I started posting our dinners on our dry erase board in the kitchen, and this actually helped achieve nearly 100% compliance with the menu. I like planning for a week at a time. It's a long enough time, to avoid extra trips to the store, and a short enough time frame, for all ingredients to stay fresh. Also, looking ahead to the week helps me consider what days we may not be home for dinnertime, and what else will be going on each day. This helps me know how much dinner prep I will or won't have time for, each day, and then plan the meal, accordingly.
Dry erase board menu display is fantastic for more than one reason:
1. Obviously, it means that I have a plan in place, which means I don't have to do any last minute planning - it's done, once the menu is up. It also helps hold me accountable each day, to prepare and serve a healthy meal.
2. By choosing recipes and then buying the necessary ingredients, waste and spending are reduced, and unnecessary purchases are avoided.
3. (This one is the best one.) I was expecting resistance from the kids. I thought that once they spied items they didn't like up on the board, I'd hear all kinds of whining. But no - they seemed to focus more on the meal option(s) that they did like (I definitely kept that in mind and tried to include those foods), and then looked forward to those: "WEDNESDAY IS ORANGE CHICKEN?! YES!!"
So... I guess I'd better get crackin' on this week's menu. We started the week off tonight, with grass fed T-bone steaks with a paleo steak sauce + a cucumber salad, using garden-fresh cukes. Yummmm!
Simple Cucumber Salad (via The Paleo Mom): http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/07/recipe-simple-cucumber-salad.html
Basic Steak Sauce (via Eat Live Grow Paleo): http://www.eatlivegrowpaleo.com/2012/10/basics-steak-sauce.html?m=1
I still can't get over how much easier it is to cook now, vs when I wasn't cooking Paleo/Primal! If you're on the fence, considering this lifestyle... jump over! Now! It's quite tasty over here :)
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