Meal Planning for the Culinarily-Challenged
I might have made up a term just now, but I think it’s how home cooks feel. “Unskilled” isn’t a fair term to those who know the mechanics of cooking, and “uncertain” feels insulting, like meat and starches are causes of unbridled fear. But “challenged,” I think that’s how we all feel from time to time, perusing the refrigerator and cabinets with no real meal direction coming to mind.
Even professional chefs struggle with menu creation as seasons or trends change. The best menu planners are a step ahead of the curve, readying them for the following season by analyzing growth trends in agriculture and watching restaurant news for budding fads. Every restaurant, whether it seems obvious or not, has a big brain in the back of the house that thinks through the customers’ motivations for choosing what they do off their menu, and there’s more thought to the combinations of flavors and dishes than there seems. Your home’s no different. You have an eclectic group of tastes under your roof, including (potentially) picky kids, ambivalent spouse, picky spouse, ambivalent kids, etc. You get the idea. Sometimes those cereal boxes on the shelf look like a great idea for dinner, but before you give up entirely, hear me out.
Plan Ahead
I have created menus. I create menus every three or four months for my catering business, and I use a standard mentality each time. What is going to be available to me at the store when I get there? Who am I cooking for? How much time do I have to prepare, and do they have to reheat? Will it prep/reheat well? If I can’t get Plan A to work, what’s Plan B? (For example, my market’s tomatoes look terrible… what am I substituting?) Planning isn’t easy, and it’s certainly not quick, but if you do it right at first, it’s the same set of steps every time after that.
If you have a family, I’m sure their tastes change based on a set of circumstances no scientist can decipher. My nieces and nephews swear up and down they hate cheese until the pizza shows up. Planning is challenging, as I said before, but be flexible enough to understand that even the best laid plans sometimes end up liking cheese after all. So be able to reassess as time goes on, and mix in new flavors and textures to test their willingness. Even if they dislike it during month one, try it again during month six. They don’t have to like it, but they should try it. You should, too, if it’s something new to you. You’ll only show them what you know yourself.
Start With What You Know
At the outset, consider what you make weekly now. If I was to do this myself, I would write down spaghetti, sometimes with red sauce and sometimes with garlic oil and broccoli, stir fries, chicken and rice, fried rice, tacos and macaroni and cheese. These are pretty normal things, adjusted to my significant other’s tastes and my own. Your list may be similar, but will likely include items you’re sure to have on hand for your family.
Let me introduce you to what I like to call eating “closer to the dirt.” This means making your own instead of buying processed, and avoiding as many artificial aspects to your food as possible. When you’re meal planning, consider doing exactly that. Consider buying whole potatoes and roasting them, rather than buying pre-cut fries. Try buying whole chicken rather than processed bites. Your sous chef and prep cooks should be helping you with preparations, so add their labor time in and hold them accountable.
Try New Things
Now that you have a rough idea of what you make regularly, write down a few new things to incorporate. Think about trendy foods, meats you don’t often choose, non-meat proteins, and whole grains you haven’t tried. Perusing food websites and magazine covers is a great way to see what others in the industry and in homes across the country are doing. Items like quinoa, lentils, brown rice, edamame, cashew milk, tofu, whole grain pasta, unfamiliar vegetables and different cuts of meat might be intimidating at first, but pick one or two at a time and buy it once. Make it how the instructions indicate, but add in flavors you know your family likes. For example, I love edamame with Old Bay seasoning on it. I love anything with Old Bay seasoning on it. I also use lentils as an addition/thickener in soups and stews. They absorb water like pasta does, but they add a ton more fiber and vitamins. When you try new things, if worse comes to worst you’re only out a few dollars, but you might just find your new favorite thing. For tips on how to prepare any of the items I just mentioned, email me.
Combine the items you know the family likes with the items you want to try. Do a seven day meal plan, like how you’d do if you followed my “Grocery Tips” article’s advice. Try to employ different techniques, ones you’ve never tried. Roasting vegetables is the easiest and best way to maximize their flavor and richness, for example. Dusting your meat with a little seasoned cornmeal before sautéing is a great way to add crispy texture without frying. Consider buying a grill pan, so you can get that lovely caramelization and those grill marks all year long on your stove. “Grill Men” can use a grill pan easier than a frying pan in my experience. Post the menu on the fridge, sorted by day and meal, so you don’t have to answer, “What’s for dinner?” again and again. And prep ahead! It makes meals so much easier and faster to put together that day.
Keep Track of What Works and What Doesn’t
On that fridge board, write down the family reactions. I use an empty circle for each family member. Fill in a smiley, ambivalent or frown face once they’ve tasted. Let them see what you wrote, in case they think back a few days later or they fibbed the first time around. My nephew is the king of this. Food is so gross when he’s served, but compared to the next night’s meal, Monday’s pasta wasn’t so bad. Keep an honest tally. Banish what didn’t work, keep what did, and spend a good ten minutes considering how much work it was to make your meals. Why waste an hour prepping a meal that was only a six out of ten? If a restaurant can’t sell a menu item, or it takes too much work for not enough reward, they call it a “dog,” the idea is scrapped and they start over. Same deal for your kitchen.
Don’t Forget to Take Breaks
Give yourself nights off. No one, I mean no one, cooks all twenty-one meals and fourteen snacks a week. Don’t waste an “eat out” opportunity on breakfast, either. Bacon bakes beautifully when spread out on a jelly roll pan and baked at 350 degrees F. Eggs can be boiled, scrambled or fried, and then refrigerated for a few days. I make breakfast sandwiches six at a time, since English muffins come six in a pack. I keep three in the fridge, freeze the other three, and defrost when I need them. Save your trips to restaurants for lunches on weekends after the kids’ sporting events or healthy mid-week shortcut dinners on busy nights, like a rotisserie chicken from your grocer or hoagies from your deli. Avoid the drive-thru if at all possible. Remember, your resolve is stronger than their marketing tactics.
Find Your Inner Foodie
Meals need to change every season when the varieties of fresh produce change. With the popularity of importing vegetables, you may not notice this, but buying local will help you see a difference. I love when the weather warms and the stands along the sides of my back-country roads reopen to sell their fresh-picked items. Urban readers may see farmer’s markets changing their stock, or may observe restaurant menus changing to feature seasonal items. I love going to the
Philadelphia Italian Market (where Rocky ran in the movie) in the springtime, so I can watch the merchants peddle whatever good stuff they’ve got. Find foodie things to do. It will help you get creative where it really counts.
And meal ideas are easy to come by, thanks to YouTube channels like SORTEDfood and TASTY, both of which feature an ever-changing gallery of helpful, entertaining videos to show you tricks and give you inspiration. I follow both, and they help inspire and distract me at the same time. You can also ask your family what they like or what they’d like to try. Sometimes the customers do know best, and yours may suggest items you never considered, like homemade Stromboli they fill themselves, bacon burgers in February or a pancake breakfast for dinner, all of which you can prep ahead of time.
Good luck with your culinary journey, and if you need meal ideas or help, you’ve need only email me. Enjoy and eat well!
~Chef Jill
What are some things you’ve always wanted to cook but have been too afraid to try?
Comment below!