Meal planning/Lists/etc?

having a lot of glass snapware is really helpful for freezing (another thing you can get at costco)

When I looked at that "What the World Eats" thing I felt proud that we spent considerably less per week than most of the families (albeit larger ones) in the developed world. Part of it is Costco and planning, part of it is not buying all the extras like chips and drinks.

Hmmm meatballs is a good addition to the Sunday dinner rotation.

carl here's the turkey chili recipe for u

it's ww, but that is by the bye - i *swear* on my own mother that it's delicious.

http://www.food.com/recipe/four-way-cincinnati-turkey-chili-ww-225958

Naw girl, it's cool. I still make a few WW recipes, too. Twice baked sweet potatoes are killer ('cept now I use regular cheese instead of low fat nonsense).

Goes like this:

Microwave a couple of sweet potatoes. Scoop out the insides. Mash with sour cream, salt and pepper, cubed Canadian bacon, and if you feel like it, a chipotle pepper in adobo (my brilliant addition). Fill the tater skins with the filling, top with cheese, and stick them under the broiler for a minute. Fast and filling.

Anyway, thanks for the link!

Oh yeah I've been killing the baked potatoes lately. Bake, split open, add cheese, bacon or shredded chicken, chives or scallions, and some Tofutti sour cream and they're the best meal. Yours are more sophisticated, though!

I always bake extras and then slice & skillet brown them the next day, toss in the pan with seasoning and shredded cheese, top with fried egg. Sometimes I crisp up broccoli and/or bell peppers w them too.

It seems too simple to be called "meal planning," but if I have potatoes and broccoli and cheese, some eggs maybe, and the cumin and cayenne and adobo peppers in the cupboard or freezer, I'm always going to get fed.

i can't go to the supermarket without
a. planning exactly what we'll be eating for the coming week
b. making a list of everything i need
c. rewriting the list so it's grouped by location in the supermarket

(and i still always forget at least one thing)

i hate cooking, lack imagination, and would eat frozen meals/chips/chocolate/cereal only, otherwise. i really can't deal with thinking about what to cook when i get home from work, i need to know in advance.

lol, I do the grouping on shopping list by location thing, it's one of the more anal things I do. I get annoyed if H makes the list and doesn't group by location. I like to make my circuit around Costco in a specific order, and I can do the whole shop and be out in like 20 mins if I set it up properly.

omg yes location grouping

Hahahaha yes OTM and also OTM re: partners not grouping the list correctly and ruining my flow. Precision efficiency is key to my grocery shopping happiness.

Oh we have baked potatoes for dinner a lot, and I have included breakfast for dinner one night thus week and I am totally going to bake extra potatoes for eggs a la in orbit! That's a great idea.

count me in with all of you fusspots. xp

i've been baking little baby potatoes lately, they look very appealing swaddled in foil and you get a higher skin to potato inside ratio which goes well with butter and sour cream. obviously you have to eat them in multiples.

I've leveled up on meal planning and spent most of yesterday, along with Jeff, making "freezer meals" to toss in the crockpot. We managed to bag up ten of them, two each of Apricot Ginger Chicken, Turkey and Black Bean Chili, Spicy Sausage Soup, Ginger Garlic Chicken, and Beef Stew. Nothing super exotic but solid, Midwestern Mom-style slow cooker fare.

I have spent a good portion of the morning looking for some more interesting options, and some vegetarian meals.

Anyway, it's a lot of prep and labor but if we only have to do that once/month I think it could be worth it.

wow!

recipe for apricot ginger chicken, pls

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into pieces
1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into the size of green bean pieces you like
1 inch ginger root (I think it needs more)
3 gloves garlic, minced
2/3 c. Apricot jam
2 T soy sauce

Put it all in the slow cooker and cook for 6 - 8 hours on low.

OR put it in a freezer bag and freeze it and sometime in the next three months, thaw it out overnight in the fridge, then slow cooker it.

Thanks! Gonna make this week.

oooh yum

Have you continued w/ freezer meals?

