Meal Planning

Once upon a time I created a menu for each month; it was wildly helpful for saving time because instead of wandering aimlessly around the grocery store trying to figure out what to cook for dinner I would shop specifically for what we needed and then I would obviously have whatever ingredients I needed on hand when it came time to cook. (Wow, longest sentence ever.) Since I planned the meals for the month at the beginning of each month it was not, however, helpful for saving money since I wasn't planning around the weekly grocery store ad. I am trying to get back into the meal planning and planning around the store ad isn't changing. I would love to be able to do that but I'm more of a long range planner so a month verses a week of meals is more my speed.

In planning the menu for July I decided that I'm going to try to utilize my crock pot a little more. Because, hello, walking in the door after work and knowing that dinner is already made...awesome! And bonus, the house smells great too. Even more awesome is when my mother-in-law is in town and whips up something amazing based on the contents of my fridge and pantry alone - a feat I can never pull off. How she does it, I'm not quite sure.

Oh right, back to the crock pot. This month I am going to try some new crock recipes, I've only had one meal made in the CP turn out to be inedible (James actually ate it while I opted for a sandwich), so hopefully the new dishes won't be flops.

The next new CP recipe will be chicken adobo, I don't think either of us have ever had chicken adobo before so even if it doesn't turn out exactly like it should, well, we won't know. I'll try to remember to post a review of the recipe, we'll see if it actually happens.

I know this is riveting information, anyone still awake? As your reward for reading this mindless drivel, cuteness!

From Jul 9, 2011