Thursday, February 16, 2012

Eat like a dietitian

Interesting meal addition from our friend Erik
Do you plan your meals?  I know I have to, otherwise we'd eat scrambled eggs for dinner every night.  It's not just that I need to know what to purchase at the grocery store, I also need to make enough food for lunches as well.  While I wouldn't call our household a scheduling nightmare, it's certainly a balancing act to make sure there is enough prepared food available.

My schedule is different everyday but I for sure see patients Monday-Wednesday, some nights not getting home until after seven.  Ben works a strange split schedule, mostly at the community college for 10 am to 1 pm and then tutoring roughly from 3-7 pm, returning home around 7:30 or 8:00.  I cook dinner during the week, making sure there enough left-overs for us to eat have a hot, instant lunch.

Every week is a little different.  Some weeks I have lots of patience and cooking time and no evening obligations.  Some weeks I have networking events almost every night and I throw food in the slow cooker every morning.  Some weeks are in-between.

When I sit down to plan meals, I try to balance my meal selections, rotating fish, beef, chicken, pork and vegetarian, though sometime we end up with more fish than not.  I also tend not to write down the exact vegetable side because that will depend upon whats on sale at the grocery store or farmer's market.

Here's what was on our menu this week:

Sunday: Szechwan pork stir-fry with bok choy from the latest Cook's Illustrated (it was delicious!)
Monday: Fish tacos or pasta with pesto and smoked salmon and chard (depends whats was on sale)
Tuesday: Salmon burgers and salad (working late)
Wednesday: Roast chicken and potatoes with brussels sprouts or broccoli
Thursday: Guys Night- leftovers or scrambled eggs
Friday: Home made pizza or something else fun
Saturday: Dinner with friends, menu TBA

How do you plan your meals?

3 comments:

  1. I am ever impressed with your dedication to cooking after work. By the time I get home, I always feel like I'm barely clinging to sanity. Cooking is last on the list of things I feel like doing. ...actually, I take that back. Being lit on fire while ritualistically murdered by a cannibalistic tribe of midgets is last. But cooking is close! :p I'm just so tired when I get home that the effort of making food seems like too much to tackle. It's a good thing Patrick enjoys cooking or we'd live on cereal.

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  2. I am very "spoiled" by living on a boarding school campus with my husband (a teacher). We actually get to eat at the dining hall, which usually offers a healthy selection and their food is not half bad. However, I DO plan meals over the summer and love to skip the dining hall and make a home-cooked meal at least once a week during the school year. I've been a fan of healthy crock-pot meals through the winter and have just gotten into making some of Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals...substituting healthy ingredients whenever I can. I do try to vary and alternate like you do as well. I'm a big fan of variety. :)

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