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Menu planning & cooking ruts
I have probably said this a hundred times before, but I use a weekly planner to do my menu planning. I write the dinner item in at the top and my grocery needs below. Not the whole recipe, just what I need to buy to make the dish. In the notes section of the week I write in the things I need to get like detergent, breakfast stuff, lunch stuff, snacks...
When I am in a rut and can't thin of what to make, I go back through the past weeks and look to see what we loved, what was easy, what I wanted to try differently, what I made to photograph only to find my camera battery was, of course, dead. I can build an entire weeks menu by looking back at old menus. Its one of the reasons I like to keep the planner instead of a new piece of paper every week. So I have the record.
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Re: Menu planning & cooking ruts
Good idea!
I use a Google calendar and make notes/ list ingredients in the notes section.
No, if I move Tuesday's dinner to Monday, I just keep it in my head at that point. But if we go a whole week and never get to something, I will most likely move it to the next week, as long as i still have all the ingredients. In which case I write it in again for the new day the next week.
If we do end up going out to eat, I will write in "OTD" or something so I remember why we didn't end up having something. It serves almost as a family diary of sorts. And, if we have a full day of errands, I write them in, too. That way when I menu plan I know if that would be a good day to plan an easy meal or a crock pot something. I also check it in the AM to make sure I don't have to defrost anything.
I also do not plan for Friday or Saturday at all. They are too flexible and if I plan something 9 times out of 10 we don't do it.
We do have a lot of things that are in heavy rotation. I rely heavily on the old stand-by's. One of the reasons I started a food blog was to push myself to stop doing that. It hasn't worked so well, so far. But I would say at least 2 times a week I make something new and different.
Warm lentil salad with kielbasa
make your own pizza night
chicken tortilla casserole
farfalle with wild mushroom sauce
avocado BLTs
chili (beef or crock pot chicken chili)
chicken & pancetta pasta
grilled pork with habanero apple cider reduction, spaetzle and braised red cabbage
shrimp scampi & linguini
Ina's parmesan chicken (I'm making it this week, only I'm using it as the base for chicken parmesan)
Wiener schnitzel with sauer kraut, potato salad and cucumber salad
Lightened Buffalo Chicken w/ rice and broccoli
Chicken Terriyaki meatballs
fish tacos
spicy taco mac
Portabella mushroom & mozzarella sandwiches
black bean enchiladas or chicken enchildas
chicken pot pie
lasagna
pulled pork
a new one but I've made at least 4 times now is bacon & gruyere meatloaf
chicken or pork souvlaki
Ravioli w sauce and a salad
zucchini boats
bacon wrapped pork with cherries
I know there's more, but this list got LOOOONG.