Meal Planning Made Easy-ish?

   Summer is inching to a close--my youngest goes back to school on the 29th this year. We didn't go away for a vacation but instead took some day trips here and there, one of which we are cancelling as Liam will be at school on the day that the Worcester EcoTarium is hosting their Free Fun Friday. We did get to take advantage of the open admission day for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (stunning!) and I took Liam into Boston for a day at the New England Aquarium and sightseeing.  Sunday we are headed back into our capital city for a Red Sox game (Liam's first ever--I am so excited!)
   Summer somehow got away from me. We had our trips away and visited the beach a few times, but most of it was spent working as adults are wont to do. I also had a 6-week class from May to the beginning of July that drove me crazy. It is amusing to me that the most difficult writing course I have taken is the one in which I had to write about myself. My imaginings are far more appealing to me than me, it appears. Nevertheless I persevered, and have enjoyed countless hours of reading time. I have nearly finished my Summer Reading List--nearly, because at some point in July I went off the deep end and ordered all kinds of titles from the library and began reading everything willy-nilly. In fact, I have gone so far afield that I have to go back and look up my list to see what I may have missed. I'm 88 books into my Goodreads challenge of 100 books this year. I go back to school September 3; can I read another 12 books in 24 days? Two days per book...work plus Sox game...maybe?? I might be able to if I plan things out really well, which brings me to the topic I had planned to discuss today, planning. Meals, to be precise.
   Most of this year has been a kitchen nightmare of thrown-together meals gleaned from what can be found in an understocked refrigerator and pantry because work and school took over my existence. My poor husband Josh spent most of this year cooking, shopping, and cleaning, the former done with little preplanning and a great deal of skill. (He's amazing. I'm keeping him forever.) The day I submitted my final assignment I cooked a real dinner. I don't recall what it was, probably chicken? I even made a side dish. AMAZING.
   I have been able to mostly keep it up ever since, with exceptions for the days it was a broiling 100 degrees and the dinner options were ice cream or an air-conditioned restaurant and for Liam's Monday and Wednesday evening Taekwondo classes (now Josh's as well. Aren't they cute in their uniforms?)

   Looking ahead to the chaos that I know is coming I have made a conscious effort to continue my meal-planning routine, sitting down with cookbooks or my giant recipe file (look at this behemoth!) 

or perusing my Pintrest dinner board and plotting out what we are going to eat when. Ideally I do this Saturday afternoon or evening and do my shopping on Sunday when we don't have a zillion things to do, that is, until we fill it up with the zillion things we didn't get to do through the week. My biggest goal is not to have us eat the same things all the time. There are so many amazing recipes to try and we're all pretty adventurous eaters. Liam and I are the pickiest, and at not-quite-10 he loves to go to Japanese restaurants and order noodles and ebi roll, so take that for what you will.

   I am not much of a meat-eater; it creeps me out. I truly appreciate the care and labor that goes into raising humanely raised meat production, but I still really don't want to eat it. I do, but as little as possible and I really can't think about what it is (or used to be, rather). This preference (pickiness...) has turned around to bite me as I have perpetually low iron levels and despite my doctor's prescriptions for iron, B2, and B12 supplements I am still prone to migraines. She's given me two options: eat more meat, or eat lots more beans. She herself is vegan, and I can only imagine the effort it must have cost her to tell one of her patients to eat more meat. I'm leaning more beans, myself. Maybe protein shakes made with almond milk? Anyway, we are a household that eats meat, usually 3 or so nights a week. Chicken and fish are frequent choices, and beef and pork are swapped in less occasionally. We also LOVE pasta, and as long as Liam doesn't see the box it's generally whole-grain. The favorite is of course served with tomato sauce and meatballs, but we adults are equally happy to have veggies and beans mixed with ours as well. I would say that leaves us four nights of vegetarian dinners, but there is usually a night of planned leftovers and lest the troops begin to revolt, something quasi-revolting is served. This week it was hot dogs. I know. I'm sorry. 

   Recently a friend asked me how I planned my family's meals. There is probably a much more efficient way to do it, but I generally just grab some cookbooks and start flipping pages. 

   I choose randomly, by what sounds appealing at that moment and based on what the boys will eat. Henry is relatively easy to please: no mushrooms or fresh blueberries or grapes. He doesn't like how they pop...but he loves fish roe on his sushi. I don't get it. I list all of the necessary ingredients from the recipe without stopping to check and see if I already have it. That comes next. I look through the pantry, freezer and the spice shelf and cross off what I don't need, then make my shopping list. The meal plan is written on a calendar hanging next to the pantry and in my bullet journal. I also make notes in my bujo for anything that may need to be picked up separately, such as fish. I only buy fish on the day I'm going to cook it. Kind of a hang-up of mine. 

   I also, to Josh's annoyed amusement, rewrite my list based on how the store is arranged. (I can only ever shop at Stop & Shop in Greenfield; I'll be hopelessly lost otherwise, wandering in circles asking over and over again for things like Gefilte fish and digestible biscuits, neither of which we have ever eaten and probably never will.) Neurotic? Maybe, but I get really bad road rage when I am steering a shopping cart. For others' safety I need to get the shopping done as fast as possible. Back in my early days of motherhood when Henry was a baby and Stop & Shop was open twenty-four hours (and arranged differently) I would do my shopping at 11:30 PM. Henry was awake anyway, and the store was blissfully almost empty. Now I have to remind myself not to plow down little old ladies pacing back and forth in the cookie aisle trying to choose between Fig Newtons or Mallowmars or well-dressed families fresh from church whose children are charging wildly around the produce section because the poor things have been cooped up on their best behavior for an hour and a half. (I am not saying church is the problem. It's the having to behave oneself that is.)

   I have also more recently gotten into the habit of cleaning out the refrigerator before I go shopping. I have no idea why it has taken me this long to realize that this is a good thing to do; I mean, I've only been living on my own for 24 years. Any leftovers that were not eaten in an acceptable-to-me timeframe are tossed, often to the sound of Josh's protests. The man gives himself food poisoning close on once a month. I would like to prevent this. 

   Fridge emptied of questionable leftovers, other items semi-organized, meals plotted, list made and neurotically organized, that's how this Momma keeps her family fed. I would like to say that this will continue when school starts for Liam and myself but I'm not kidding anyone. School, work, two creative writing classes, after school program, Taekwondo, possibly soccer?!? I'll be impressed if we're not eating cereal for dinner most nights. 

   So what is the Perkins family eating next week?

Friday 8/9: smoky skirt steak w/arugula and watermelon salad (from Rachael Ray Magazine)

Saturday 8/10: spicy chicken w/corn and potatoes (ditto RR magazine)

Sunday 8/11: Fenway Food! GO SOX!!!

Monday 8/12: corn and cheese chowder w/sourdough bread (bread from bakery; chowder from Love Soup by Anna Thomas. I love this book because, well, I love...soup. Ouch...)

Tuesday 8/13: fresh corn, zucchini, onion, and basil frittata (from The Fresh & Green Table by Susie Middleton)

Wednesday 8/14: planned leftovers...or Subway. Probably Subway.

Thursday 8/15: tilapia w/balsamic browned butter and creamy farfalle w/bacon, tomato, and peas (from Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book)

Friday 8/16: bourbon orange bbq chicken skillet w/cornbread topping and green beans (also from RR's BOB)

Saturday 8/17: veggie chili and chips! (loosely based on RR's black bean chili, but really more my own mad creation)

   What are you eating this week? Let me know in the comments below!