When I get involved in a new thing. I want to set up the perfect system, accumulate every supply I could possibly ever need, find a way to store and organize all these new supplies. By the time I have made lists, watched videos, search Pinterest, made multiple shopping trips, I am so overwhelmed by my new endeavor, I run out of time and money to actually start doing what it was I wanted to do.
Such was the case with me with meal planning. I want to cook healthier meals. I want to grocery shop for just what I need and under budget. I want to stop throwing food away that goes bad before I get a chance to cook it. I want to eat out less. I have worthy goals!
I was so inspired! I started watching videos, pinning recipes, and looking for the best printables. I started wondering what binder I would use, and what categories would I set up. I starting making a mental list of what I needed to go buy just to organize all the great meal plans I was about to create. I really should plan so that there is a theme for the week. Maybe plan where the ingredients are similar so I can cut up stuff once. How will I store these prepared ingredients. You know my pantry is a mess. I need to organize that. Then I heard the soft whisper in my head... "three recipes, next week." What? Ok... yes, that is wise.
I remembered an app I have on my PC, phone and tablet: Recipe Keeper Pro. I had only used it for saving recipes but I discovered it also had meal planning and grocery list features. I could even import recipes straight from the websites of my favorite bloggers, no retyping or cut/pasting!
I love this app! I started creating categories, and importing recipes. This was gonna be great! Again the whisper... "three recipes, next week." "Ok... ok... I will focus..."
In my freezer, I knew I had ground beef, boneless chicken breast, and a ground pork. So I started importing multiple fun recipes from Pinterest and Blogs. "My family is going to be so impressed with all the meals I will cook for them!" Again, I heard that voice in my head... "three recipes, next week." I asked, but where will I put them. "three recipes, next week." Well, I at least need a binder with dividers with tabs, page protectors and... "Use what you have ... three recipes, next week."
I am so thankful God was helping keep me on track, because left to my own devices, I would have two dozen recipes and gone to bed without ever making it to the grocery store.
I did pick out three recipes, went grocery shopping, and I cooked those meals that week. And my family loved all them! We ate out one time that week, after church. We had leftovers the other days and I fell in love with meal planning!
Here are the three recipes I used my first week:
Mexican Zucchini and Beef Skillet from Low Carb Yum
One Pan Baked Italian Chicken & Tomatoes from Real Housemoms
Eggroll Skillet from Mrs Happy Homemaker
I did use what I had for saving the recipes for the future. I printed these three recipes, put them in page protectors and put them in one of the plastic pocket folders I had just bought for my son's school supplies. Small and easy to use while cooking. The page protectors helped me not get food stains on the recipe. At the end of the week, I realized I already had this cute binder from CR Gibson. I bought it at a school book sale and had never used. So I decided this will be where I store my meal planning recipes.
I will keep using the pocket folder for the recipes for the current week. As we find recipes we think are "keepers", I will add them to the binder. It will grow each week as I keep doing "three recipes, next week." Ok.... I changed it to five recipes each week, each with side dishes. But that was a next step.
I will post in the future more on Recipe Keeper app and how I use it to plan my week, and create my grocery list. Remember, you have to start somewhere. Stay focused on the steps... each step... one at a time.
Blessings!
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