My Newest Obsession But Don't Call Me June!

It's time I reveal something about myself, my newest obsession.  Cooking.  And baking.  But more importantly, meal planning.

I know, I know.  You're just as shocked as June Cleaver is above. 

Don't you love that photo of her, by the way?  It's so classic and you can't help but wonder if she's saying in her mind, "What the %*&# did the Beaver just say?!"  Or "He wants me to do what after I'm done in this kitchen!?" 

But in my defense (not that I really need one), meal planning has become a hobby that has had a trickle down of positive effects for my family and me.  That is why I had to share some details with you on here.  Plus, it's been a bit of a saving grace during a crazy time for me.

For starters, by searching recipes ahead of time and writing them down, I don't scramble around at the last minute for something to cook.  By doing that, I am usually not throwing some boxed (or proccessed) food item in the microwave thirty minutes before dinner. 

By taking the time to plan out meals for a week (or several weeks), I can make my grocery list, watch for sale items and even coupon search.  Yes, imagine only going to the market for the things you actually need and plan to cook with.  It truly is a marvel.  To me anyway, since I've never operated on this kind of system before.

When I plan meals in advance, I then have more quality time later on to spend with my husband, daughter and pets.  If I stick to my plan of recipes for Monday through Sunday, then I can focus on having fun, doing activities and occasionally doing a load of laundry or other chore.

Surprisingly, after just six weeks of meal planning, I have lost five pounds.  I began this project about two weeks before Christmas and I've consistenly lost weight each week since then.  (Yes, lost weight!  Over the Christmas holidays too!  I can hardly believe it myself!)  Granted, I do exercise regularly but the planned meals has definitely made a difference on my waistline.  When I stick to the healthy yet filling recipe on my daily/weekly agenda, I'm more likely to make conscious efforts to be healthier in the rest of my day/week as well. 

Best of all though, the meal planning has me a lot less stressed in the day to day scheme of things.  And it frees up my time and my sanity to have more fun with my family and friends throughout the week.  That's the most wonderful gift of all. 

Now before you start ragging on me becoming June Cleaver, Donna Reed or some other cracked-out, unattainable housewife, let me set the record straight.  I don't really clean a whole lot.  You will find tons of dirt, clumps of hair (both mine and my dog's) when you drop in for a visit.  Plus, I don't wear an apron when I cook.   No, I'm more of a cross between these two chefs (pictured below) in my cooking style and personality:

And my food doesn't come out looking pretty.  That's why I don't post that many pictures of the recipes that I do share on here.  But my dishes are edible and tasty, most of the time.  I do have failures though.  I tried a thai crab cakes recipe two weeks ago that turned out just awful.  Into file thirteen (trash can) it went!   So I'm just an ordinary person who discovered that I have a new knack for meal preparation. 

Meal planning does require some work in the beginning.  Shocking, I know!  I started with pureeing vegetables then freezing them for later use.  I've got about four to five 1/2 cup portions of onions, carrots, yellow squash, spinach, broccoli, sweet potato, and much more stored in my deep freezer right now.  I spent about two hours for two weekends preparing all these items but now I'm stocked up for several months.  When a recipe call for one of these ingredients, I take it from my freezer and warm it slightly under hot water or nuke it in the microwave for about a minute.  Easy, breezy, beautiful, cover meal!

I'm learning the sneaky ways to add more vegetables into my family's diet.  Last week I made berry oatmeal bars with spinach in them and blueberry lemon muffins with yellow squash as an ingredient.  It's crazy, I know.  I never thought I'd eat stuff like this.  But you can't taste it in the batch and you're still getting most of the nutritional value from it. 

I'm not a junkie over food.   And I'm certainly not a foodie.  I promise you that. 

I don't even bother watching The Food Network channel for ideas either.  I don't watch television, remember?  Nope, I do searches on the internet for recipes and consult a few blogs I've come to enjoy for suggestions. 

What does a sample meal plan look like, you might wonder?  Well here is one I did last week:

Monday: Stuffed peppers with a side of corn
Tuesday: Cornmeal crusted talapia sandwiches with avocado sauce and sweet potato fries
Wednesday: Leftover stuffed peppers and corn
Thursday: Pan roasted chicken with mustard dill sauce with field peas
Friday: Chili and cheese covered Fritos
Saturday: Homemade pizza - turkey pepperoni and spinach on whole wheat pizza bread, side salad
Sunday: Slow cooked barbecue beef and beans with smashed potatoes and a side salad


Oh yeah baby, I made ALL of the above.  And most of it came out scrumptious, in my humble opinion!  Also it took me less than an hour to prepare all of those meals too. 

Here are some sites that I have enjoyed visiting during this new journey of mine.  Preview this list if you are interested in meal planning or just looking for some great new recipes to try  (Note: I'm not gaining anything by mentioning these folks.  I don't think any of them really know that I read their sites anyway):

http://thisweekfordinner.com/

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/

http://lyndasrecipebox.blogspot.com/

http://familystampingfood.blogspot.com/

http://themealplanner.blogspot.com/

http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/

http://juju73.wordpress.com/

http://shrinkingjeans.net/

http://www.foodformyfamily.com/

http://orgjunkie.com/

http://anniebakes.blogspot.com/

http://mrsjenpeters.blogspot.com/

If you would like a copy of the recipes from my sample meal plan, the ones I've tried in the past six weeks or if you would like me to send you my meal planning spreadsheet, leave me a comment with your email address and tell me so.  I welcome suggestions and feedback.  I especially welcome any recipes you want to share with me so I can add them to my plan. 

Don't worry - this site will not become a forum for all my meal planning ideas.  It will not become one big recipe exchange either.  This blog will always be about anything and everything in my life that I feel like sharing.  The meal planning has inspired me to do other writing about it while I track my efforts.  But that is something I intend to do on my own computer, not in the bloggy world.

This meal planning concept is a work in progress for me and I'm learning as I go.  I hope I can keep it up for the remainder of this year too.  Because I can report that it is helping me achieve some balance (and sanity) in my life right now.   And in today's crazy world, that's a good thing! 

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P.S. - Thanks for all your comments and suggestions from my last post about the ten things I hate (and love) about myself.  It means a lot to me!  I'm feeling better today.  A five pound weight loss is good for the ego, along with the taste of some comfort foods.  That is what prompted me to write this entry.  Cheers to you, me and all of us for doing our best and for getting up each new day to dare to try (and fail) again!