Week 1 - Planning

Planning my meals has been life changing. Okay, that may make it sound like I'm living a very sad, empty life, but meal planning has saved me time and money. It has also encouraged me to be more adventurous as a cook and helped to curb the waste going on inside my crisper, ironically named since up until about a year ago most of the things in that "crisper" would end up mushy at best, but more often black and liquidy like something on a steel table on NCIS.

My meal planning routine:

1 - Choose a day to plan and a day to shop. I do my planning on Saturday afternoons after I have gone to the Farmer's Market and bought whatever looks good. That way I know what I have. Then I go grocery shopping on Sunday morning when everyone else is in church. My mother has Friday afternoons off from work, so that's when she shops. Whatever works for you. But I really suggest that you do the bulk of your shopping in one trip. I'll run out and grab milk or coffee in the middle of the week. Sometimes I'll know that a certain veggie will not hold out until Sunday in my "crisper" so I'll make a second trip later in the week. But the truth of it is, the fewer times you enter a store, the less money you will spend.

2 - Take a look at what you have. Is there frozen chicken in the ice box? Do you have eighteen cans of black beans in the pantry. Make a note so that you can incorporate those items into your meal plan.

3 - Pick some new recipes. You may have a well-stocked repertoire of dishes, but if you are like me you probably have a food magazine languishing on the coffee table or a cookbook on the shelf that you feel guilty for never cracking. Here's your chance to get a little adventurous. Choose at least one new recipe each week.

4 - Fill on your menu planner. I find it helpful to have a form to fill in, so I've included it below. I do it in pencil, but if you function better on the computer, by all means, it's in Excel, so have at it. Change the color, use a wacky font, knock yourself out. Food is supposed to be fun.

52 Small Bites Weekly Meal Planner

Some things to consider:

- Before filling in the meals, take a look at your day calendar. Are you going out for dinner one night? Do you have a lunch meeting at work one day? If so, write those events on your meal planner, that way you know you don't have to plan for them.

- Can you eat the leftovers for lunch the next day? If you live alone or with one other person this can greatly reduce waste in the kitchen.

- Are there any holidays, birthdays or bakesales? Make a note right on the meal planner of any time when you might want to bake a cake, whip up a cocktail or, you know, an enormous roast turkey, plum pudding, or corned beef and cabbage.

5 - Make a shopping list. I suggest getting in the habit of making a shopping list by supermarket aisle. It helps save time and look! I've included one of those for you too.

52 Bites Shopping List by Aisle

6 - Post the planner on the fridge. That way, when you stumble out into the kitchen in the morning you can see what you planned on eating that morning as you reach into the freezer for your microwaveable sausage wrapped in a pancake on a stick.