What’s for dinner? Heck if I know
I must remember…
Turkey on Thanksgiving,
Pudding on Christmas,
Eggs on Easter,
Chicken on Sunday,
Fish on Friday,
Leftovers, Monday.
But ah, me – I am such a dunce.
I went and ate then all at once.
-Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
For us, the remembering starts with Kyle reminding me to take something out of the freezer to thaw.
(Yes, I know the microwave has a defrost setting, but it always seems that some parts of the meat start to cook while others remain frozen solid. Kyle has decreed that microwave-thawing is not an option, and who am I to argue with my personal chef?)
At least three nights out of seven, I forget to thaw anything. Or I take a package out of the freezer at 3pm – certainly not sufficient time for it to thaw, even if we delay dinner until 7pm.
We have one planned meal per week: Pizza on Thursday. It’s our Survivor night tradition, whether Survivor’s on or not. Kyle makes dough in the bread machine, enough for two pizzas. One is half plain cheese (for the girls) and half Margherita (for me), and the other is usually some sort of meat-lover’s variety (for Kyle, with a piece saved for me).
On Thursdays, I don’t have to wonder what to thaw – or even remember to thaw anything. We always know what we’re having for dinner, and we always remember to add those ingredients to the shopping list sometime before Thursday afternoon.
It’s high time that the rest of the week’s meal planning started being so easy.
So we’re going to start assigning meals to days on a two-week rotation cycle. Every Thursday will remain Pizza Night, but the other twelve days in the fortnight are up for grabs (as Jeff Probst would say). Standard meals will be permanently assigned to at least ten of those twelve days, and one or two days will be left open for trying something new. I actually do own a couple cookbooks, and it would be nice to crack them open now and again.
Sounds too complicated? Not for an organization freak like me.
Plus, there’s only so much nuke-n-puke I can stomach over the course of a week.
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We’ll see if this shortcut works for us. If you’ve got a shortcut to share, it could net you $250. Check out this week’s PBN Blog Blast with Ore-Ida.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Sounds like a good idea. Love the Shel Silverstein poem. Good luck with the contest, I <3 PBN!
MommyNamedAprils last blog post..Stuck.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I think that sounds quite sane!
mayberrys last blog post..Confession time
October 11th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I got tired of trying to figure out what to make for dinner every day so I started planning menus 2-3 weeks out and posted it on our kitchen cabinet. Now we know what we’re having for supper. And it helps with grocery shopping too.
Heathers last blog post..Redefined
October 12th, 2008 at 8:45 am
hmmmm pizza on a thursday, i’ve never tried that.
dinners vary in my house — so do the plans of making or buying or semi-homemaking the meals. the only thing that is really a highlight is whether or not its a dessert night. yup, every other night is a dessert night in my house. the kids find it mighty special. and i fully realize how odd it seems. lol
October 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I have a friend who seems to have this down to a science. She has a version of hamburger helper, tuna helper, or whatever else there is, assigned for everyday of the week. I’m with you — there’s only so much nuke I can take in one week.
susiejs last blog post..He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
October 12th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
We eat out every Friday night to celebrate the end of a long week. It gives us all something to look forward to, the kids love it, and heck, I don’t mind someone waiting on me for a change.
The other nights of the week, we have pretty standard meals–spaghetti, tacos, chicken, casseroles, etc.–and my lovely husband made up a snarky little song about how my meals are on a two-week rotation. As if!
October 13th, 2008 at 7:34 am
[...] What’s for Dinner? Heck If I Know [...]
October 13th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Can I come to your house for dinner, then? (And I am so with you on defrosting in the microwave. Never works for me.)
patoiss last blog post..When is it Called "Theft"