Just wanted to share our simple meal planning at home. we are vegetarians so basically we rely mostly on veggies that are in season..the cost is cheaper plus healthy pa
-we first start with making a week-long menu. We market and do the grocery on a Saturday so our menu starts from that Saturday lunch until Friday dinner of the next week. that is 7 lunches and 7 dinners. We do not include breakfast in the menu anymore since my kid goes to school and I go to work so kanya kanya nalang kami sa breakfast namin
-I make a list of the viands for lunch and dinner that we want for the week. then arrange it starting with the ulam/food that will go bad/malanta/masira first. Like example, sinigang for lunch, mga gulay nun is kangkong which wilts fast and talong and okra will go bad/old in a few days, so I put that on Saturday lunch. Then if we have salad greens I also put that at the earliest dinner/lunch menu as much as possible. All hard veggies or beans should be towards the end. Like monggo or chili beans on a Friday lunch, pasta for Friday dinner. Basta lahat ng mauunang mabubulok na gulay or karne or fish, yun dapat unahin mong lutuin. Golden rule in the kitchen is always "First in, first out"
-I also have lunches or dinners that will serve leftovers in the middle of the week. because we do not like piling up on so many leftovers and then wasting it pagnapanis na.
-when making soups like tinolang papaya, or ulams like pochero, we make sure na konti lang or sakto lang lulutuin for that lunch/dinner, because its unappetizing na if you reheat it the next day and serve it as leftovers.
-kung mahal yung certain type of gulay or fish/meat, then that means wala sa season/timing. Just look for other alternatives. Like if mahal yung cabbage, then buy the baguio pechay or don't buy nalang for that week and change your menu that needs it, or don't put that gulay nalang. if mahal the red onions, then choose the white onions if cheaper..or try leeks. kung mahal potatoes, then buy kamote instead. etc.
-we always have 1 or 2 gata ulams in a week. as well as beans. these are good for you. For gata, we usually buy the naka kayod na, then papapiga na kay yaya and freeze it. hiwalay ang kakang (first piga) gata sa 2nd piga. With beans, we usually cook it the day before, sa hapon, then freeze. para hindi rush rush sa day na yun and waiting in vain para lumambot yung beans hehe. also when we boil beans, we make sure to boil na good for 2 cookings para hindi sayang sa gas (although we use pressure cooker naman). kasi aside from the usual chili beans or monggo guisado/gata, we make the beans into burgers din kasi or add it to salads for the next coming menu. it lasts a long time naman sa freezer. pero if you are not a fan of beans then cook nalang yung sakto lang for that ulam.
-if certain gulays are cheap, like red onions are cheap now, we stock up on those, like an extra 1/2 - 1kg even if we still have at home. Just follow the golden rule na first in, first out. don't make it all halo halo together yung newly bought onions mo sa old onions. same with garlic, potatoes/kamote, ginger. those veggies lasts a long time and you don't have to keep it in the ref.
-in making the market list, each menu ililista lahat ng ingredients na magagamit, then once na taly up na yung total, we will check that against what we have in stock pa before coming up how many kilos do we need to buy. example:
carrots needed for the menu - 5pcs; checked in the ref and we still have 2pcs, so we will just buy 3pcs.
sayote needed - 2pcs ; checked the ref and we still have 2pcs. so we don't have to buy na.
and so on..
-our grocery revolves around what our menu will be too. If there is a dish na pancit sotanghon, then we need sotanghon, etc. We also have the "basics" we need in a week like laundry soup, zonrox, bread etc.
- as for our baons for lunch (both my kid and I), yung niluto sa lunch today is yung baon na lunch namin bukas. parang kumbaga 1 day in advance luto ng baon namin. that means, Sunday palang ng hapon, lulutuin na ni yaya yung lunch namin lahat (which is our baon, yaya and mama's lunch on Monday). Monday lunch is already done, iinitin nalang ni yaya or tatapusin luto (like add the pechay leaves if pochero ulam), then she cooks na the lunch for Tuesday. This system works for us. Basta we just take note of adding the veggies that is best pag bagong luto kesa reheat, like the example I gave with the pochero and pechay.
-we keep all our menus in a folder so that each time we need to come up with one, we just can easily go through the ones we had already made previously and we just mix and match or get ideas from different menus and make a new one, depending ano mahal/mura na gulay. maarte kasi si mama (used to be a manager and meal planner in a resto) kaya ayaw niya yung gagayahin yung exact same menu na nagawa na before, kaya hindi laging fixed yung grocery/market list. If you want less complications and less thinking, at the back of the menu you made dapat may listahan na ng lahat ng gulay/meat you need to buy in the market, as well as the grocery for that menu. Then just double check your stocks to add/lessen what's on the list. that is much much easier.
Isip pa ako
