okay, I admit, I actually counted the number of non-fasting days between now and the start of Lent. 35. Thirty-five days to fit in all the family favorites my kids have been clamoring for me to cook. I like to have a fairly fixed menu during fasts, but in other seasons, I prefer to keep my meal planning a little more flexible. That said, I hate to have a lot of meat sitting around as Lent approaches, or spend a lot of time coming up with dinner ideas. So, last week I did a brainstorm session and created a list of favorite dishes (and a few just plain easy ones :). I came up with a list of 20 meals. Then I took my recipes and created 2 grocery lists. One listed all the meat necessary for these dishes. The other had all of the non-perishables. After checking my freezer and pantry to mark off any items already here, I went to S*
m's and got my meat, and hit the grocery store for the rest. I spent a few hours last week preparing the dishes that could be made ahead and frozen, which means I now have about 12 meals in the freezer (now that's a good feeling!). I can now take my menu planning a week at a time. I know the dishes I will serve over the next month and a half, but each week I will look at the calendar, take into account the things going on that week, and plan our meals. A much simpler grocery list can then be made, containing mostly perishable foods. There are a few other dishes I would like to add to this list - I still have way too many butternut squash in my kitchen, so I will probably add a few other dishes here and there, but for now, here is my list. Not all the recipes are linked yet, but will be added over the next week.
6 comments:
oh dear. This means I have even less time before Lent (on old calendar). !! (of course I am home now and on the new calendar). Thanks for the heads up! Blessings on the many meals you have planned!
What a great idea!
We have so little time between now and Triodion. I believe it's the shortest possible interval. I was planning on working on our festal menu this weekend. And I need to seriously rework our fasting menu for Lent. I can't imagine repeating it so soon.
Hope you are enjoying the feast! :)
I was thinking it was about a month. Sigh. What a good idea to do some advanced planning. We got 1/2 a steer about a month before the fast and 1/4 piggy 2 days before it started! I need to start making a dent.
Wow...thanks for the heads-up! Before I read your post, I was in a dreamy world of possibility... Now I have to get jumping and PLAN!
Thanks for helping me organize my family!
I think I'm going to have to make a list of recipes as well!
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