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Meal
Planning Made Easy
Author: Rachel Paxton
It's no fun trying
to decide what to make for dinner every night. Planning your meals
ahead of time often saves you time as well as money.
There are many different ways to plan your meals. How you plan yours
depends on how much time you want to spend now to save yourself time
later.
I plan my meals once a week. Because I have limited refrigerator/freezer
space and a small family to feed (3), this plan seems to work best
for me. I only go to the grocery store once a week. When I'm getting
ready to go to the store, I sit down and starting planning my menu
for the next week.
This is a good time to go through this week's grocery ads to see what's
on sale this week. I also take this time to clean out my refrigerator
to see what needs thrown away and what can be re-used as leftovers
in the next couple of days. Cleaning out your refrigerator weekly
is crucial in avoiding wasting food that could still be used to make
a perfectly good meal.
So after I've cleaned out the refrigerator and scanned the grocery
store ads, I start my shopping list. I try to plan around what I already
have in the freezer. For example, if I know I have a pound of hamburger
in the freezer and I know I have spaghetti noodles on hand, then I
just need to put spaghetti sauce on my list in order to have spaghetti
for dinner one night.
I've also found that often we don't need as much meat in our meals
as you might think. For our family of three, a pound of hamburger
can be used for both spaghetti and tacos. If I cook the hamburger
all at once, I can just put half of it in the refrigerator for the
next meal (a big time savings!). If I already have taco shells on
hand all I need is to make sure that the sour cream I have in the
refrigerator is still good and put lettuce and tomatoes on my shopping
list.
You should always stock up on meat when it's on sale. If you do you'll
find that some weeks you'll end up buying almost no meat at all, if
any. I also stock up on items like jars of spaghetti sauce when they're
on sale. Then I'll always have a quick dinner ready on a moment's
notice if I already have hamburger (also bought on sale) and spaghetti
noodles on hand.
Some weeks I realize that I already have much of what I'm going to
need for the week. Some of the staples I keep on hand: sour cream,
cheese, taco shells, spaghetti noodles, egg noodles, cream of mushroom
soup, onions, potatoes, garlic, tuna, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce,
black olives, canned clams, and rice. These ingredients make a lot
of the meals we eat, like: hamburger and rice, beef stroganoff, tacos,
spaghetti, clam chowder, and hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes.
I usually plan for only 5 meals a week. I know that sometime during
the week we'll be eating leftovers or fending for ourselves due to
time constraints.
This system has worked really well for me and saved us lots of money.
I plan once a week, shop once a week, and don't give a thought to
meal planning for the rest of the week. And I don't hold myself to
cooking a certain meal on a certain night. I usually decide that day
what I'm going to cook for dinner to be a little flexible.
There are many other ways you can plan your meals. Some people cook
once a month and freeze their meals for later use (requires a lot
of freezer space). A couple of books on this subject are Frozen Assets
by Deborah Taylor Hough and The Freezer Cooking Manual by Tara Wohlenhaus.
Meal planning doesn't have to be hard. Modify your plan to suit your
family's needs. Just make sure you HAVE a plan. It will inevitably
save you time as well as money.
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Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who publishes the Creative
Homemaking Recipe of the Week Club, a weekly newsletter that contains
quick, easy dinner ideas and money-saving household hints.
To subscribe send a blank e-mail message to FreeRecipes-subscribe@egroups.com.
Visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com
and in the Home and Garden section of Suite 101 -http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/creative_homemaking
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Ten
Ways for the whole Family to enjoy Winter on a Budget!
This article provided courtesy of:www.pondmarket.com
The days are shorter and it takes layers of clothing to be comfortable
when going outside! There are compensations for winter's shortcomings,
though:
1) Provide plenty of food for birds in your garden (or just outside
your window) and they will provide hours of entertainment.
2) Fresh water will attract birds and other wild life to add life
to the garden.
3) Remember your childhood and help your children build a snowman
or make "Angels" in the snow!
4) Check with the local Parks Department for guided night time walks
through your local parks to see nocturnal animals.
5) Start a weekly "Fun and Games" night with family and friends.
Re-discover the fun of playing board or card games.
6) Institute a family "Reading Contest". The family member who finishes
the most books in a given time period gets a reward (this can be
as simple as a favorite cake).
7) Expand your cultural knowledge: Visit a museum, see a play or
go to a concert. This is the season for wonderful exhibits and performances!
8) Use the long winter evening to teach yourself a new skill or
work on a long overdue project. Enlist the family to make it more
fun (and make sure that it stays fun - don't be over critical, especially
with children)
9) Plan an evening with friends you have not seen in a while. Invite
them over for a pot-luck dinner, or a Sunday morning "pot-luck breakfast".
10) Fill all kinds of unused containers with bulbs and force them
into bloom to brighten the house while waiting for things to sprout
outside next spring!
At last, brain-storm with your family for other fun and low cost
ways to make winter fun!
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This article provided courtesy of:
http://www.pondmarket.com
the site for Pond and Water Garden Information! Sign-up for
our fun and fact filled water garden newsletter
at: http://www.pondmarket.com/sign-up.htm
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