Mastering the Kitchen
Start out simply. When you are starting out and just learning in this area, don’t try to fix a six-course dinner. Right now, just stick to the basics. If your husband is not one who cares whether there is a tremendous amount of variety, could you come up with one week’s worth of breakfast, lunches, and dinners you feel comfortable making?
Instead of trying to plan your menu based upon what you have on hand or what is on sale, I’d recommend that you plan your menu and grocery list based upon recipes you feel comfortable with. At this point, it will make things much easier for you.
Write out a menu plan for a whole week including what you will have for each meal. Don’t try out anything elaborate and don’t feel badly if you alternate between two different things for breakfast everyday (one day cold cereal, one day oatmeal, etc.), slight variety with lunches, and then simple dinners with just two or three items.
Stick to recipes that can be made quickly or made ahead in the morning. My favorite recipes are those with five ingredients or so. Utilize the crockpot. Get a copy of Fix It and Forget It from your local library and find some recipes in there that you would like and incorporate those into your weekly menu plan. I also really enjoy Quick-Cooking magazine – perhaps your library has some of their bound recipe volumes. I’d also see if you library has an 30 minute dinners or less type of cookbooks.
Once you have a simple menu planned (Don’t forget to include sides – not just the main dish, and also include snack items and other extras you usually like to have on hand.), get all the recipes out and go through your cupboards and refrigerator and see what you have on hand already to make these things. If you don’t have it on hand, write it on your grocery list.
Print up your one week menu and post it on the refrigerator. Take your grocery list and buy everything on it (Don’t worry about trying to get good deals or stay on budget right now, just stick to focusing on mastering your one-week menu successfully!).
Then, stick to your menu plan. After doing this for one week, mentally think through what worked and what didn’t. Make a menu plan for the second week based upon these observations. Use the same plan you used the first week, but tweak it to be even better suited for you. Maybe add in another recipe or two, or try making a dessert for one night. Whatever you do, don’t overdo! Once you get this down, you can try maybe cooking more elaborate dinners a few times a week, or cooking extra for your freezer, or planning your menu based upon sales, coupon-shopping and stocking your pantry, etc. But wait until you feel confident in a one week plan!
Cooking is something to be enjoyed, not a great burden. By keeping it simple and saving more difficult recipes for special occasions, it has really helped me to enjoy, not dread, my time in the kitchen.
Simple breakfast ideas (pick two or three for your one-week menu plan):
Cold cereal and milk
Oatmeal with brown sugar, butter, and milk
Toast and eggs
Toast and fruit
Muffins (make the night before or make a big batch on the weekend and freeze to use throughout the week)
Simple lunches (pick two or three for your one-week menu plan):
Peanut butter and jelly, fruit
Open-faced tuna fish with pickles and a slice of cheese – broil for a few minutes, carrot sticks
Grilled cheese and tomato soup (canned)
Turkey and cheese, sliced cucumbers and peppers
Mixed salad greens topped with shredded cheese and a little shredded meat, fresh bread (made in the bread machine)
Simple suppers:
-Roast beef, potatoes, carrots (Put in the crockpot in the afternoon with some water, salt, pepper, garlic salt and simmer for 5 hours), salad
-Spaghetti (Brown some ground beef with onions, pour in a jar os spaghetti sauce and diced italian tomatoes, simmer, boil spaghetti noodles), salad, bread
-Homemade pizza (Not hard to do and I can whip up this entire dinner in 45 minutes or less – You can even use a pizza dough mix from the store to make it easier. Top with about a fourth cup spaghetti or pizza sauce, pepperoni, chicken, or ground beef, a veggie or two (if you’d like) and cheese. Bake.), salad
-Waffles or pancakes or french toast, eggs, and sausage or bacon
-Southwest Roll-ups (Mix 2 Tbsp. salsa, 1 can refried beans, and 1 cup chicken – cooked and cubed. Spoon mixture onto tortillas, place seam side down in 9 x13 pan, Bake 350 for 20-30 minutes, sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.), salad
-Italian chicken (Saute 2 chicken breasts in 1 tsp. oil with 1 clove garlic or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, with salt and peper, parsley, oregano, basil. Remove chicken and cut up. Add 1 chopped onion to the pan and saute onions. Add chicken and 1 cans diced Italian tomatoes.) served over rice or noodles, salad, can of green beans
-Pasta salad (Cook 8 oz of pasta and drain. Add 1 can black loives, 2 tomatoes diced, 1/2 cup frozen peas, 3/4-1 cup Italian dressing, 2 cups chicken. Toss and refrigerate until serving. You could also add red or yellow peppers, cubed cheese, etc.)
Some tips to speeding up dinner preparation:
-Look at your menu plan in the morning and try to do ahead anything you can. I have a short time allotment in my schedule in the morning that is for dinner preparation. Pull frozen meat out, chop up anything you can, put the ingredients into the bread machine for fresh bread, etc. Waiting until the last minute to prepare dinner always makes it harder. Believe me, I know.
-When you arrive home from the store, do all the food prep you can while putting your groceries away. Wash and chop veggies, cook the chicken breasts, chop, and freeze in 1-2 cup portions, wash all your lettuce and tear it so that you can have fresh lettuce for salads all week long.
-Double up. If you like to have bread with your dinners, don’t just make enough for one dinner. Bake bread once or twice a week and plan to use it for multiple dinners.
