A new store opened up near me called The Flying Tiger. It's a Danish upscale dollar store. They sell kitchen goods, toys, arts and crafts kits, party supplies, all kinds of cool knickknack-y type items. (Their website is here.)
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| The Flying Tiger on the Upper East Side |
The last time I was there, I found this Weekly Planner. It is legal pad-sized, and each week has a tear-out sheet. I decided to use it to help plan meals, grocery lists, and to keep track of what nights my husband would be home for dinner and what nights he would be at work dinners.
I've had it three weeks and so far it's working out well. At the beginning of the week, I review my husband's calendar and mark off when he will be home. Then I can plan what I will cook, instead of thinking about it each morning.
When we lived in central New York and our two sons were young, I would plan out our weekly meals and we would grocery shop as a family every week after church. It was efficient and fairly well organized.
When we moved to NYC, and now that our sons are on their own, grocery shopping is different. I go to the grocery store almost every day, since I walk to the multiple stores I shop at- Agata & Valentina for meats and produce, Morton Williams for canned items and frozen foods, various bakeries for desserts and breads- and can't carry too much at one time.
So now I put my weekly planner right on the refrigerator and as I look at the dinners I have planned, I write out my grocery list on that day. When I'm ready to head out to the store, I take a photo of the grocery list, and it's on my phone. (This eliminates the dreaded lists I used to write on paper and continuously forget on the kitchen counter.)
I think it will also help me to stop repeating a recipe too often, which I tend to do because I can't remember the last time I made something- two weeks or two months ago? I hope it will increase my creativity in the kitchen.
Putting the list on the refrigerator means I will be looking at it frequently, and it also has made it easy for me to add an item to the list as I run out of something. I can also add things like doctor's appointments or anything else I need to remember.
Do you plan your meals and have a system that you use? Let me know in comments.
This post was inspired by Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity's blog post from 2014. You can find that here.
I could find all kinds of uses for those weekly planners! I have no system for meal planning but I rarely cook these days so that's not an issue.
ReplyDeleteI really like that planner. I didn't used to be a meal planner but in the last couple of years I've become one. The big pros are that I actually try some of the recipes I clip, photograph, or pin and that our grocery bill has shrunk. I might have to visit that store when I'm in NYC this year.
ReplyDeleteYour planning is impressive! I plan only meals for invited guests, not everyday meals for just the two of us, which are sometimes even improvised in progress. Obviously when I shop I have some idea of what things will be used together, but often I don't know exactly what I'll do until I'm doing it.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I've been doing a lot more meal planning since getting that Food52 book, and it helps a lot. Your planner looks useful, I've just been doing it on yellow note pads.
ReplyDeleteI have seen several articles and posts on The Flying Tiger and it looks like a store I could have lots of fun in! ;-) I like the looks of the planner and admire your organization. With just me most of the time, I really only plan a few meals for blog posts and improvise the rest trying to use up leftovers and random bits of ingredients to limit my food waster--I definitely could do better in the planning department.
ReplyDelete