What to cook!

Hi everyone,
     One of the first things that I do (most of the time) when I am making out that menu 30 days in advance is look at the calendar. I check to see when we will be home late, what nights we will be eating out and what nights we will really want to cook. Then I know how many  meals I need to really plan for and how many need to be crock pot and how many people to cook for.
    Then I sit down and make a list of the kinds of food we will eat at this time of year; what is in season, on sale, and weather appropriate. I try to make a huge list of about 40 meals. I put some family favorites on there, a couple of company meals, a few new recipes, and some that we haven't eaten in awhile. This is just a quick list; nothing big or hard to do. I will slide it into a page protector though and put it in my menu/recipe binder. That way I won't have to re-invent the wheel next time I make the menu.
     At this point get up and take a quick break, pat yourself on the back, get a drink of water and get ready for the next part. Sit down with another calendar and jot down a dinner for evey night of the month that you plan to cook, include side dishes so that you know you have it all planned. Sometimes I just write rice, beans, potatoes, pasta, bread, depending on what is needed for each meal. I do this part in pencil so that I can erase and switch things around so we don't eat chicken all week. I will high light the nights that we have to be somewhere early so that the dinner for that night is a simple or a ready to go dinner; my own version of heat and eat!
   At this point someone is asking; "How do I know if it is a good recipe for freezing"? Here is what I have learned from experience; tomato sauce base meals, marinated meats, things with cheese on them. The old stand bys of pizza, chicken strips, macaroni and cheese are also good for freezing. Egg dishes like quiche, and baked eggs also work well. These can be frozen right in the pie pan or casserole dish. Meatballs, hamburger meals also  work in the freezer. Potatoes if they are partially cooked can be frozen in planks, fries, and twice baked potatoes also work well. Dried beans like pinto's, black and northern beans along with all of their relations you can also cook and then freeze for meals later. These do quite well and save money if you compare the price of dried beans to canned beans. Things that don't always freeze well for me; cream based sauces (stroganoff type meals), carrots uncooked. Cakes, pies, cookies, waffles, pancakes,muffins all freeze extremely well. If you have any questions you can check on the internet to see what kinds of foods other people freeze, simply type in OAMC (once a month cooking), Freezer meals, or bulk cooking and find hundreds of recipes and meal ideas.
      The shopping list:   Pull out the recipes books, cards, online recipes, magazine recipes and write out your shopping list. List each ingredient once and then make hash marks beside if for amounts. On items like onions, milk; items with funny amounts, I will list out the measurement and then at the end figure out how many I need. Many cookbooks will tell you how many onions there are in 1 cup chopped and have these equivalences like these listed in a chart in the books somewhere or state it in the recipe. This shopping list is  also something that I would photo-copy for later use and put 1 with the menu and 1 to take with you when you shop.
     Ok, you now have the hardest part done. You have a shopping list that lists exactly how much of everything that you need. Before you waltz out the door there are two more steps to take that will save time and money later. Take the list and recopy it this time segregating all of the items into the aisles that they are found on; canned items together, Ethnic items, frozen, produce, meat, dairy etc....., This will save you time and keep you from running all over the store.  Then take your list and shop your pantry shelves and your freezer. Mark things off as you find them so that you are using what you have on hand and rotating stock. I also do this because sometimes I stock up when things are on sale. This will reduce the cost of your shopping trip considerably.
    Ok, no it is time to hit the store or stores. I have recently been shopping at three different stores in an effort to cut costs. I will shop at Aldi's, Dollar General, and then  lastly the big grocery store in our area. This also cuts down the huge grocery cart or carts that I am pushing around. When you get home unload everything to the counter tops that doesn't need refrigeration.Get prepared to cook tomorrow. If it is an item to be used later when you cook the meal for eating then mark it in some way so that it isn't used before you need it. These items you can put away. Well, that gets us to the cooking part which we will cover at another time. I hope that this is helping someone. You, of course will find your own way of doing this. Here are a few links that I have found helpful:
http://search.southernliving.com/sl-results.html?Ntt=Freezer+recipes
http://www.recipezaar.com/
http://www.once-a-month-cookingworld.com/
http://www.dinnersinthefreezer.com/
If you get really busy and can't or don't have time to think up all the recipes then check out this website:
http://www.savingdinner.com/
Thanks for reading and I will talk to you soon.
Karen
(We have some severe food allergies to things that are commonly found in pre-prepared foods or I would never have discovered this method of cooking. Sometimes blessings come in strange shapes!)


ps. It is prefectly ok to start with meals for the week and then work up to the cooking for a month and the huge shopping trip. The main point is that you are saving yourself time, energy and money by doing most of the prep in advance. I don't always do my cooking for a month, sometimes it is only for a couple of weeks. Whatever you do will be better than not doing anything. GO FOR IT!!