How do you plan your meals? Organize your recipes? Help me get organized, pls!

[artvandalay]

I need to get my meal planning organized. Right now, I'm all over the place. I have many recipies that I've collected over the years on index cards in a box. The recipe box has plenty of dividers for different types of meals/desserts, etc. Some of the cards have been given to me from family members (some of who have been deceased), so I like to hang onto them and enjoy looking at them.

Another place I've stored recipies is in a bookmarked folder on my computer. When I see an online recipe I think I'd like, I just save it in there. I have plenty of recipies in there, but because they are in one giant folder, I sometimes have trouble finding the recipe I am looking for.

I also have many recipes stored in my 'documents" file in my computer. These are from recipes that were emailed to me by friends, family, etc.

I have a decent cookbook collection, but I never *ever* use them :bag I don't know why. I had all the intentions of using them when I bought them, but now they just sit on a shelf in my kitchen collecting dust.

Also how do you plan your dinner meals? Is there an app, program or site that helps you out with this?

I used to sit down Sunday nights and make a meal plan for the week, but I fell out of the habit.

[MommyAllison]

I have a few 3 ring binders full of recipes, all inside clear page protectors. I consolidated the index card recipes from my recipe box into the binders recently, as I found that I never thought to look in the recipe box. Binders are organized w/dividers - 1 binder is desserts (subdivided into categories), 1 is main dishes/breakfast/slow cooker, and the last is everything else - side dishes, soups, breads, etc. I rarely use cookbooks for recipes though, other than The Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I pull out Betty Crocker more for how long to steam x vegetable, or to look up the cream:sugar ratio for whipped cream - more as a cooking reference book.

For planning, we get a Bountiful Basket each Saturday morning, so sometime over the weekend I sit down w/recipe binders & grocery ads and make a meal plan. Keeping in mind what produce we got in the basket, and what meats are on sale that week, or in the freezer, I go through the binder and pick 5 meals. Friday is pizza & movie night, and Sundays we go to the in-laws for dinner. I make a grocery list at the same time, and shop on Mondays.

When I find recipes online that I want to try, I drop the link onto my desktop. Sometimes I print right away, but usually I try the recipe once before printing.

[artvandalay]

I have a few 3 ring binders full of recipes, all inside clear page protectors. I consolidated the index card recipes from my recipe box into the binders recently, as I found that I never thought to look in the recipe box. Binders are organized w/dividers - 1 binder is desserts (subdivided into categories), 1 is main dishes/breakfast/slow cooker, and the last is everything else - side dishes, soups, breads, etc. I rarely use cookbooks for recipes though, other than The Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I pull out Betty Crocker more for how long to steam x vegetable, or to look up the cream:sugar ratio for whipped cream - more as a cooking reference book.

For planning, we get a Bountiful Basket each Saturday morning, so sometime over the weekend I sit down w/recipe binders & grocery ads and make a meal plan. Keeping in mind what produce we got in the basket, and what meats are on sale that week, or in the freezer, I go through the binder and pick 5 meals. Friday is pizza & movie night, and Sundays we go to the in-laws for dinner. I make a grocery list at the same time, and shop on Mondays.

When I find recipes online that I want to try, I drop the link onto my desktop. Sometimes I print right away, but usually I try the recipe once before printing.


I like the binder idea. When you said you consolidated your index cards into the binder - you mean you found index card holders that go into a binder? That's a great idea. I didn't know they made something like that. Being able to see a bunch of cards all at once would make it easier than trying to find a recipe in a box, I think. Thanks for the idea.

What is Bountiful Basket?

[Liziz]

I have two recipe files -- one online, and one in a Word document. I bookmark a ton of recipes I find online and want to try. I've created subfolders in my bookmark menu, so it's easy to find the type of recipe I want (i.e. - chicken, beef, soups and stews, sides, etc.) Once I try a recipe and like it enough to keep it, I transfer it (copy and paste or retype if I really have to) it into a Word document. I've added bookmarked sections to the Word document as well, so I can open it up and just click to get to a specific section (using the same sections as my bookmarks folder). I started copying recipes from online to a Word document when I went back to find a favorite only to find that the blog had been closed down and I lost the recipe! I do a meal plan over the weekend, and usually pick a mix of new recipes and tried and true recipes.