I've got beef stew cooking in the slow cooker right now.

We're still eating the ones we made and froze the first time but we'll definitely do it again. I've compiled a spreadsheet of potential recipes.

Note: I didn't care much for the apricot ginger chicken. Too dry, not enough apricot or ginger.

bummer

It didn't sound that great. I actually printed the recipe book and I think I will make some this week since school is on break. Which are your favorites so far?

Spicy sausage soup. It calls for spicy Italian sausage but we used andouille and I think that was much better.

recipe?

1lb ground spicy sausage (subbed sliced andouille. I bet you could use chorizo and black beans and that would be darn good, too.)
8 medium-sized carrots (about one pound), peeled and sliced
2, medium-sized tomatoes, cored, seeds and juice removed, and diced (we used one can of diced tomatoes because it's winter)
1 medium-sized zucchini, ends cut off and chopped (about one cup)
1 medium-sized yellow squash, ends cut off and chopped (about one cup)
1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced (about one cup)
1, 15oz can of cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed and drained
1, 24oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce (this seemed really weird to me but it worked.)
3 cups chicken broth (day of cooking)

Everything in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low.

The parenthetical (white kidney beans) was copied from the original recipe. I assume you all know what cannellini beans are. I am not beansplaining.

I've got a list of 32 other potential freezer meal recipes in a good docs spreadsheet that I will share with anyone who is interested. Hit me up at carlagathaparty at gmail.

Here's the beef stew recipe we used - http://livesimply.me/2014/11/20/freezer-crockpot-beef-stew/. This one is my second favorite. I added potatoes day of cooking each time.

Okay, making our next batch of freezer meals this weekend:

Butternut squash and chickpea curry http://tasty-yummies.com/2011/10/12/butternut-squash-chickpea-coconut-curry-crock-pot-recipe/
Chinese hacked pork http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/slow-cooker-chinese-hacked-pork/
Enchilada Orzo http://damndelicious.net/2014/12/01/slow-cooker-enchilada-orzo/
Sausage spinach tomato soup http://newleafwellness.biz/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Six-crockpot-soup-freezer-meals-in-one-hour.pdf

Man this one sounds not quite right

Slow Cooker Party Beef Roast

2-3lb boneless beef chuck shoulder roast
1 cup grape jelly
1 cup Simply Heinz ketchup
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

It could be good for meatballs, but with the addition of something spicy maybe to cut through the sweetness of the jelly and ketchup

lol is that from a recipe generator like the one crabbits or someone posted a long time ago? with the washing the lemon juice and stuff. also, party beef.

It's from the "no-cook" recipes book carl agatha has been using. I got that from the PDF, but I noticed the version on the blog is "party pork," which is certainly better than beef, but still sounds way sweet. And weird. Nothing against the book/blogger! Most of the rest sound pretty good.

Yeah that one didn't make my list. I'm all about embracing the hot dish-esque cuisine of my flyover foremothers but beef, jelly, and ketchup is so not going to happen. Same way cooking with cream of soups is fine but Mountain Dew is a step to far.

working on cooking ahead. i did it a couple weeks ago and was pretty successful. i have been budgeting and realize i spend a hilarious amount of money on food :D

harbl is going to make:
poached chicken, chopped up w/ barbecue-ish sauce
corn salad
cole slaw
roasted beets
roasted potatoes

should work ok

i have a fish and a flank steak in the freezer for protein later in the week

flank steak is bomb

skirt even better imo

I've recently embarked on a "use it up" mission, which means some serious work on freezer/pantry items. Just cooked up some lentils that were purchased maybe 3 years ago? If they are lame I will feed them to the chickens.

report back - i have some 5 yr lentils I've been eyeing

i've never seen skirt steak in my costco

imo roasted sweet potatoes keep better/reheat better than roasted reg potatoes

Meatballs / bolognese sauce probably freeze the best of all the dishes we can make in large batches. Freezing them in snapware seems to work pretty well.