This blog post is the third in a series of posts designed to teach you how to meal plan during times of crisis and in your everyday life (post-coronavirus). If there was ever a time to consider practicing the Art of Organized Meal Planning–it’s now.
Do you have a mantra?
A mantra is a statement or slogan that is repeated frequently. It’s often a positive phrase used to motivate, encourage, and inspire yourself or others to achieve a particular goal.
You may have a personal mantra for meditating, feeling empowered, or for living your life. You may even have mantra or two to help you get through this pandemic we’re currently living through.
But, do you have a mantra for meal planning?
I’ve been ‘head chef’ of my household for almost twenty years. That’s twenty years of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, holiday meals, brunches, and the occasional barbecue. Since going on lockdown in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve done an inordinate amount of meal planning and cooking. Three meals a day plus snacks for my family of four has kept me (and our dishwasher) very busy. I’ve mostly stuck to ‘crowd-pleaser’ meals and familiar foods to help make this time in our lives dare I say–more palatable.
The more time I spend in my kitchen, the more I find myself repeating a few food-related sayings. I say these phrases so often, they’ve become my meal planning mantras. I sometimes even hear my husband and kids repeating them!
BTW…While I was composing this blog post in WordPress, my 10 year old son walked into the room. He looked at my desktop screen and the image quotes below and asked me what a mantra was. After I told him, he looked at me and said, “Mommy you say ALL of these–a lot!”
Here are my top three favorite meal planning mantras for crisis time or any time:
MANTRA #1: Cook Once. Eat Twice!
Many of us are spending more time than usual eating at home. That’s a lot of meals–especially if you are feeding a family day after day, week after week (and now month after month).
I have been saying Mantra #1 for years. It brings me great joy to cook once and eat twice. It’s a major time saver to not have to prepare each component for each meal every day! The ‘cook once and eat twice’ philosophy requires thought and meal planning but not a lot of extra prep time.
A few ways to ‘cook once and eat twice’ during crisis time or any time:
• Cook enough of a protein at one time for two different meals. For example, cook enough chop meat to be used for tacos one night and bolognese sauce a few days later. Make roasted chicken for dinner and shred the leftover chicken for chicken tortilla soup to be eaten over the weekend.
• Cook enough for two complete meals. Take out those large pots you use at holiday time and double your recipes!
• Use a crockpot. A crockpot makes a ton of food. And you can ‘set it and forget it’ while you’re spending your time working, cleaning your home, keeping your kids occupied, and of course–meal planning.
Think about it: What foods would you like to ‘cook once and eat twice’ this week?
MANTRA #2: Keep it Simple with Kit Meals
If you’ve been a fan of the Food Network for over two decades like I have, you’ve watched a whole lotta cooking shows. One show from 2005 that inspired the above mantra is called ‘Cooking Thin with Kathleen Daelemans.’ It wasn’t just an in-studio how-to show demonstrating low-calorie recipes. Chef Kathleen helped ordinary people with food challenges and taught them about meal planning, goal setting, and gave them tips on cooking lighter. One tip I recall and use in my home is the basis for Meal Planning Mantra #2.
Chef Kathleen often spoke about how keeping a pantry filled with healthy foods would support a healthier way of eating. She would pull items off the shelf that worked together to create a healthy meal and referred to them as ‘kit meals.’ I started using that phrase more often after I had children. Having to come up with fairly healthy dinners without using much brain power (sleep deprivation will do that to ya) led me to create ‘kit meals’ for my family. A box of fish sticks with a box of mac and cheese and a steam-in-bag of mixed vegetables was a ‘kit meal.’ A package of chicken cutlets, one lemon, a bag of Trader Joe’s kale and a box of Near East Toasted Almond rice was a ‘kit meal.’ As long as I had all of the components to the kit meal and a way to keep on top of my pantry inventory, I could feed my family simply and easily. Thanks, Chef Kathleen!
Think about it: What kind of ‘kit meals’ could you make for your family?
MANTRA #3: The ‘L’ in Lunch Stands for Leftovers
Of the three meal planning mantras, I think this one is my favorite. It’s also the most recent one I’ve come up with. If I’m not running errands after working with a client, I come straight home and eat lunch. So as not to waste food, I try to make sure I eat leftovers at lunch time.
