Friday, February 26, 2010

How Dinner Gets Made....

Easy steps to getting a homemade (not from a box) dinner on the table:

No, I'm not a magician or a homemaking workaholic. I simply do not like to worry about dinner so I plan ahead. I also abhor all things from boxes (except presents....presents are wonderful in boxes).

Step 1: Make a Plan.

This could as complicated as sitting down once a week and making a complete menu or as simple as saying, "Tomorrow we will have meatloaf and mashed potatotes."

Step 2: Have Groceries in Your House.

I should add have groceries in your house that you could make an actual meal with because some of you are cheeky and look for any oppurtunity to sass me. You can easily make a grocery list using your menu plan. Or, if you are more the fly by the seat of your pants type, you can just have a ready stock of things you often need for your recipes.

Step 3: Start Early.

I think this is my most important step. We have energy early in the day before the children drive us batty or the desire to become one with our couch becomes too strong to resist any more. To start early means a couple things. It could mean having your meat defrosting from the day before. It could mean throwing things into the crockpot while your coffee brews. Also, if you are making a meal that doesn't not need to cook all day, then setting out the ingredients. There is something about seeing all the things one needs for a meal laid out before us that seems to make everything easier.

Step 4: Commit.

Knowing that it is better for your family (both in health and in pocketbook) is motivation enough for most, but, let's admit it, unless WE DECIDE that we are going to do it, want to do it, feel good about ourselves doing it, then we are not going to do it.

That is it. The added bonus of starting early is that there is plenty of time to get the dishes done/kitchen clean before dinner so that it doesn't not seem like such a chore. So, tonight at our house we our having bacon mushroom pasta with garlic toast and a salad. Happy eats!

2 comments:

  1. Great post, Angie. Some good ideas. I don't like cooking from boxes either. You have a talent for writing, by the way. Miss you!

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  2. Angie, I love this post! It seems like this should be published in a magazine somewhere!

    Bacon mushroom pasta sounds divine. If I'm ever invited for dinner, that is what I want ;)

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