Quick Menu Planning for Busy Foodies
How do I manage to have a different recipe almost every night, run my own business and have time to be a dad? Ah, a process of course!
1. Check the Food & Wine website for the recipes from this month's issue (its free, you don't need to be a subscriber). Look for the recipes that have a blue dot (fast). Many can be done in 30-45 minutes with minimal prep, or some can be made in advance. Bonus: many recipes have a suggested wine pairing. You don't have to buy/find exactly what they recommend, but you can easily pick up a similar style for under $10.
2. Print out recipes and post on fridge.
3. While printing out recipe, open Peapod (or other online grocery shopping service, if you have one) in another browser window or tab. Copy/paste the various ingredients you may need over to the Peapod search box to make your purchases. I always sort by Unit Price so I can snag the cheaper/bulk items first.
4. Bought more than you need? If you have unused ingredients after your recipe, say too much chicken or tuna, keep it frozen and head over to epicurious.com . Here you can search by main ingredient... and I also throw in the month, so "chicken July". Then you're getting recipes that are taking advantage of seasonal produce (and its another parameter to help narrow down all your choices). Then, filter by "Quick"... you should be able to find something you like within the first dozen results or so.
Now you won't have the problem of having ingredients and not knowing what to make, or having a recipe but no ingredients!
