliant, freedom-producing ways I know to eliminate the trauma of emotional stress regarding the management of my home is to plan family meals in advance.  Written down. Followed exactly whenever possible. At least a week at a time.  

This is not a new idea - many people do it and have systems, etc., that seem to work for them. If you have any homemakers on your Twitter feed or if you surf the blog-o-sphere you've surely noticed the 'bazillion' moms out there that plan their meals.  Most of those moms have children in the double digits and must plan simply to keep their entire army fed.  Well, folks, I'm one of those bazillion moms. Not one with children enough to field a soccer team, but one who finds planning essential to organized living and therefore essential to personal sanity.  Without exaggeration, I must say that meal planning is one of the things that has revolutionized my life.

I have been meal planning for about seven years.  It started when I had to plan what I would feed Clark when he was a five-month-old infant starting on his first glorious taste of the 'frozen food cube'.  Ah yes, the good ol' days of researching vitamins and carbohydrates and proteins in various vegetables, fruits and nuts in one of the best books ever, "Super Baby Food"... And then scouring the market for the appropriate items to cook, puree, decant into ice cube trays, and finally fill the icy-cold freezer to overflowing with the goodness of homemade baby food.  Gone are the days of either double boiling the melting cubes or microwaving them to a perfect temperature and consistency.  Clark was the first beneficiary of the meal plan.  That system of sitting down for 15 minutes to plan what I would feed him for a week made my life so easy as a clueless new mom who was just trying to do her best.  "I can't allow Clark to have the same fate as every house plant I've ever killed!" For me, meal planning was they key.  Shopping was easier, ensuring Clark's health was easier, cooking was easier... I think even feeding him was easier as he learned to know what to expect mixed into his otherwise bland and lifeless rice and/or wheat cereal. Because of the great joy experienced from this home-blessing activity, I naturally extended the planning pleasure to the rest of the family, small as it might have been at the time. 

My meal planning used to be an extravagant exercise in hunting out fun recipes and tracking down exotic ingredients to make fantastic dishes that were sure to please both my husband's ever-accepting appetite and my own slightly finicky palate.  Then there were the days of cooking massive volumes of food for the 12-20 people that regularly dropped in for lunch or dinner for a period of about 8-12 months in 2004-2005.  Extensive planning was required to manage the vegetarians, the picky eaters, the lactose intolerant, those averse to chili peppers, and then the ever-present choc-o-holics.   Fun days, indeed, in desperate need of advance culinary strategy. 

Today, however, in the midst of the global economic crisis, my meal planning takes on a new appearance... wanting to use all the ingredients available in my house, and replacing them when depleted with the cheapest, fewest in calories, and most healthful components.  We eat a lot of eggs.  A lot of cereal.  A lot of homemade tortillas.  Buckets full of homemade salsa.  And a never-ending supply of pasta and homemade sorbet.  Fruits, veggies and milk to keep us healthy; a limit of meat products and imports to keep us out of debt.

So today, I offer for your reading pleasure our weekly meal plan.  Please feel free to steal my ideas or cook along with us throughout the week.  Since about 14,000 miles and a global hemisphere prevent me from having most of you to my carefully set table for a meal, we could join together in a week of meals and have pleasant conversation by email.

May your week be effortlessly planned, hassle free, full of emotional energy, and abounding with delicious cuisine.

LEAH KADWELL'S MONDAY MEAL PLAN - AUGUST 24-30, 2009

(please note "1" denotes Monday)

Breakfasts:
1. Cereal
2. Waffles (made last Saturday)
3. Cereal
4. Cereal
5. Cereal
6. Pancakes (freshly made)
7. Cereal

School snacks: (for Clark and Claire / the school provides lunch)

1. Crackers/kurkure, carrots, store-bought mini-muffins
2. Raman noodles, peanuts, "Digestive biscuits" (like arrowroot cookies)
3. Granola bar, cucumbers, goldfish crackers
4. Granola bar, raisins, cookies (leftover from the previous week's ladies' tea)
5. Raman noodles, goldfish crackers, Choco pie (a special Friday treat!)
6. Cucumbers, raisins, Cheez-its (yes, they go to school on Saturday!)

Lunches:
(generally noted only for Kevin who takes his lunch to work; Leah eats cereal and a piece of fruit every day for lunch; kids lunch provided at school)

1. Kevin - sausages, apple, veggies, fruit bar
2. Kevin - chicken pasta salad, goldfish crackers, orange, cucumber
3. Kevin - out (weekly lunch with Brian... McD's or KFC generally.....)
4. Kevin - fried egg in homemade tortilla wrap, pear, veggies, raisins
5. Kevin - peanut butter chicken (thanks Nigella!), veggies, fruit bar, orange
6. Leftovers - for all of us - usually pizza from Friday night or noodles
7. Mac n cheese for the kids / cereal and/or leftovers for parents

Dinners:

1. Orange chicken and tomato/peach salad (thanks Martha!)

2. Spaghetti with homemade vegetarian tomato sauce + green salad/feta cheese

3. Burritos - made from homemade tortillas, chicken, homemade salsa & greek yogurt
4. Omelettes with potatoes or feta and salsa 
5. Pizza - Dominos delivered!
6. Leftovers - whatever's left in the fridge/freezer from the week
7. Popcorn and ice cream

I hope you've enjoyed and been inspired - simple, healthful, cheap meals.... plan it today!

~lk