What's Cookin?

You have probably heard of meal planning and tried it as well, especially if you are someone who is always busy. There are many components to meal plan, such as preparing ingredients in advance, partial cooking, portioning cooked meals for the week, freezing meals, and of course simply writing out what you will be having each night of the week. Today, I’ll be sharing my tips and tricks on meal planning. I am someone who likes to plan the entire month instead of a week to save myself from, “ajj kiya pakai” – what should I make today? And no I do not buy all of my ingredients in a single grocery-shopping trip, although that would be a great time saver if you are on a tight schedule. So lets begin…

To save yourself from wondering what’s for dinner, if you have the needed ingredients on hand, what can you make quickly, or simply you don’t feel like cooking. I highly recommend planning out your entire month of meals. Each month take out 30 – 60 minutes and plan the entire month in one go. I will be sharing what I do to enjoy less hectic meals.

Tip 1: Who am I feeding?

It is important to take into consideration who you are preparing the meals for. Some things to reflect on are:

· Picky eaters

· Allergies

· Dietary restrictions

· Number of people

· Likes/dislikes.

You also want to consider how you eat. My family and I have an odd eating schedule. Typically, I plan for dinners. We usually have a late breakfast combined with lunch. Which usually consists of bread with eggs, oatmeal, grill cheese, etc. We do have an evening snack, which is semi-healthy. So when I plan I write that into my grocery list but I do not put it under planned meals. The reason being is because it is usually fruit, smoothie, or parfait.

Tip 2: Before you get started

Each month will look differently based on holidays, and different life events. Some things to consider are:

· Budget (if you have one)

· Holidays

· Hosting Dinners/gatherings

· Food that is about to expire

· Take inventory of foods you can incorporate into the planning month

Tip 3: Visualize

I am old school so I prefer to handwrite things. Occasionally, I’ll do it on my laptop but my go to are good old paper and pencil. I start with my planner. I open the monthly layout. This allows me to see the entire month and see if I have any invitation for gatherings, if I have or planning on hosting, and upcoming holidays. I also do a quick glance over the previous month to get an idea of the meals we have had so I am not repeating the same meals again. There are certain meals that we do repeat each month for example Biryani, Pilau, kharai, and some sort of tacos. I also have a sticky note of recipes I want to try, so I add those recipes in first.

I recommend using a pencil (if you are doing this on paper) since it’s easy to erase if you change your mind. As I meal plan I also write my grocery list. I usually divide my grocery list into four categories. The largest is desi groceries. This consists of all the things that I can only get at a desi store such as lentils, spices, frozen entrée, halal meat, etc. The second category is meat. Now this is something that everyone has different opinions on some people are not comfortable storing a month worth of meat in their freezers. You don’t have to buy all at once but write it down on your grocery list. Once you have completed the grocery list, you can call your butcher to place an order for the meat so it is ready for you when you visit the store. The third category is wholesale so Costco, Sam’s, Restaurant Depot, etc. The final category is your local grocery store.

Once you have completed writing out your meals and grocery list, put it somewhere you can see. I usually put the meals on the refrigerator. I usually put the shopping list next to my reusable bags by the door. This helps me remember to take my reusable bags with me.

Tip 4: Shopping Day/s

Generally, I visit the desi grocery store once a month or every 3 weeks. I usually buy meat, baked goods, spices, freezer items, and non-perishable items. I visit wholesale about twice a month for non-perishable and perishable items in bulk. This varies a bit since there are only two of us and we do not need a lot of things in bulk. It mainly depending on how frequently I’m baking, and gathering. I visit the local grocery store once a week for perishable items. Doing so allows me to pick up ingredients that I may have forgotten to add to my list of to my shopping cart during the initial run.

Given the COVID-19 situation, I try to limit my visit to the grocery stores as much as possible. I prefer curbside pickup or delivery. I implement the COVID situation into my planning as well. Ideally, I like to have a freezer meal or non-perishable goods to make meals for emergencies. It is helpful to have lentils, pasta, and tomato sauce in my pantry so I can quickly make a meal instead of going to the store to pick up a single ingredient.

Tip 5: Prepare and store

We are the people who disinfect our groceries due to Coronavirus. If you are someone who is still practicing this bothersome step, then I suggest getting a basket to place your groceries in. We follow the as needed while disinfecting. We will wipe off things we will need within a day or two with a disinfectant wipe. As far as the perishable good go such as fruits and vegetables, they too get disinfected with a natural solution. I rinse off the fruits and vegetable with water before placing them in white vinegar diluted with water bath for few minutes. Then I rinse them again and let them dry on the countertop before placing it in the fridge. The non-perishable items usually sit in a basket for at least 3 days before I put it in the pantry. This bizarre operation is only credited to COVID-19.

After you have washed, disinfected, and dried your perishable item, its ideal to cut, dice, grind, and chop them before storing. If a recipe calls for chopped green onions, I would do that now and store it in the fridge/ freezer for when I need it. Generally, I grind green chilies, ginger and garlic and freeze it so can I simply reach into my freezer and add it to the recipe as needed. This saves me a lot of time when I am preparing curries. As you begin to cook, you will learn what freezes well and what doesn’t. Your freezer can be your best friend. Below, I am going to list some things that freeze very well.

· Breads (buns, bagels, slice bread, croissants)

· Pasta

· Curries

· Some Vegetables (carrots, corn, broccoli, spinach, peas)

· Dairy (Cheese, milk, half & half, whipping cream)

At this time you also want to portion out the meat before freezing.

You want to refill your canisters and store any extra in back stock.

Tip 6: Modify

Your planning layout is not written on stone therefore, if you feel like changing something or you are craving a particular dish you can always modify. You do whatever your heart desires and whatever works for your family.

Tip 7: Have a routine (if possible)

In order to have a productive day, it is good to have a routine. This helps shape your day especially, if you are someone who is very busy. At first I did not realized that I follow a particular pattern but this pattern allowed me to enjoy cooking.

Mondays – quick and easy unless I meal prepped the day before. I try to have something with chicken on Mondays since it doesn’t take much time to cook.

Tuesdays – “Taco Tuesdays” –usually fish or taco day

Wednesday: “Whatever Wednesday” – I try to make beef on Wednesdays. However, if I made a beef dish on Monday then I would make chicken on Wednesday.

Thursday – Meatless Dish – mostly lentils or sabzi

Friday – take out / baking day

Saturday – trying a new recipe

Sunday – leftovers (from Friday or Saturday)

I hope these tips and tricks were helpful. Let me know in the comments if you try any of these or if you have any tips of your own that you would like to share. All the best!