Friday, March 23, 2012

Meal planning

In an effort to budget better and have home made meals nightly for Kaitlyn, David and I have been toying with the idea of making a weekly meal plan. This will also be very helpful when I start school full time. The less I have to think and stress about the better! A member of my Baby Center birth board emailed me a template to use and I have been reading up on the best way to pull it together using our weekly store add. I think it is my lack of cooking experience and the fact that David would have to do most of the cooking that is holding me back. I sit down with the store add in hand and cannot for the life of me think of any meals that can be created with the items that are on sale. What is wrong with me? I am normally very creative but when it comes to food I loose all creativity and need to have written out directions. I have loads of cook books but all the recipes seem so complicated. I need some easy, healthy ideas that can either be cooked in advance or pulled together in under an hour - even better thrown in a crock pot.
Another thing I am trying to incorporate into this meal plan is the use of one portion of the meal in more than one meal. For instance, chicken parmigiana one night and then a few nights later chicken broccoli fettuccine Alfredo using extra chicken breast cooked the same night we make the parmigiana. It is hard for us because I am not a huge fan of chicken breast and a lot of these types of recipes revolve around chicken breast. I guess I need to suck it up and start getting use to eating it more often.
My issue with chicken breast: it is bland, chewy and the texture makes me want to gag. I have been known to chew one piece of chicken breast for over five minuets before swallowing. Any recommendations on how to properly prepare chicken breast so it is not described as above would be greatly appreciated. I have no problem with chicken thighs or any other dark meat. Do they sell that not on the bone?

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