How Organized are you when it comes to grocery shopping & meal planning?
Sometimes I am and sometimes i am not!!!
When my children were living at home I used to think that I should plan my meals for the week so that I could be organized & get all the groceries I needed ahead of time. I tried it for awhile & the problem I had was that if for example Tuesday I was suppose to make Velvetta Mac & Cheese (which I love!)… No one wanted to eat this so I would make something else. Don’t get me wrong with that example! I didn't always ask what they wanted to eat but it was just an example of how my meals changed from a plan! The only times I do make a meal plan now is if we are hosting big family dinners for a couple nights in a row & I have to know what to cook! Some of my friends were & are still very organized & I admire that! How ever someone wants to organize their homes is right! No right or wrong here! Everyone is different & certain things work for some & not for others!
What do you do? Plan your meals & grocery shop accordingly? When I grocery shop I buy staples that I always use & then I see what looks good which will give me ideas on what to make.
I always like to have some basics in the pantry like: canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, canned mushrooms, cans of chickpeas, beans, corn, tuna, coconut milk, marinara sauce, pizza sauce, different types of pasta, rice, quinoa, barley, lentils, we love canned Campbells mushroom & tomato soup so I always have that! I also have flour, sugar & baking powder, baking soda, salt, the spices I use, brown sugar & chocolate chips (one never knows when there will be a need for Chocolate Chip Cookies). Eggs are always in the fridge. I also have frozen veg, French fries & fruit on hand. I am sure I am missing some other staples! Are there groceries that you always keep on hand? So when you don’t know what to make for dinner you can go to the pantry, look around & cook something delish for dinner?
I have changed the way I keep my grocery list. When I run out of something I used to write the item down on paper but now I use my phone to keep organized. I do remember what I need most of the time but it is aways smart for me to write it down as I can forget! There are so many grocery apps but I use an app on my iPhone called Clear. I can put down many different lists all on one page in different tabs. I can see everything I need to do.. groceries to buy, gifts to buy, food to bake, people to call, etc. I love this app and have been using it for years
I also wanted to be organized on my blog, marilyndishes.com Posting recipes in an orderly fashion by category. For example, every week something from all the different categories I have on the blog. But, if you follow the blog you know I don’t do that! I blog what I cook and sometimes I post recipes that have been on the blog for awhile & need a re-visit!
WHATS ON THE BLOG THIS WEEK
This week I have posted some recipes that you can combine for a whole meal! Vegetarian Onion Soup, Korean BBQ Fried Chicken & Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares for dessert!! Add some roasted vegetables & rice.
The recipe for Vegetarian Onion Soup is from Martha Stewart. She adds mushrooms & so did I but feel free to leave them out if you do not like mushrooms! The taste is so delicious that if you have had traditional onion soup with beef stock you will love this one too.
The Korean BBQ Fried Chicken is delicious. I quickly pan fry the chicken then finish it in the oven. The sauce is brushed on the chicken when it is hot from the oven. The sauce is great on any chicken so if you don’t want to fry it at all, just bake the chicken & then brush the sauce on. Great for BBQ chicken as well. The recipe is adapted from NYT Cooking.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. Creamy with a delicate pumpkin flavour that even if someone does not like pumpkin I bet they might like these! The recipe is from the Canadian Living website. I find that their recipes are always reliable.
Check out all of my recipes on marilyndishes.com There are over 600 recipes. You can search by the name of what you are looking for or in the index or categories at the top of the page
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to share with friends. I appreciate the support!!
Enjoying your new format😊
I was also more organized when the kids were small. With driving them to Hebrew school and after school sports and all the homework they needed to do, I had to be. They still remember that on Tuesday we ate fish. Like the new format- but have not been able to access the Vegetarian Onion Soup recipe.