HOW TO: Meal Plan

People always ask me how I plan meals for a whole week?!?  The two biggest questions I get are what if I decide I do not want Lasagna on Monday or Fish on Wednesday and so on and so forth.... and How do you plan on what to get for everything in just one trip?  My experience comes from being a poor college student having to pay ALL my bills entirely on my own, making a meal plan was the only way I could survive.  It was not fun at first but I got into the habit of planning to save money!  Now its about actually enjoying all the little details of cooking, the food itself and saving money!  I have answers below for both questions!!!

The Menu

Question 1

I plan 6 meals a week but decide the day of what to make for dinner.  I do 6 meals because this means we can go out to dinner one night if we choose AND we can have a smorgasbord of left overs one night if we decide against going out for dinner and or leftovers for lunch.  I promise you--we do not waste ANY food around here!!  We pick the meals the day of for what we want for dinner and freeze anything if it will not be consumed right away.  Also--you do not have to stick to your menu exactly, for example... This week I am making the turkey burgers that I never go to last week (they are safe in the freezer).

Question 2

I have this down to a science!  Below is the planning and preparation step by step to describe how meals are planned.  It may sound like a lot, but all in all--this saves me so much time. 

• Prior to actually writing out the meals, I go through the fridge and pantry and get rid of anything that is old and take note of what I need to use before it gets old.  I try to incorporate some things that need to be used up in the coming menu.  
• I write out the list of what I want to make (keeping in mind the things that need to be used before they spoil).  If I need inspiration, I look at old menu's, cookbooks, pinterest, instagram (I follow a lot of good foodies), etc.. anything for inspiration.  I actually write about 8-10 meal ideas down and then I ask Greg to pick the top 6.  
• I separate the list by category for easy navigation while grocery shopping, otherwise I run around the store for many hours going from side to side forgetting things from each section.  My categories are produce, pantry, dairy, and meat.  
• I then go meal by meal writing down each ingredient I need to make the meal.  After that I add in the things I always buy like, milk, bread, fruit.. any of the basics.  
• NEXT, I shop at our house first, crossing off anything that I already have on the list.  This ensures you keep everything fresh and you do not over buy things that do not have to long of a shelf life.
• Then I head to usually target for basics and wholefoods for produce and meat.  I walk around the store with my mini clip board and list and usually get a few laughs from the workers but they are always so excited to hear what I am making... I tell them if I didn't have this list I would be here 8x a week and if I didn't categorize it my 1 hour trip to the store would be a 6 hour trip! 

The List

That's pretty much it in a nutshell!  Hope this helps ...ENJOY 

Turkey Tacos

I am really excited that people are interested in trying my recipes mainly because I love food and I love to cook!  This is one of my favorite recipes so I am very happy to share!  I have a favorite rice and bean mixture that I pair these low fat turkey tacos with and I think it completes the meal (see below pic).  This is cheating because we live a low sodium diet (or at least try to) and this rice is high in sodium, but everything in moderation right? Also the rice is not made from scratch (which I prefer to do since I know what I am eating) but this is 2013 so sometimes you have to save yourself some time! 

Ingredients: *these are estimates since I do not measure.. but will work on getting more accurate

Seasoning Mix
1/3 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust for your spice level)
1 1/2 tablespoon of cumin 
1 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper 
1/4 teaspoon oregano (or Italian seasoning.. I switch it up)
1 1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar

Rice we like, VIGO! 

pinch of paprika 
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt

Turkey Meat
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons cilantro 
1/2-1 cup water

Toppings
whatever you like--see pic for ideas :)

Turkey Tacos! 

Directions:
First, I like to mix the entire list of seasonings together and then set aside, this allows me to be able to chop up the taco toppings when browning the turkey.  Meanwhile preheat oven for hard shell tacos (around 350 deg), we like hard shell the best for this type of meat.  In a large skillet on med heat start to brown and crumble ground turkey, about 10 min later (half way through) add in onion, green pepper and garlic--continue to cook for about 5 more min, if you feel as though the meat is sticking you can add a little olive oil to make it more smooth when mixing about 5 min after adding onion etc, add the cilantro and cook for 5 more min (about 20 min total).  Now you can start to slowly add your seasoning.  Keep the water and seasoning on hand and add about 1/4 of the seasoning with 1/4 cup of the water continuing to cook on med heat.  Add more stirring and letting the meat soak up the water with the seasoning every time you add more.  This is where personal taste comes into play, depending on how strong you want the meat seasoning to taste, after adding a little over half the seasoning, taste the meat and see if this is enough for--if not add more till you feel as though you have reached your desired taste.  We nearly use all the seasoning.  I like to cook it a litlte extra longer about 2 min more after adding our desired amount of seasoning to make sure all the water is soaked up and my fiance likes his meat extra extra well done! Don't forget to take your shells out before they burn, I leave them in about 8 min.   Top with your fav toppings and ENJOY! 

Enhanced: chicken pot pie

Perfected.. In my opinion!  I make my recipes based off of memory and no measuring, this translates into the recipe changing every time.  Here is the small twist on the Chicken Pot Pie recipe I already posted with estimated measuring amounts.  Hope you enjoy the changes..

~only 375 calories per serving~

INGREDIENTS:
1lb grilled pulled chicken breast (cook breast on grill or in pan, then pull apart)
1 bag frozen mixed veggies 
20 ounces of *low sodium chicken breast
10 ounce can of cream of celery 
1 baked potato cubed 
1/3 teaspoon of pepper (we like a lot)
1 teaspoon fresh oregeno
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 tube low-fat biscuits (you can make your own if you like, i do--will post recipe later) 

DIRECTIONS:
Grab all ingredients and preheat oven to 375.  On high heat in 4 quart saucepan whisk together chicken broth and cream of celery dissolving all lumps and bring to a low boil.  Add in diced potato, pulled chicken, frozen veggies (or fresh if you prefer using fresh), pepper, oregano and thyme.  Bring back up to a low boil.  Spoon mixture into large oven safe dish while mixture is still pipping hot.  Place bisuits on top of mixture with sides touching, you can stretch them out a little if needed.  Bake for about 15-20 min (according to the biscuits directions, until golden brown.  ENJOY!