Mechanisc of meal planning - recipe/kitchen organization

[Ellien C]

I need some tips and lots of help. I'm pretty much a disater in the kitchen. I definitely don't have great cooking skills and apparently my organizational skills are not much better.

I would like to meal plan - but here are some challenges:

Where do YOU store recipes? The computers aren't in the kitchen so I'm working from paper. I have too many recipes and not enough organization for them. They are all printed in like a 3 inch thick binder in plastic sleeves. They have dividers, but ultimately are hard to find. I seach All Recipes and print them out again - then they get piled in my house and lost before they can be used. Do you post your recipes for the week somewhere?

I feel like I NEED recipes because I'm not a good cook. I really truly don't know how to make things and I have no idea how to adjust spices if the recipe doesn't tell me too. That thing about - "what sounds good..." I don't have that for cooking (I can sew and knit without patterns....).

We have a CSA box coming and I need to use the stuff and eat seasonally. Right now bok choy is piling up.

I have a monthly planner template and I've been hand writing the meals on it. That hangs on the fridge, but it doesn't include the recipes themselves. I need something that integrates the recipe, shopping list for DH and the plan itself. If it's not posted I forget what I had planned.

I feel like I need an I-pad to solve this problem but that's just me wanting to spend a lot of money. Surely there is another solution to this.

Would recipe cards be better? Right now everything is in 8x11 in sheets with page protectors.

I work full-time with an 8 yo and a baby if that makes a difference. I like to use the crockpot at least once a week.

I'm really only planning dinners.

Help.

[Alyantavid]

I have a big list of dinners we like split up by what it is: beef, chicken, pork, everything else.

That sits in a folder with new recipes I want to try.  I have a few books that I use rarely and a recipe box.  All these sit on a shelf in the kitchen.  The recipe box has recipes that are ones we all like.  If they don't pass when I try them the first time, they get tossed, otherwise they go on a recipe card in the box.

I print out a blank calendar page for every month from here. I start penciling things in that sound good or that someone has requested or a meal that uses up something I may have alot of.  A post-it is attached to the calendar page so people can write things on it as we run out of something and I can look at the meal plan and see for sure what exactly we need to go on the shopping list. 

I really don't use recipes alot so I can't help you there.  When I finalize the meal plan, I go through my list of dinners, the folder of new recipes and through the recipe box.  The ones I do need to look at, I'll pull out and just leave on top of all the recipe stuff on my shelf so it's handy but doesn't have to be out somewhere.

I woh as well so I save bigger meals for weekends and try to incorporate the leftovers somehow during the week.  Fridays I made pizza night so I don't have to really cook.

You might check the meal planning forum too for ideas.  Good luck!

[BetsyS]

I like old-school cookbooks, so I'm not sure if this will help you.

I do keep a monthly menu printed out, but it's mostly for ideas.  "Oh, that sounds good, I want to eat that this month; I'll write it down."  For practical purposes, I plan out one week at a time.  I use this form (without the shopping list).  http://organizedhome.com/sites/default/files/printable/notebook_food_menu_planner_weekly_list.pdf 

In summer, and especially with a CSA, I find the weekly plan much easier.  You can change things quickly to account for whatever produce is coming in (we and my mom have a garden that produces these big dumps of a certain vegetable). 

When I plan, I just write the cookbook and page on the menu.  Then, it's easy for me to look it up.  If it's an internet recipe, I'll write the blog or whatever on there.  If I was you, then maybe you could paper clip all your printed recipes to the menu for the week.  Or write the ingredients on the back of the paper?  Whatever would work for you. 

[onlyzombiecat]

On my refrigerator front I post the meal plan (7-14 dinners) and some of the recipes I will use. I check things off the list as I make them.

I don't use cookbooks very often but do have a good number of hand written or printed recipe pages. I store my recipes in an accordion style file folder. Each section has a category. I also store previous menus in here. I store this file folder on top of my refrigerator.

We shop once a week or every 2 weeks so the shopping list is made when I make the menu. I look at the recipes when I write the meal plan but I don't really need them displayed until I make them.

Today I actually am making my meal plan and grocery list. I have 2 pieces of paper in front of me. I have jotted down some basic items on the grocery list that I know we are out of before I start looking for recipes. The meal plan page this time has 7 slots to fill. At least 1 slot each week will be leftovers. I will make the grocery list as I plan the meals or immediately after.