What is a meal plan?
Everyone talks about meal plans these days. To me, getting a box of ingredients with the recipes isn’t really a plan, A plan should help you with timing and execution!
My sweet husband is my test kitchen chef! I pay attention to what he does, especially if he has multiple dishes. He is very good about getting all of the ingredients out before he starts.
He is not so good with timing!
For example, he might have everything nearly completed only to find that he still has something that requires 30 minutes to cook. It adds additional time to the meal preparation. In the mean time, the food he already prepared is getting cold. Reheating could over cook the food.
Meal Plan or task list?
So, I started writing meal plans for Harry!
My plans put the tasks in order by longest time to shortest time. That way the most time consuming things can be out of the way while the rest of the meal is being prepared.
My first example of a meal plan was for a bento box meal. I gifted this plan to my daughter and her family.
The plan includes links to the actual recipes plus several non WFPB choices for entrée, appetizers and salad. They had to read it on SnapPea Sheep for instructions.
Yes, my family is not completely WFPB although they do have meatless meals frequently.
This meal plan was successful because the whole family got involved to create the bento boxes.
They had fun, learned how to make sushi and shell crab for the first time. They also made the Miso soup and Crab Rangoon appetizer. Everything turned out great and they loved it!
What I don’t include in this plan is the inventory or shopping list.
That was my Christmas present to them; The boxes, bowls, sushi mats, chop sticks, all of the condiments, produce, sea food and cold ingredients. I had to assume they didn’t have any of the ingredients in their kitchen for a Japanese meal.
I left them a legacy! My grandsons will never forget learning how to make their favorite California rolls with real crab!
The bento boxes are versatile enough that the boys can use them for their lunches. My son-in-law told me they are great for game night snacks while sitting on the sofa!
AnyList, the App, to the rescue!
There is an App I use called Anylist. Click on Anylist and it will take you to my blog about it. It is an extremely useful tool where you can import a recipe, add it to your calendar then add the necessary ingredients to your shopping list.
This tool has become part of our life. My husband and I share the App. I love that he can be at the grocery store and I can add something else to pick up while he is shopping.
Look for more meal plans coming soon!
Search for meal plan in the search box. Meal plan will always be in the title and you will find them under recipes.
Happy meal planning.
