Menu Experiment

So for over 2 weeks now I've kind of been going off of a menu plan.  How has it gone?

I liked having a menu to go off of.  It really helped me to just look at the menu, pick something off of it, know how much time I would need to make lunch, and have the food on the table by lunch time (2 o'clock).  However, I think I'm to spontaneous.  I didn't like being stuck to a list.  But, I think I did figure a few things out that will help me in my meal preps.

First off, it always helps to have food on hand to cook with!!  I know that sounds like a no brainer, but it's funny how we can have our pantry packed full of stuff, but nothing that can make a meal!  When I made my shopping list up for the menu, most of the needed things were veggies.  Those pretty much have to be purchased on a weekly basis as they go bad the fastest.  Also on the list was tofu, that's a must have in our house.  I found that as long as I had these items, I had the rest of the stuff in my pantry to make something healthy and good.

The second biggest thing that helped me in meal planning was figuring out early in the day what lunch would be.  In fact, right after breakfast was the best time.  If I looked over my options, then I could figure out what I wanted to make and come up with a time for when lunch prep needed to start.  That way I could have lunch on the table by 2.

Breakfasts are a bit easier for me.  If I don't have enough time to make a big breakfast of waffles, then I can just do the old standby, hot cereal.  I'm doing my best to cut out cold cereals from our menu.  They are expensive and most of them are so processed they are hardly worth being called a food!

So over all I'm pretty happy with how my menu experiment went.  I liked having a menu, but I don't think I'll be sticking to one strictly.  Happy cooking!!