4/11/2024 0 Comments Google sheets meal plan ingredientEven that rough structure can be useful when you’re thinking about what to cook. Think Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Italian Wednesday, etc. One of my favorites is to assign a theme to each night. Of course, there are many other meal planning methods. Check to see what you already have and cross those off the list. Once you have your meal plan for the week, write down all of the ingredients you need for the recipes. It could be a Google sheet like me, a Note on your phone, or a dedicated meal planning notebook. Just write down what you’re going to cook each night. It sounds like a complicated calculus, but it only takes a few minutes. How do I decide what to cook from my admittedly voluminous recipe collection? I think about what’s in season, what I already have in my fridge and freezer, what my family likes to eat, how much time I’ll have to cook each night, and, really, which recipes look so delicious I can’t resist them. I’m also usually into one or two cookbooks (right now Six Seasons and the dinners from Baby-Led Feeding are in heavy rotation) at any given moment, so I’ll keep them close at hand when I’m figuring out the next week’s meals. You can import recipes from virtually any website, and the app syncs between my laptop and my phone. I keep track of all the recipes I like or want to try on a recipe app called Paprika. Or perhaps you have a physical file of printouts and recipes ripped from magazines. Or maybe it’s a recipe board or two of meals you enjoy or want to try on Pinterest. This might be as simple as a list tacked up on the fridge of meals that the whole family likes. You’ll see on the sheet that I try to work in a night of leftovers, and “green salad” is a staple since it’s pretty much the easiest way to serve vegetables!īut, as I was thinking about this post, I realized there’s more to meal planning than just writing down what you’ll eat each night. Instead, I start on Saturday, since that’s when I get groceries delivered and when I usually go to the Greenmarket. We go out to eat every Friday night, so I don’t need to plan for that. Visual example for your viewing pleasure: On the same sheet, there are three columns where I make grocery lists: one for Fresh Direct (a food delivery service), one for the grocery store, and one for the Greenmarket. When I’m meal-planning the week before, usually Wednesday or Thursday, I type in what I plan to make each night for dinner, or if I’ll be out for a work event, or we’ll be going out as a family. I used to just write this plan down on a piece of paper, but over the past few years I’ve developed a very basic system: I keep a Google Sheet open in my laptop browser called (in a stunning burst of originality) Food This Week. The best way for me to achieve my goal of at least five home-cooked dinners a week is to make a general meal plan the week before. But, even that is no guarantee that I will resist the siren song of Seamless. That plan may come together on the commute home as I mentally take stock of the food in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. But, I have learned that if I don’t have at least a vague plan in place–beyond just a random assortment of vegetables in the fridge–the odds of me coming home from work and actually cooking dinner are pretty darn slim. It sounds so relaxed and romantic, doesn’t it? And some weeks, especially in the summer, I’m more likely to wing it. I’ve always loved the idea of letting what’s available at the farmer’s market dictate what I cook. If you’re looking for a method to try, here’s my strategy for meal planning in about 15 minutes a week. The only right way to meal plan is the way that works for you.
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