Tip: Keep a Menu... And your Left Overs

One of the first things you learn while living in NYC is that everything is a process - whether it's getting from point "A" to point "B" or simply going to do laundry (thank God for bundle service), everything seems to take planning. when it comes to everyday life planning a good meal can be simple, but planning what to eat for the entire week can be stressful. Many times we find ourselves over shopping at the grocery store and end up with wasted food at the end of week.

This month in "Real Simple" magazine we found the "Weekday Meal Plan and Shopping List" in the January 2011 issue. This simple list has changed our lives tremendously - not only are we creating fun meals, but we are able to strategically meet our needs for the week. In a city of 8 Million people, it's important to use up all your food, esp. when you know there is a lonely soul out in the cold starving.

Above is an example of our list from last week - If you look on the Left-hand side the days of the week are listed vertically, and across the top is the actual menu, and the areas of the grocery store for shopping. As i mentioned above, we try to strategize our Menu so we are always creating dinner and lunches simultaneously. For example, if you look on Monday, we were having "Poulet au Champagne" for dinner, and the next day we had "Chicken Salad" for lunch, the ingredients for the chicken salad are the unused vegetables from the Tuna Salad lunch the day before and the chicken from Monday's dinner. The list goes on in the same direction, and at the end of the week, we are left with little to Nothing in the fridge - this process frees up our weekend for dining out if we want, or to eat left overs. It also relieves some stress from your wallet.

When we prepare soups, like the Split Pea Soup, we usually have quite a bit left over. In this case we make sure to freeze single servings in freezer bags (labeled with Title & Date) in case we get lazy and don't want to prepare a lunch, or want a snack on the weekend. This has saved our lives more than once - and it's just a smart idea, think of it as an Ace in your back pocket.

Good Luck and Happy Cooking!