Keeping the Pace

Thursday evening is my CSA pick-up time. I usually come home, prep all the veggies and plan out some meals for the next week. Last night I had a dinner obligation so I couldn’t do the normal routine. So, this morning, I planned out some meals over breakfast.

Perusing How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for ideas over breakfast:

• Berry smoothie: frozen berries, vanilla soymilk, splash of pomegranate juice
• Mug of mint green tea and a glass of water
• Handful of almonds (not pictured). I eat a scant handful… about 12 almonds

This week’s CSA bounty included:

• 6 ears of corn
• bowl full of carrots
• small head of broccoli
• 2 purple peppers
• bunch of basil
• kale
• head of lettuce

Since today’s a rainy day, I’m going to stay in and cook/bake a bunch of meals for the upcoming week so I can fridge/freeze them. Meal-planning is a really great thing: it saves money, time, and can often ensure you are eating more healthy, complete meals. Once I’ve chosen a few meals, I start a grocery list. I check the cabinets to see what I already have and create a list of only the things I need. Then, I create a chart for the next week and, taking serving sizes into account, space them out over the week. Once that’s done, I’ll “fill-in-the-blanks.” I cook and menu plan for my husband and I. Since we have different tastes and nutritional needs, I generally plan separate breakfasts/lunches/snacks for us.

This is what my process may look like…

Here are the items I picked for the next week (note: since my CSA pick-up is on Thursday, I plan my weeks from Thursday to Thursday).

• Black Beans and Corn, enchilada style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
• Cabbage and Carrot Slaw, Mexican-style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
• Pesto
• Olive Oil Granola (New York Times)
• Aloo Palak (Vegetarian Times)

Here’s my map of the week. I’ll plug in our meals, taking into account our social schedule. For example, we’ll be at my parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t need to include any Saturday meals or breakfast on Sunday.

Next, I go back and fill in all the blanks. This is where I’ll include any fruits/veggies, snacks that I’ll pick up, yogurt, etc… As I add them to my chart, I’ll add them to my grocery list. Here’s the finished map:

So I’m off with my grocery list, and I’ll post on al of the recipes later today. Happy Friday!