Planning for the Week
I’ve been asked about how I plan for the week. One thing we do in our family is all our shopping and most of the cooking on Sunday. It happens to be the day we’ve chose and it’s a bit less hectic in the morning than on a Saturday. I came across a good article that summarizes the whole process but I thought it helpful to write out my method as well (which is quite similar):
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1485
I have a fridge weekly calendar with four columns (from the $1 Store): days of the week, lunch, dinner, notes. I work systematically through the week, starting with my work calendar so I know if I have any working-lunches or get togethers and then evening commitments. Then, I check with my hubby to see if he has any other known events or food preferences for the week. For example, this week he’s having pasta every night because he needs to gain some weight and I’m having fish with steamed broccoli for the first two days, and smoked salmon with a beet salad for the remainder of the week.
Steve has baked chicken over a mixed rice packet and a deli sandwich for lunch on 4 days/wk and a sub on Friday after the gym. He packs and apple and granola bar, homemade oatmeal muffin and glass of milk as snacks. It’s very predictable so the only choice factor is the rice flavour.
For myself, the stressful part can be finding the meals and snacks. I aim for a fresh fruit (a mixture throughout the week), 2 light laughing cow cheese wedges and ½oz of almonds for the morning, and a rotating variety in the afternoons (greek yogurt with jam and Ezekiel cereal; greek-yogurt hummus with lentil chips; ) and I pack a Kashi granola bar for emergency incase I am hungry at the end of the work day (because there is nothing worse than coming home hungry and opening the fridge or pantry).
Lunch varies from salads to reheated servings from a casserole. This week I’m having chicken pot pie and a side of cucumber/tomato salad. The week before last, it was black bean/corn salsa with cooked chicken. Dinners are completely varied but the main consideration is the serving size and activities during the week so nothing goes to waste.
We keep a running list of household things we need (TP, shampoo, etc) and then we do a once-over on Sunday morning for the basics (eggs, # milk bags, oatmeal) and snack items (yogurt, granola bars, # fruits). Then I write out the recipe book/page # and all the ingredients I’ll need to get. That way when I get home I know what goes with what. My favourite cookbooks right now are: Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes & Food Revolution, Meg Galvin’s Sparkpeople Cookbook, and Anne Lyndsey’s The Ultimate Low-fat Mexican Cookbook. I am also a regular user of Sparkpeople Recipes (online).
When we get home, the routine is simple. #1 Wash our hands. #2 put away dairy and meats. #3 wash all fruit & veg, dry and put away. #4 put away non-perishables. #5 set aside any reusable bags that need to get washed and fold the rest for storage (we use a large back to store the others). #6 happy cooking!
