How Meal Planning Has Made Me a Better Cook

- October 11, 2017

When I was in college, I was lucky enough to live with the best cook I know, my best friend Christina. I would walk home from class, crossing my fingers that she was home, because if she was, the most magical thing would happen. While I would look around the kitchen and see nothing to eat, Christina would open the fridge and say things like, I think I am going to make a quiche, would you like some? The answer, of course, was always, "yes, please."

She has an intuitive sense for flavors I've always admired, and I finally smartened up enough a few years ago to start asking questions. After watching her cook, and getting her to tell me some of her secrets, I slowly started experimenting. This is a fritatta I made last year, and that comment is from Christina - which is high praise!

I knew that part of what I was lacking was an understanding spices and how they work together. I started testing recipes with random spices I had to see how they tasted. I looked for recipes that used spices I didn't know the flavor profile of, and slowly I learned by doing.

I like cooking for myself because I eat whatever I want, when I feel like it, and I have control over what I'm eating. While this is good when it comes what you are putting into your body, I really am motivated by how it tastes. I only have myself to cook for most days, and eating out or picking something up quick-like really reduces the variety of choices. It's better on my wallet, and more satisfying to cook for myself. My favorite, recent, discovery is homemade taco seasoning. So good!

The other thing I've learned lately is that meal planning takes a lot of pressure off, saves a lot of time, and is more budget friendly. I try to choose a few things I know I can eat more than once and recipes that use overlapping ingredients. I don't have to buy quite twice as much, but I can divide the ingredients between recipes and come out ahead. I work at home during the week, so I always cook extra and eat left over for lunches through the week.

I always take recipes with a grain of salt - I substitute for things I like, or things I already have. Ask my sister about the time I made white chicken chili. It was freakin' delicious, but ended up with no chicken in it, and it was really more of a casserole than a soup.

My system is super simple, and old-school. I post a menu planner on my front door, which faces my kitchen, and I write in my plan for the week and then a list of what I need on the other side. Whenever I run out of a pantry item, I add it to the list too, which is easy since it hangs in the kitchen. When I go shopping, I either take the page with me, or I take a picture of it, and then I don't have to try to remember exactly what I need - which is how I used to do it.

I'm still no Christina, but I'm having fun.
Down below you will find a link for a Getting Started to Meal Planning page.

Click HERE to download your free copy.

It walks through a week of recipes and shows how they interconnect for a week of cooking. There are brief instructions, but not recipes. It also has a grocery list. You can just check off the items you need to make the recipes your way, then off to the store. Week 1 done. Each recipe can be made in the amount you need based on your family size. Don't forget to factor in lunches if you are a left over person (like I am).
Not everyone likes to wing cooking the way I do though, so below are the links to the recipes on my Dinner Menu Planning Guide. The first is for the alfredo sauce that I also linked in the pdf file. If you've never made alfredo before, it's harder to wing. Remember. you can always used a jarred sauce too, it's just not as good as homemade.