I am new to this blogging thing

Hi! My name is Amy. I am a wife of 19 years and a mother of 18 years to 2 teenagers. I have always been an organized person, no one ever really had to tell me to do that, it was just something that came naturally to me as a young child. When I first got married 19 years ago I had no clue what I should be doing when it came to cooking dinner for a new husband and I. I was clueless! I grew up having parents cooking dinner every night and it was just there when it was time for dinner, I did not realize the preparation that went into cooking for 5 girls and 2 adults, I am the oldest of 5 girls. My parents would just go to the grocery store and buy whatever meats were on sale and stock up on them and then cook what they were in the mood for that day. They would buy your basic staples and that was the typical shopping trip. Their lists were not the well thought out lists that mine are and have been for 19 years. Most families are too busy to plan out meals and the way they gauge when to shop is they look in the pantry and the fridge and say, "we are running low on food, looks like we need to make a trip to the grocery store." I could have been one of those women who lived my 19 years of marriage that way but I wasn't.

Immediately after I got married  I started thumbing through the pages of the cookbooks I was given as wedding gifts trying to figure out what to cook for dinner one day and that one day was immediately once I got settled into an apartment with my husband for the first time. He was in the Navy stationed on nuclear submarines and here, I was, a new wife, who had just turned 20 years old a few days after tying the knot trying to figure out life and how to run a home. I remember in one of those cookbooks I was thumbing through and it said to plan your meals out ahead of time and that it saves you time, money (and who does not like to save money?) and not to mention the aggravation of figuring out what to cook for dinner every night. I am sure you have said those famous words that most in America or around the world are saying and probably right now as you are reading this......"hmmm, what should I make for dinner tonight?" I already know the night before when I go to bed because of my menu, and I can take out the frozen meat from the freezer the night before placing it in the fridge to defrost instead of taking it out that day last minute hoping it thaws out on the counter in time for dinner that night. You as a family will eat healthier when you plan out a meal than when you decide at the last minute by either walking the aisles of your local grocery store (and believe me grocery stores know how to market to people like you, they know how to put things out at the right times of the day to get you to buy that extra something you were not planning on and if you are hungry you are more prone to picking up sweets and you end up walking out spending more money than you thought you would have if you would have just stuck to a list and not just any list, a specifically planned out list) or getting take-out at a drive-thru fast food restaurant.  I decided that day 19 years ago that I was going to do a menu. I have every menu I ever made for my family in a pile in a broiler pan sitting in my kitchen pantry. :)

I planned my menus around my husband's paychecks, he was in the Navy, so he was paid on the 1st and the 15th of the month every month for our first 6 years of marriage. I would sit down with a piece of paper and a pen, the old-fashioned way, now-a-days we use our computers, thank God for that invention! Once we bought a used Commodore 64 computer so I graduated from hand writing on notebook paper to being able to type up my meals on the Commodore 64, then in 1997 or 1998 we finally could afford our first real computer with Windows 97 with a printer and dial-up internet! How exciting! Now getting back to when I was first married and meal planning,  I would start out by writing out all the dates for meals that I was going to need to have in the apartment and the day of the week next to it, (see example below) if something was going on like I had to work and that would run into preparing dinner I would note next to the date and day of the week my work hours and would try and plan something that was either a leftover or a crock pot meal.When you take the time to plan out your meals, however many days at a time or weeks at a time that you want to, you will be in control of how you eat, meaning you will eat healthier and will choose healthier options to prepare. Another positive of planning out your meals ahead of time is that when you shop once you are paid and get meals for the entire paycheck to paycheck time frame you never have to worry about running out of food if you have run out of money and believe me, in these tough times many families are living paycheck to paycheck due to rising gas prices and food prices so shopping with a purpose is one way to keep the budget in check and also feed your family daily and healthily. Now you may say what if you don't want to eat the meal you planned on the day you planned it? Well then just move it around on your menu. I print mine up and hang it on the side of my fridge so everyone can see what is for dinner and  not have to ask mom, "mom, what's for dinner tonight?" If you like to eat out then type that in as well for a meal that night, give yourself the night off and save money aside for that dinner out. One thing I suggest is if you are planning on preparing dinners that have fresh produce in them and it won't last long I suggest you make those happen at the beginning of your menu. I plan 2 weeks of meals out at a time now, my husband no longer gets paid on the 1st and the 15th, he got out of the Navy, it is every two weeks so that is why I plan for 2 weeks of meals. Getting back to the fresher produce required part of the menu, make that in the beginning of your planning out so it won't go bad in the fridge, also you will get used to knowing what produce can last longer into the 2 weeks and you can use frozen for the latter part of your menu or even frozen meals you made in the beginning. One other thing, you can set money aside for certain fresh produce items needed and note on your menu that you will need to be making a trip to the store on that day for those items. You can make little trips to the grocery store once you have shopped for your 2 weeks but these will be inexpensive trips because you know what you need, will walk in and get it and go. If you can't do 2 weeks of meals at a time, then start out by doing 1 week. Let me warn you, you will need an extra fridge or freezer or both when you plan out your meals for 2 weeks at a time, if you are a large family, if it is just 2 people, I am sure one fridge will be enough and maybe a little freezer. I have two fridges and one small upright freezer, they are full every two weeks when I shop and they go down in food as it nears time to shop again. Another positive about shopping every 2 weeks is that I usually spend the same amount of money every two weeks so that can be budgeted into my budget.

I will be back blogging more on my life and my ideas on cooking and managing the home. I love cooking new meals and sharing my tips for making them and the experience of making them and then the reaction to the meal. My friends encouraged me to start a blog, I had never done one before but we will see how this journey goes. Tomorrow, hopefully if I have the time, I will talk about how I organize my recipes and if not tomorrow I will as soon as I get the chance. Later!

An example for a menu:
May 23, 2011 Monday-9am-3pm, work
Egg salad fiesta wraps

May, 24, 2011 Tuesday-off of work
Red beans and rice, french bread

May 25, 2011 Wednesday 9am-3pm work, church at 6pm
Leftover red beans and rice (you see it is a busy time at dinner due to work and going to church that evening and maybe no time to cook healthy so I made a meal the day before that would have enough leftovers for the next day) It's all in the planning for a smooth dinner time every day.

May 26, 2011 Thursday off
Pulled pork, broccoli salad, sweet potato fries, ciabatta rolls, sweet tea, taffy apple salad

May 27, 2011 Friday off
Oven-fried catfish with cajun sauce, rice pilaf, spinach