Friday, February 08, 2013

Meal Planning

How do you save time on meals? I have been all over the place on time saving for meals and never seem to get it down right.

A couple of weeks before I gave birth to Sarah, a friend came over and helped me cook a month's worth of meals in one day. She had gotten the book, Once a Month Cooking, and I bought all of the groceries. Between the two of us we had four small children, and it turned out to be a full day of fun. It was great to have so many meals to pull out whenever I needed them. Ray didn't love all of the meals, but the concept was so helpful.

I started working harder to cook dishes ahead of time to put in the freezer. I often cook double the meat so that I don't have do that, but if I don't pull it aside before it goes on the table, it will get eaten before I can get it in the freezer to save for another meal. Last week I cooked a pound of bacon for supper early in the day and I was left with only three pieces to use for the recipe at supper.

This week, I got a good deal on meat at Sam's so I cooked up two pounds of sausage, eight pounds of ground beef and about five pounds of chicken. I planned a bunch of meals and divided the meat into the meal sized portions. If I stay on my normal schedule and plan the meals for the day early in the morning I can get the food out of the freezer and have it on the table without too much trouble. (Our microwave is broken, so I can't defrost meat quickly anymore.)

Here I go, planning again. It seems like so much of my life runs better if I plan ahead. I need to keep planning and reminding myself Proverbs 16:9.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.

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