You know the routine – the schedule gets hectic and dinner is the last thing on your mind. But inevitably meal time sneaks up on us and “What’s for dinner?” is heard loud and clear. So, what is for dinner? Most of us have the ingredients we need for dinner in our refrigerators and pantries but we haven’t taken the time to plan or think about it, and so we run to the grocery store, order out, or look at those prepared meal boxes we have subscribed to and dread following the recipe when we are exhausted. So, here are a few other organized thoughts on planning for dinnertime:
*In a quiet moment, take an inventory of the items in your pantry so you know what you have on hand. Toss expired items and donate any items that are not expired, but that you know you won’t use. Be sure you can see the items you have stored in the pantry space.
*Plan ahead. Use a calendar to write down your dinnertime meals for the next month.
*Using your meal calendar, make shopping lists to coordinate with the meals you plan to make.
*Regenerate your list for the next month.
*Have family members contribute ideas for meals, and, give them meal time assignments to help you out.
*If you prefer, try a meal planning app. There are many out there so pick and choose carefully. Pepper plate, Paprika, Ziplist, Food on the Table….