Does your peace wane about the time you need to start cooking and you haven’t decided what to make yet??? Mine does! It’s too late to get anything out of the freezer so I check the frig for leftovers. None today. Next I check the closet and see what’s there that I could throw together. I’d rather go take a nap than have meal malaise!
I find myself eating the same things and remind myself that I need to do more planning ahead of time. Ah! A menu! Years ago my spouse insisted on sitting down on Sunday and planning a menu for the week so when we went to the store on Monday we could get what we needed. That’s a great idea but not my idea of the best thing to do on a Sunday afternoon or evening when all I wanted to do was rest up for the busy week ahead. It does have its merits, though, because getting frozen items out the night before and knowing what you are going to make the next day saves time and stress.
Now that I’m alone I find myself deciding from day to day what I want to have tomorrow—most of the time. It’s so easy to put off the decision until later or allow distractions to take over…but I’m getting better at it. My activities and appointments for the week as well as projects I’m involved in may change what I had thought I’d make, but at least I’m planning ahead. Besides I’m only a couple of blocks away from a grocery store!
We all have our favorite dishes or recipes but do you find yourself eating chicken five different ways in a week? Or the all-time ground beef 50 different ways? Even when I go to my freezer, I discover that if I want a home-cooked meal to pull out and warm up, I only have chicken one time or steak another time. It all depends on what I’ve made recently and how many meals of it I had left.
I like to fill my crockpot and cook once for multiple meals rather than just making one serving. That usually yields enough for a meal that night, maybe two meals in the frig for later in the week, and maybe a couple meals packed away in the freezer for some day when I’m really busy or don’t feel like cooking.
For the last few days I was contemplating how I could more variety into my meal ideas (I am a list maker, but due to past experience with menus, I don’t like to be so specific as to pin myself down to a specific meal on a specific day.). I came up with food adjectives for each day of the week and a category so that if I use my own idea, I will have more variety of meats and dishes.
- Sumptuous Sunday (roast, potatoes, & veggies)
- Melted Monday (cheese, ground beef, sandwiches)
- Tasty Tuesday (grilled pork chops or steak)
- Warm Wednesday (leftovers, breakfast meal)
- Themed Thursday (Italian, chicken, crockpot)
- Fresh Friday (seafood, salads, fruits)
- Saucy Saturday (spaghetti, alfredo, ravioli, stew)
If that doesn’t work for you, switch the categories and descriptions to a different day of the week or come up with your own plan. Sometimes our plans are good and sometimes we need a little input from others to get us thinking—sometimes out of the box! If you keep planning, you will eventually be more productive and maybe even creative…which brings success.
“Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.”
Proverbs 15:22
The Bible even mentions some foods that are good to put into our diet such as olive oil, grapes, flax seeds, sprouted grain bread, goat milk, herbs, raw honey, and vegetables—just to name a few. Incorporate a little Bible study with your meal planning and see what new menu might present itself and then use it as a springboard for conversation at the dinner table. Though you might not want to tell your kids you used goat milk to make their favorite pudding (at least until they’ve eaten it)!
Part of my meal malaise problem is not having the ingredients I might need for a specific recipe. That’s where a certain amount of planning ahead comes in. Before I go to the store I usually take a few minutes and think what I haven’t had for awhile or what recipe I’d like to try out. Then I add those ingredients to my shopping list. However, for the most part I keep my pantry stocked with basics such as spices, soups, and vegetables. When I get low on any item, I immediately add it to my list for the next shopping trip.
To make it easy for myself, I created a spreadsheet on my phone with every item I ever buy in the store. The list is separated by categories such as dairy, meat, produce, etc. (I also include other items such as batteries, water filters, and other household items.) I alphabetize the items, and there is a column to the left of the items where I can place an “X” when I need to replenish that item. Then I went on to organize the categories in shopping order according to my favorite store’s layout. I told you I’m a list person! 😊 But that way I’m never out of an item. Well, almost never! Just last week I went for a cup of rice and had just a cup left. Normally I would have already purchased another package, but must have gotten interrupted before it made its way to my shopping list.
Well, enough about food—for today anyway! I hope you enjoyed this little side trip from peace and yet it’s not a side trip because food is not only a “comfort” food, but also a necessity to our physical bodies if we want all the parts of our bodies to be at peace with one another. Speaking of bodies, drink lots of water and though sun rays are important to our health, seek more shade in these extreme high temperatures we’ve been having everywhere.