Weekly List – Prepping for Meals

I love lists! I’m so crazy about them that I will add something that I just completed to my to-do list so that I can then check it off the list!! I know, sad. But it’s me. It makes me feel accomplished. 

I religiously create a daily list of things to do at the start of each week. I do this to make me feel productive, but I also do it so I can lay my week out and see what needs to get done when and make sure that I don’t forget things. One set of items that gets put on that list is what I need to do for my meals. 

When I am making my list for the week, usually on Sunday afternoons, I go back through my menus for the week and I look to see what I need to do on a daily basis. The biggest part of that is to see what meat or other item I need to get out of the freezer to thaw. If you are buying your protein on a weekly basis, you probably won’t have to think through that, but I generally buy in bulk, so most of what I have is frozen. 

I generally get what I need out of the freezer the morning of the day prior to when I need to use it. For example, if I need some chicken breasts for Tuesday night, I get those out Monday morning and put them in the fridge to thaw. If you need large items such as a roast or a whole chicken, you will need to budget more time for thawing. I know there are tons of food experts who will tell you how to thaw something, but I generally just put what I need on a plate or in some other type of container and place it on a shelf in my fridge. Don’t judge me – knock on wood, we have not ever had food poisoning. If you are more careful about those sorts of things, do what you need to do. The main point of what I am sharing here is that it is helpful to plan ahead for these things. I know you can thaw in the microwave, but I generally don’t like to do that if I can avoid it.

In my planning I can also remind myself if I need to do anything else ahead of time. For example, if I’m putting something in the slow cooker, I need to thaw my items even more ahead of time so that they are ready for that morning instead of for the evening. Maybe I need to do something the night before for a particular meal. I can put all of that on my list for the week so that I don’t forget because if I forget to do something, we are probably going to end up grabbing something or eating out, and that is not good for our budget. 

Well, that’s another one of my meal-planning helps. Next time I will share with you some other hints about my weekly list. Enjoy the next set of meals – and keep managing your mundane!