[abh5e8]

i usually pick a crockpot meat (whole chicken or pork/deer/beef roast) and a type of bean and grain for the week. then i plan all my meals around that. like if its chicken, we have roast chicken and veggies 1 night. then leftovers for lunch. then chicken fried rice with some new veggies. then i make chicken and veggie soup from the bones and chicken and rice. then we have black beans and rice. then we have black bean tacos. i usually make 1 bean meal on Sun and serve it for lunches during the week.i also bake once per week, on Sat night and alternate weeks between bread and muffins and then we eat off of that for the week. i cook VERY simple meals. once per week is omlets or fried eggs and veggies with bread. once per week is homemade pizza (but i cheat and buy dough from the local pizza place).

breakfast is oatmeal or eggs and veggies or yogurt and fruit. lunches are leftovers, almond butter sandwiches or some sort of bean dish.

i usually meal plan friday night after the kids go to bed and shop saturday. or sometimes i wait to see whats at the farmers market and make my meal plan on sat night. i also prep most all of the veggies, beans, etc on sat for the week. its a lot of work on sat (since i bake then too) but it makes dinners all week a breeze.

i also make the soup of the week in bulk and freeze it, so that is my go to for busy nights or weekends i work and cant do so much on Sat. i freeze bread/muffins as well.

[abh5e8]

eta: we also eat pretty seasonally, which i atribute to awesome access to local produce and also my laziness. so right now its tons of cooked greens (kale, spinach, bok choy, etc), orange squash (butternut, acorn, pumpkin, sweet potato) and apples. i cook pretty much the same meals each week, and by the time we start to get sick of it, a new season and new foods start.

[MommyAllison]

I like the binder idea. When you said you consolidated your index cards into the binder - you mean you found index card holders that go into a binder? That's a great idea. I didn't know they made something like that. Being able to see a bunch of cards all at once would make it easier than trying to find a recipe in a box, I think. Thanks for the idea.

What is Bountiful Basket?

No, I just added the index cards inside of the page protectors. If they make a special one for index cards that would work even better!

Bountiful Baskets is a produce co-op. On Mondays, you order online & pay $16.50 for one basket of conventional produce or $26.50 for one basket of organic produce. You can add on other things too, like bread, extra produce packs like mexican pack (avocados, cilantro, peppers, grey squash, etc) or full cases of fruit, like 33lb oranges, 20lb apples, etc. Then on Saturdays you go pick it up at the location you chose. You don't know what will be in the basket til you pick it up, but you get way more for your money than you would at the grocery store. http://bountifulbaskets.org/

[overcome]

I am still working on forming a plan too! One thing I do that I find helpful is that when I try a new recipe, if I like it, I immediately type up a recipe card for it, print it out, and put it in my recipe card binder. I use the recipe cards for free download on this site bc I think they are adorable.
http://www.graphicgarden.com/files17/eng/print/reccard1.php

I definitely plan for the week before I go grocery shopping. Some nights its just me, DH, and DD. Some nights its the three of us plus my two SDD (step dd). That adds another element to the planning. When it is the five of us, I plan a more "formal" dinner. The three of us usually have something simple or leftovers.

Another thing I do is try to sketch out the whole month on a blank calendar. This way I know when I don't have to cook bc of special events, etc. Then I have a record of what I did cook each night so I have a reference and can look back.

I am going to try once a month cooking in the new year. I am excited about that, bc it really lends itself to planning.

I bought this (http://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Recipes-Editors-Publications-International/dp/1450800440/ref=pd_sim_b_6) for myself for christmas. Its a recipe binder with pockets on the dividers so I can keep recipes I clip from magazines/print from Internet in there.

Those are my random thoughts for now. I'll be watching this thread for more info.

[Kymberley]

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion, but this blog inspired me:

http://mmscrapshoppe.blogspot.com/2011/09/meal-plan-part-3-putting-it-all.html

The link takes you to part 3 of her organizing, but I think part 2 was the most helpful. The links to parts 1 and 2 are near the beginning of the blog entry. HTH!