My Corner

Back to the topic of Menu planning. My system works pretty well for me, but there are some flaws. 

One is picky kids. Can’t help that–I think we all have that problem! I try to choose kid friendly menus that are healthier. But all three of my kids have totally different tastes, especially in veggies.

Dylan does not like anything healthy. If he could, he would eat chicken nuggets everyday. The veggies he likes are carrots, corn, peas, and the canned version of green beans. Emily is more versatile–she’s always willing to try new foods, but her tastes has gotten a little narrower this past year. I think it’s her age. She doesn’t like carrots, peas, or green beans, but she does like asparagus, broccoli (when it’s in soup form), tomatoes and lettuce. Alexia is like her sister in trying foods, but it depends on her mood. She’ll eat corn, celery, lettuce, and cucumbers by themselves, but if I throw a bunch of veggies in a soup, she’ll eat everything in it. She loves soup!

The other problem is that I like to try different foods. So I end up having new menu items most of the week with maybe two or three old menus. Because of that, my planning takes me a while. I have too many choices and because I’m an analyst by nature, I have to analyze even my plan!

Recipes I do try out, I have everyone rate 1 to 5 stars. If it’s a 5-star, it’s a keeper and I’ll note it on the recipe. If it’s from a magazine, I’ll cut it out and added to a binder I keep. Below 5-stars won’t be needed….

Despite having picky kids, I do some of those tricks of hiding veggies in the food. For example, I love onions, Dylan despise them. His problem is he judges based on what he sees. So I’ll chop the onions really, really tiny and mix it in whatever. He can’t tell because he can’t see them!

Of course things don’t always go to plan, so I have to be flexible. Like tonight. But I was totally ok with tonight. Tony, my dear husband, and my daughter were both hungry for croquette. Plus he was hungry for curry rice. So he did the cooking. Hmmm, yummy. Delicious. And even better–I didn’t have to cook.

As I stated in my previous log, I grew up as a latch-key kid. Both my parents worked, but despite their busy schedule, they manage to cook us home cooked meals everyday. Granted, we didn’t like some of the meals, like egglant and liver (yuck!) but nonetheless, we hardly ate out. And both my parents cooked, mom mostly, but dad chipped in quite often. BTW, he makes the best gyoza (pot stickers).

Now, as a teen, my mom tried to encourage me to cook, but I had no interest. My mom would say, “When you get married, who’s going to cook?” I told her, “I’ll marry a chef.” LOL. Which was ironic because my husband’s first job in the States was as a cook.

I did figure out how to cook not too long after I met my future husband. I wouldn’t say I love cooking, but I like that I have better control on what I put in it. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those geniuses like my mom or husband, that can taste a dish and figure out what all is in it, or just have the ability to create stuff from their heads. But after years of practice, I can at least use recipes as a guide and modify them.

Which leads up to the topic of menu planning. I work full-time but I’m still a mom and someone has to feed the kids. If I left it up to hubby, who does know how to cook, they would be eating chicken nuggets and ramen noodles just because they’re so picky.

Menu planning has worked for me most of the time. There are days I don’t go with the plan, sometimes I have to change it up because I forgot to pick up a key ingredient or something or just didn’t feel like eating whatever I had scheduled that day.

I usually do my planning Saturday or Sunday mornings. I’ve tried planning for the month, but found that I kept changing it every week anyway. And then of course, I got into the grocery ads and couponing, so menus were according to sales and what was in season. I go through like 2 or 3 cookbooks of the many I have, and read recipes then decide. While I’m writing the plan, I make my grocery list and look through my coupon box. Then off to shopping I go.

Menu plannning does save me time during the week. So when I get home, I immediately start cooking and get dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. Then we get all sit down together and eat. After dinner, I make lunches, and check if I need to pull any meats out for the next night’s dinner. Sometimes I’ll pre-prep the veggies.

My system works pretty well for me, but there are a few flaws. I’ll write about it next time.