The Planning of Suppertime

Every Monday I sit down and pick out all the recipes I am going to make between right then and Friday evening. Here is a photo tour of how I get from no food to way too much food.

See that big stack of papers over by the chairs on the right? Those are all recipes I've collected over the last year or two. I often go to this stack first before my cookbooks. I like the individual papers, I guess. I keep them all organized by "genre" so that finding something I'm looking for is easier. Often times I plan a week to include a chicken recipe, a beef recipe, a pizza recipe, a pasta recipe, a big salad or soup recipe. Once the main meals are picked then I choose side dishes for each day and then throw in one to three dessert recipes too.

After I've picked the lucky winners I will compile a schedule for when each one is to be used. This way during the week I don't have to find time to think about supper at all. I simply consult my list around noon time each day and see what needs to be thawed or started in advance and then again in the late afternoon I pull the recipes down, have my daughter help me compile the necessary ingredients and start cooking!

Oh, but before I get ahead of myself, I will need to take an all important trip to the grocery store - or more than one depending on what is needed. This is my grocery list for this week. It is always fun running around trying to make sure you don't buy duplicates of items.

I often make little notes like this for myself too. My mind is like a sieve these days. If I don't write it down, I will forget to do it! I will have that vague feeling that I forgot, but no idea how to retrieve the idea. I thought this didn't happen for at least another fifty years. Oh well. This is a good time to note that all my lists are done on one piece of paper which is folded in half to have little section. This way i don't lose anything and all the information is easy to find.

This is the final product. I use clothes pins to attach my various recipes and notes to a wire rack in my kitchen. They are out of the way, but super handy when I need them.

So now it is Monday morning. I know we are having 3 guests over tonight so the menu is larger than normal. That little ice cream delight you see on the far right is what we're having for dessert. I'm so excited for it I've practically forgotten what the rest of the menu is. Yes, I have a bit of a sweet tooth these days.