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Menu Planning and Weekend Prep

meal planning for the week...washed lettuce

A few weeks ago I blogged about menu planning and weekend prep (MPWP) and today I’m back up on my soapbox. I’ve been MPWPing our meals for the past month and I’ve got a few ideas and thoughts to share with you.

The first thing to think about is whether or not MPWP is for you. If you like to plan and if a home-cooked, whole-food evening meal is important to you, then you might benefit from MPWP. It’s also important to think about how you prefer to gather your ingredients; MPWP depends on having a whole week’s cache of ingredients on hand so it does require organization. Lastly you have to decide if you are willing to give up the chunk of time it takes to do the prep work; I’ve found that it is takes 2 to 3 hours of work but that includes prep work for our weekday lunches too.

meal planning for the week...salad toppings prepped for weekday lunches

I’ve MPWPed for the past five weeks and I’ve got a whopping 93 percent record of actually cooking and serving what is on my menu. The two times I veered from off were due to an overly-optimistic view of what I could pull off in an evening and what my children were willing to eat. One night my menu was for acorn squash and shitake risotto…while I did have the squash diced and the stock prepared I just couldn’t convince two starving teenagers that they would love this risotto…we had paninis instead. The other non-starter was thinking that I would want to cook on a Friday night…I don’t. On Friday nights I want a cold local beer and a hot local burger…I want it brought to me and then I want to go home, put on my pajamas and catch up on the TV I recorded during the week. Now my Friday menu indicates who gets to pick the restaurant.

I’ve learned that it’s best to stick to food that has a high likelihood of appealing to the whole family like Reuben Sandwiches, Pork Burritos, Chili, and pasta. It also needs to be food that can be prepared and eaten before 7:00pm because of evening commitments with tutors, meetings, rehearsals, etc. The downside to these menu choices is that they are rarely bloggable. But the family is happy and well fed. We waste far less food now than ever before and that’s a boost for our bank account and for our conscience. I think the cost of each meal is lower than what it would be if I didn’t MPWP because I’m sure we’d be eating more takeout or going out to restaurants if I had to make dinner from scratch each evening.

We take big salads to work everyday for lunch. The organization and effort it would take to make those salads from scratch each morning is more than I can pull off so now I include all the prep work in my weekend prep time. I wash enough lettuce for 10 salads, peel and chop carrots, broccoli, and whatever else came in the CSA box. With the lettuce washed and dried and all the veg cleaned, chopped, and jarred, all I have to do each morning is assemble the salads and add a tiny bottle of olive oil and vinegar.

Having the weekly menu posted on my wiki with links to my calendar means that I can easily remind myself what dinner is and what my evening obligations are. I come home relaxed and I know exactly what I need to do to get the evening portion of our life in motion. That’s what I like the most about MPWP…it’s an anti-anxiety measure that actually ends up giving me more time throughout the week than what it costs in time on the weekend.

October 5, 2008 | Filed Under MPWP, braising, food, geek fast food, menu, menu planning, quick and easy, soup, salad, sandwich, weekend prep 

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18 Responses to “Menu Planning and Weekend Prep”

  1. JEP on October 5th, 2008

    MPWP is exactly what I need to learn to do…I’m sure it would help with my every nite after work thoughts of “I live alone so….I’ll just eat a bowl of cereal”. I did make a pot roast today so that can be worked into another lunch & dinner menu. yay!

  2. Kalyn on October 5th, 2008

    I do the weekend prep part of this, but I’m not so hot on the menu planning. It seems I’m unable to commit on Sunday as to what I might want to eat on Wednesday. Most times it will be one of the things I’ve prepped on the weekend, but not always!

  3. Kalyn on October 5th, 2008

    Forgot to say I am impressed! Love the jars full of chopped veggies.

  4. Laura W. on October 5th, 2008

    How do you store your chopped vegetables? Do they stay fresh alone in the jar or do you cover them with water?

    I just got back from a late night Sunday grocery run and this is certainly not the way to start the week. This blog post was exactly what I needed.

  5. vanessa on October 6th, 2008

    Laura W: I just store them in the jar, no water and they do stay fresh and they don’t dry out. The beets are cooked, peeled, and diced and then I poured some leftover pickled beet juice on them. Good luck with your week.