At the moment, I am not working with clients in their homes. I am in my own home eating lunch with my family every day and going food shopping as infrequently as possible. In an attempt to make sure none of our food went to waste, I created Mantra #3. It’s actually a take-off of a mantra I’ve chanted to my children over the past few years:
“The ‘M’ in “Mommy’ Does Not Stand for MAID!”
It’s a great title for a children’s book. I’ll keep that in mind when I’m not so busy meal planning…
To prevent food waste, I have been managing the leftovers in our home for the past few months #likeaboss. During the early days of lockdown, I would stand in front of the refrigerator and tell my family that if there were leftovers in the fridge, they had to be eaten for lunch. That’s when I would say (OK–yell) “The ‘L’ in Lunch Stands for Leftovers.” I think if my family put a dollar in a jar every time I repeated this mantra over the past few months, we’d have enough money to pay off our mortgage. It has gotten to a point where my husband and kids won’t think about making something for lunch without looking for leftovers first!
When planning your meals, consider cooking enough to have extra servings for leftovers. Even if there’s one portion of food left from dinner, that’s one meal someone can eat for lunch.
Leftovers: Plan for them. Eat them. Don’t forget about them!
Think about it: What leftovers can you eat for lunch tomorrow?
Tell me! What are some of your favorite meal planning mantras?
Stacey is a Professional Organizer, Virtual Organizer, and Author in Bergen County, New Jersey specializing in home organizing, time, and paper management. She is the author of The Organized Bride’s Thank You Note Handbook: Let Systems and 101 Modern Sample Thank You Notes Take You From Overwhelmed to Organized.
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These are terrific! I actually have two people in my house who much prefer leftovers for lunch over sandwiches. Sometimes my primary motivation for cooking is so that there will be leftovers for lunch the next day LOL! Not having leftovers to easily access was one factor that made my husband reluctant to go back to working in his office. I guess that is a compliment at the end of the day, right?
I cook with leftovers in mind, too! My husband on the other hand has missed eating lunch out every day and sometimes needs a break from leftovers. Now we order a pizza and freeze the pieces individually fora few lunches. If we BBQ for dinner, I’ll marinate some chicken so he can have grilled chicken over salad or on a roll later in the week like he used to get when he went out to lunch. Happy husbands are just as important as happy wives!
Stacey- You made me laugh several times. I love your sense of humor AND your wonderful meal planning mantras. I’m a total fan of the “Cook once. Eat twice.” Frankly, I extend that to eating the “thing” more than twice. I admire your approach to meal planning. It’s fun, creative, and practical. I think I’ve mentioned to you before that I’ve never been a great meal planner. The best I’ve been able to do is to have the ingredients prepped and available and then “assemble” meals. That works for us. Your family is lucky to have you as their “head chef.”
I try to have fun with meal planning–those mantras help me get through the constant need to feed a family of four that is always home (and hungry!). In fact, my hubby and sons all had leftovers for lunch today–Yay! So glad I could give you a good laugh!
This is a fun post to read, Stacy. I also eat leftovers for lunch and use the cook once eat twice philosophy in my meal planning – although, I admit – I hadn’t thought of these ideas as mantras. Wonderful tips for anyone at anytime – particularly now!
Thanks, Diane. Keeping the everyday tasks fun during these challenging times has been helpful. What’s even more funny is having my 10 year old look at me while I’m doing ‘big batch’ cooking and say, “Cook once, eat twice!” At least I know he’s listening!
Chanting those mantras with you, Stacey! I aim for cook once, eat for the rest of the week when I roast big pans of vegetables to add to my lunches throughout the week. They’re so good, I don’t often make it more than a couple of days without needing to make more. In my next life, my fridge is going to be stocked (by someone else) with fully prepared home-made meals I can simply heat up and enjoy.
I like your idea of cook once and eating for the rest of the week! I’ll have to try that with some vegetables I like roasted. I am also on the same page as you regarding those meals NOT prepared by me. Except, I think I’d like an on-site chef. We can all dream, can’t we?
I totally relate to Mantra #1. If I spend a lot of time preparing a meal, I feel ripped off if there isn’t enough for at least one more meal. I ate leftovers for lunch nearly all the time when I took a lunch to work, but not so much anymore. And I’ll have to rack my brain for some kit meal ideas!
Love the Mantras. Great believer in Cook Once, Eat Twice and may I add making it into a new dish! Thank you.
I found that creating those mantras allowed me and my family to focus on our food needs and save time and money in the process!