Weekend meal planning is the hardest for me. Full Saturdays, spent either working or playing, usually mean dinner hours that come so quickly that I have barely given them a second thought. And this often means scrambling to find leftovers, order pizza, or even serve the occasional bowl of cereal or Nutella sandwich. Ahem.
One way I have battled my trend of "reactive" weekend dinners on the fly is to prepare them right after breakfast before any other part of our day begins.
If dinner is made in the morning, I feel a true sense of weekend freedom. We can leave for an entire Saturday outing knowing we will come home to a warm, home-cooked meal that is all ready! This little act of preparedness pushes time constraints out the window all while eliminating the temptation to order out and spend unnecessary money just because "there's nothing to eat."
This is also true for Saturdays spent at home cleaning, working on a project or just hanging out in the yard. Knowing I won't have to stop what I'm doing to make dinner is well worth a little extra morning kitchen time.
Likewise, making dinner before church on Sunday gives us a hot mid-day meal when we return home and opens up the day to rest, work on hobbies, attend the evening service and enjoy uninterrupted time spent together.
Soups, chili, bread machines and crock-pot recipes work fabulous for this, by the way!
(In summary, it's much more fun to be off doing this.....
....knowing we have this to come home to!)
What kind of weekend meal planning tips do you have?
Happy Monday to You!
I agree. The times I'm better prepared with dinner on Saturday, the more enjoyable the Saturday is. I like to make our Saturday dinners simple - soups, chili, pizza. (Of course other Saturdays I'm experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes.) I find Sundays difficult at times (don't like to leave the oven on while we're out) so the 'Sunday roast' idea is out of the question.
Hope you're feeling well. Missed talking to you.
Posted by: Ellen | Monday, September 26, 2011 at 08:20 AM
I enjoy soups and homemade bread or muffins for dinner. Our weekend dinners lately have been eating the leftovers out of the fridge. I am still learning how to cook smaller meals and not doing very well. We usually have enough food for a dozen people at each meal and it doesn't help that I cook as a hobby! xx
Posted by: Tracey | Monday, September 26, 2011 at 06:14 AM