I Plan Meals Ahead To Save Money & Food.
When I was in Italy what seems to be a VERY, VERY long time ago.. one thing I noticed about their kitchens (besides their brick pizza ovens which I am very jealous of) was the size of their refrigerators. They’re TINY! I remember asking why that was and was simply told that it was due to the fact that they don’t ‘keep’ things in their fridges other than some leftovers perhaps, some cheeses, drinks, etc.
So what do they do different?
They go to the market almost every day and pick up what they are having for dinner same day! What an excellent idea!! Of course, heading to Sobeys or Superstore every day to pick up some meat isn’t exactly what I would call a great idea – but for them, they had markets on what seemed to be every street corner.. so it made sense.
I’ve sort of incorporated that style of thinking into my own home this week, by planning meals ahead of time – and you know what? It’s worked beautifully so far. No longer am I heading to the fridge at dinnertime wondering what I’m going to be making that night, or even worse heading to the grocery store to pick up items that I already have or perhaps purchasing more food when I have a lot of food already in my fridge which is going to waste perhaps.
It doesn’t take long in fact to just think up some items that you’re going to have each day. I’ve also found that if you do it while you’re in the kitchen after taking a brief look at the cupboards and fridge to see what you’ve got in there already, you’re more likely to use things that have been sitting or not being used for awhile (see that can of beans way in the back? Why not conquer a recipe for chili this week?)
It’s also a good exercise to know how busy my schedule is for the week and to know what I will or won’t have time for. Example, last night we knew we were going to see the movie “Avatar”, and is customary for us – we always get ourselves a good heaping of popcorn at the Theatres. For that reason we had a relatively light dinner (or supper as my roommate would like to say) of hotdogs and caesar salad.
Anyhow, it’s also extremely useful to have a pen and pad somewhere near the kitchen so that when you run out of something or are running low, you can pick it up all at once instead of making multiple trips to the grocery store for one item. Freeing up some free time – I’m all about that!
My fav site Lifehacker just published an article on Menu planning and green shopping which would be useful to check out – but it’s all about planning ahead I’ve found.
