Menu Planning Meanderings. . .

I enjoy puttering around the kitchen, preparing nourishing food for my family, blessing our neighbors and guests.

I'm less fond of having to cook.

And the way our life is right now, I've found myself very tired and wanting to spend less and less time in the kitchen, thinking, preparing, cleaning.

A couple of weeks ago I even resorted to. . . true confession time here. . . hamburger helper.

And while I'm borderline-vegetarian, Hubby isn't. He's willing to do meatless occasionally, as long as the food is hot and plentiful. But he's a carnivore at heart.

As are our boys who are growing like weeds. An extra potato for the pot no longer suffices.

All that put together, and I was in need of a bit more attention to meals and planning. Still with limited time and energy. With those restrictions, I'm pretty pleased with the meals stocked up and planned for the coming weeks.

I spent a little time planning on Friday, and did some marketing at Jessica's Organic and the grocery store. It was my first time at Jessica's. WMNF was on when I arrived, so I didn't miss the newstory that I'd been following, and wow--I've never seen such gorgeous heads of lettuce. I still need to go to Fruitville Market, better prices for local produce, even if it isn't organic. I need to make a trip to the little Mennonite health food shop for bulk items. My sis makes all her breads, and that sounds so appealing. But at this point we are content with stocking up on bread from the Pepperidge Farm Outlet.

Over four hours or so this afternoon, I spent probably two hours actually working in the kitchen. And I have ready for the coming weeks:

Two Meals of Southeast Asian Chicken Curry w/ Rice
Two Meals of Sloppy Joes
Two Meals of Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Two Meals of Beef Fajitas
One Meal of Chicken Divine
Four Extra Quart Bags of Rice
Two Quart Bags of Chicken Stock

And I have black beans soaking for tomorrow, which will then lead to two meals of chili, along with black beans and rice.

And I have the fixings for salads, breakfasts, and school lunches.

I'm feeling pretty pleased with how this went. I need to remind myself to do the little bits of planning ahead of time, and then go ahead and jump into it.

Posted by TulipGirl | 11:22 PM| TrackBack (0) | Words

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Comments

Well done TulipGirl! You are quite the domestic godess! That's quite an impressive lot of cooking you've done there. I went to the markets today and got some great vegi bargains that I am very pleased with. Fresh produce is so inspiring.
Posted by: missmellifluous at February 12, 2006 02:51 AM

Did I read that right, you cooked all those meals in 2 hours? I'm off to hang my head in shame! ;0)
Posted by: Sheena at February 12, 2006 03:43 AM

Oh, I used to cook two weeks at a time and I loved it! Not sure how I got out of the practice, but it is a wonderful, freeing thing, isn't it?

You've inspired me! (Uh, oh. You know what happened the last time I got inspired! hehehe)

http://hiraeth.blogspot.com/2006/02/inspiration-isnt-enough.html
Posted by: Kim in IL at February 12, 2006 08:04 AM

Great to hear your domestic forays! Life at our house has been good, feeding all our friends and keeping things homey. We have a great not-for-profit food coop that allows us to actually afford good food sometimes. HUGS! from another domestic intellectual.
Posted by: Rebecca at February 12, 2006 04:12 PM

Sheena, don't do that! Like I said, it was in bits and pieces--planning and marketing Friday, and the time actually working in the kitchen was about two hours spread over several hours. . . And I chose recipes that required minimal preparation even so. . .

Along with this, I ended up throwing out about 6 boxes of pasta, due to bug infestations. Thankfully, they were part of my stock up buy-one-get-one-free. But still, it was discouraging. I still haven't had the heart to check the bags of flour I stocked up on. Ugh. Florida bugs. I need to be more careful with how I package things for storage. . .
Posted by: TulipGirl at February 12, 2006 04:28 PM

Kim, I read about your desserts. Yuuuum! And the chocolate ganache for the hazelnut cake had my mouth watering.
Posted by: TulipGirl at February 12, 2006 04:29 PM

Rebecca!

Please, please tell me you are continuing blogging now that you are back in the States! Are you home w/ your folks or at school now? LMK! And. . . I'd love an update on how things are progressing for the future. . .
Posted by: TulipGirl at February 12, 2006 05:26 PM

im so impressed. its been a bad week for me cooking wise. i made bread, but weve had costco pizza twice in the past 10 days.
could you come here and whip that together, id pay you...youd have to bring fresh produce though...its out of season here.
:)
Posted by: meggan at February 13, 2006 09:00 PM

hey babe
you are very inspiring..
funny, i was just telling a friend that i am so *over* being in the kitchen since about june last year. it's quick'n'easy meal prep here...
the kiddos have just had toasted sandwiches with canned spaghetti/cheese or baked beans/cheese.. do you have that in USA? i guess you do.. and hubby is insisting on taking me out later for a divine authentic curry which is about ten mins drive away, for valentine's day...
woot woot
:o) k xx
Posted by: kate5kiwis at February 14, 2006 12:19 AM

Wow! I have to figure out how to do that!
Posted by: Amie at February 15, 2006 10:08 AM

My name is Kristie, and today I bought Chef Boy-R-Dee pizza in a box for the first time in 30 years.

I sold my DLX mixer and wheat grinder on Ebay several years ago.

But I still homeschool.
Posted by: kristie at February 15, 2006 04:14 PM

So where are the recipes? Did I miss them?
Posted by: Amanda at February 16, 2006 09:23 PM

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