  6. Erin on October 6th, 2008

    I try to plan ahead most Sundays for the upcoming week, but not quite as much as you do. I still rely on frozen meals for lunches more than I’d like to, but I’m trying to plan more salads or dinner leftovers for lunches instead. I’m impressed with how well your planning is going… thanks for the great tips!

  7. pam on October 6th, 2008

    Your jars of veggies are so pretty! Do you know if cutting them ahead of time effects their nutritional value?

  8. Kristen on October 6th, 2008

    Whenever I do MPWP I try to focus on dishes that will make good leftovers for lunch because I find my husband and I are not likely to enjoy leftovers for dinner. I also love to have something made that morphs into another dish without screaming “leftovers” to us. Proteins made into soups later in the week are a big hit.

  9. Cassandra on October 6th, 2008

    Regarding salad prep - what about cucumbers & tomatoes? I’ve been able to get maybe 2 days out of pre-chopped cucumbers, and 0 for tomatoes. If you do those in advance, how do you do it?

  10. vanessa on October 6th, 2008

    Cassandra, I do cucumbers and tomatoes every morning when I assemble the salads…I think you’re right, there is very little freshness if you pre-cut those two items.

    Pam, nutritional value…gosh, I haven’t a clue.

  11. Jef on October 7th, 2008

    While I don’t menu plan, I do make several dishes on Sunday morning. These are mostly for my weekly work foods but sometimes the eater has them too. Since I work nights (LOONG 12hr nights) this is usually the best option for avoiding take-out.

    I’m not sure if I could ever commit to chopping and jarring veggies for weekly meals. I’m good at that and it usually doesn’t take too much time. Now if I could get someone to pick up my veggies and go food shopping that would save me loads of time.

  12. cheezmaker on October 7th, 2008

    Vanessa- great photo’s and a great idea! I’m a working mother “unit” and and a “virgo” (we tend to be organized) so I’ve been menu planning for years now- most itmes I am 2 weeks out. Over that time I’ve learned what you can and can’t do ahead. Time spent on sunday morning (with some Frank Sinatra on the stereo) is well spent. I’m fond of ziplock bags- I can label what they are for. Marathon onion, carrot, peppers and celery chopping and jars of minced garlic go a long way in your week. I’m lucky in that Putz and Grunter eat most anything and Grunter takes leftovers to work with him ( not many 24 year olds would).
    Agree with the friday night schedule but what happened to the Wisconsin Friday Fish Fry?????

    cheezmaker

  13. Natalie on October 8th, 2008

    I love this idea. But I don’t like to sacrifice my weekends… Maybe I can come up with another time to do the prep and still use the idea. Something like MP3AMP - which is where you menu plan and then prep at 3am :)

    Thanks for the ideas!

  14. Sarah on October 8th, 2008

    Oh, how I love that picture of the veggies neatly chopped in jars. If only all of life were this tidy and organized!

  15. maris on October 9th, 2008

    I have tried this but I never wind up sticking to it! I fall into the excuse all too often of, “I live alone so I’ll eat cheese and crackers for dinner.” But since I’ve started blogging I have more recipes I want to try and more creative ideas so that motivates me to cook more often.

  16. kaycee on October 13th, 2008

    this is good.. ive been thinking on how to store fresh vegetables, glad i found this blog. im trying it out and hoping it will work.. thanks!

  17. cryste on October 20th, 2008

    I love this site….ok, so I see you store fresh cut veggies in jars…..are they then refrigerated or left unrefrigerated? BTW…….what can you do with a big bunch of arugula (large amount) I know I can spritz some in a salad but I have so much, think I need to make a big bowl of greens, can I mix it wih bean soup? Many questions…please help!
    cryste

  18. vanessa on October 20th, 2008

    Hi Cryste, the veg in the jars are refrigerated….they stay fresh and crisp much longer in jars than in plastic bags. Argula oh how I love it…I’d pile it into salads, sandwiches, serve it as a bed for some poached or fried eggs, dump a heap into risotto and bbean soup….but of course. Have fun.
    V

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