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Food: Seven Great Dinner Recipes for Non-Dorky Meal Planning!

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May 27, 2012
Be Organized
6 Comments

I go through phases of being really organised and then being completely un-hinged and feral. I like the feeling of having things sorted and knowing where things fit in, meal wise, but often I convince myself I am way too busy or spontaneous or urban to bother with the idea of mapping out a meal plan and planning my whole week.

Part of me thinks there’s some kind of domestic punk-ness to NOT planning stuff. I think I must be TOTALLY kidding myself, because it’s not like people actually get impressed by un-planned risottos or surprise curries.  No one ever remarked on the last-minute abandon with which I throw together butter chicken. Nope. Five minute fricassee is apparently not punk at all.

Perhaps you are like me? Perhaps you are worried that planning your meals might make you boring or take the spring out of your step? Maybe you think that getting things sorted for a whole week might turn you into some kind of beige person? I’m here to say that’s piffle.

Meal planning will not make you taupe or camel or even light tan. It’ll make you WAY more interesting, because it will free up time each week normally spent fretting over food/shopping/recipes/etc.  This is the time you can spend researching underground discos, hidden cafes, unreleased artists and unheard of designers. THAT, my friend, is not beige.

Here’s our seven great dinners for this week.  You can thank me in the comments…

Food: Seven Great Dinner Recipes
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Food: Seven Great Dinner Recipes

Tuscan Bean Soup Recipe via Food : Twenty Two Super Soups : Warm Up! on justb.

Are you a meal planner? Or are you a domestic punk? How do you roll, JustBees?

Top image via 101 Cookbooks

  • Siobhan

    Yum yum, what great meal ideas! We are total meal planners around here. Every week a menu gets drawn up for the following week and then the grocery shopping gets done around it. It saves so much money (and preserves our sanity)! Thanks, Pip! Xx

    • http://www.justbaustralia.com.au/ Pip @ JustB

      It really DOES save money and time, doesn’t it? Those frequent trips to the hospital are KILLER for the budget, once a week is best! x

  • Cathg1g2

    Not a meal planner, await inspiration, can strike at work, in the grocers on the way home, during morning meditation (obviously when I am disciplined enough to do it!) or when i look in fridge at 6pm…but some of these meals, given the cold Melbs snap at the mo have motivated me to shop for specific ingredients and make some of these meals, double the quantities for lunches and freezing. That’s my Sun night inspirational self talking to the working mother re : busy week ahead. Thank you for the inspiration yet again. Tuscan Bean soup and Buckwheat Noodles will feature this week methinks. Oh just clicked on Korean tacos, trifecta!

    • http://www.justbaustralia.com.au/ Pip @ JustB

      Woohoo! I think those are my faves too! Bean Soup tomorrow night! Yum!

  • Loulou

    I just used to buy whatever looked good and lost a lot of produce, and ate a lot of Easy Mac. I read a lot of posts about meal planning and blended the tips together to make it suit my party of one (represent!).

    I write my grocery list according to meal-times. I have headings for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I make sure I have ‘building blocks’ to make meals for example, I might buy fish fillets and salad making supplies and make fish salad for lunch or a fish melt for dinner.

    I do most of my prep as soon as I get home. At first that tip sounded really silly but I work shift work at the thought of prepping veggies at 10pm for tea isn’t appealing. I prep all fruits and veggies, toss my salad, cook prepackaged foods like fish fillets or burger patties, and I portion out anything that lives in my freezer for ease of access.

    Sure helped me :)

  • http://twitter.com/BeautifullyOrg Marissa Roberts

    I’m a big time meal planner – I plan ahead for the whole month! If I don’t, I have to have the same conversation every week with my husband “What do you want for dinner this week? I don’t know….” etc.

    Now I do it Nic Avery style: Plan for the month, ask the husband for his 2 favourite meals and include them in there somewhere. Everyone’s happy :)