I want to do it. I just have a lot of trouble finding the time to sit down and think about it.
Fortunately, last night we had friends over for dinner (afterward I realized that this was the first playdate we’ve hosted, and it went pretty well overall); we made pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, Ranch Style Beans, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus.
And when I say “made,” I mean that the only things we actually made ourselves were the potatoes and asparagus. Everything else came straight from the store or was assembled.
But we have lots of leftovers (except for asparagus), so there are a few meals there.
And I’ve got a Crock Pot full of steel-cut oats, so there are some breakfasts.
Really, I think we’ll be pretty set as long as I make one more dish today. So should I clear out some space in the freezer by making meatball and tortellini soup? Or should I have something hearty but light and make more curried lentils and brown rice?
Decisions, decisions.
I hate my slow cooker. I wanted to do steel cut oats overnight, but it overcooks after about 4 hours. *sigh*
Mine runs hot, too. I cook them during the day and then re-heat each morning. I can’t imagine cooking anything but maybe stock in it for 12 hours. No idea how people leave them running all day without burning their food.
So I am not the only one with a super-hot slow cooker! Mine is ridiculous so I only use it when I am at home or, honestly, when I know I’m going with less tiime than the recipe calls for. I do have one that works just fine, though – thank goodness. But I still have a hard time being OK leaving it all day. If it overcooks and I’m here, I can catch it, at least.
Meal planning..fun and not all at the same time. We used to plan every day of the week, but then realized we ended up with way too much food and much would go to waste. So we’ve started planning only three or four days, using leftovers very intentionally, or purposefully freezing things that will freeze well. Works much better now!
I vote for the soup – freeze it in small individual freezer containers for quick lunch portions.
Well, we’re probably cleaning up leftovers ourselves for a day or two. The soup will probably come into play on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I tend to cook big batches so that I have leftovers for lunch, but too many batches in a week means too much food waste. I feel like I should have a better sense of how much to make, but I’m still developing that.
I wish I was better at meal planning . . . my issue is that I can seriously not want a specific meal, for whatever reason, and if I’m overly planned, and my brain does one of those little flip-flops, well, I’m stuck with what I planned.
That, and I spend Monday & Thursday nights out at music practice, and we go out to eat either Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on the week). Fridays are the day that both Duffy & I work, so we crock-pot it, and we’ve been doing pretty good there (I actually should have some recipes up later this week). Weekends are just pure chaos. So with all of that, there are really only two nights for planning (one “conventional” cooking night, and one crock pot night).
That sounds very familiar! Time is a big issue in my cooking, too.