I’ve had a number of people request that I share how I meal plan, but because it’s really the foundation of my planning and organization, I first need to explain how I keep track of and sort my recipes.
I’ve found that recipe organization and meal planning are best if they are tailored to your individual needs, circumstances, and personality. And what works for one person and/or family doesn’t necessarily work for another. That being said, I found the methods that work best for me by gathering bits and pieces of advice and information from other people, and then quilting together something that fits my particular preferences and lifestyle.
In addition to gathering and piecing together information from others, I’ve also gone through a fair amount of trial and error, and while I feel pretty comfortable with my current methods at this point, I still tweak things every now and again as my life changes and/or as I gather additional ideas that improve upon what I’ve already got going.
In the past, my recipe organization has involved everything from 5x7 notecards stored in a recipe box or binder to Word documents, separated and labeled by types of meals (entrees, desserts, sides, etc). Once I discovered Evernote, however, everything became much more streamlined.
( See website here: https://evernote.com/ )
If you aren’t familiar with the Evernote app, I highly recommend checking it out. If you’re at all technologically-inclined (like I am), it’s FABULOUS for organizing anything and everything- far more than just recipes. In addition to using it for recipes, I also use it for things like keeping track of gift ideas, to do lists, packing lists, shopping lists, questions to ask at doctor’s visits, ideas for projects, etc.
Using the app, you create “notes”, which can include text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, photographs, a voice memo, or a handwritten “ink” note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notes can then be sorted into folders, tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, searched and exported as part of a notebook.
The best part? All the notes you create are automatically synced across every device you use (phone, computer, tablet, etc.) and can be accessed from any of those devices anywhere, at anytime (think: on your phone, at the grocery store, while shopping for ingredients).
Furthermore, Evernote supports a number of operating system platforms, including OS X, iOS, Chrome OS, Android, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and webOS.
If you can’t tell, I am an Evernote lover and evangelist. It has truly transformed the way I organize, plan, and cook.
Each of the recipes I’ve collected are stored as a separate note on Evernote and then organized into notebooks. At the moment, I have several digital notebooks dedicated to cooking- I’ve got one notebook for Entree notes, one for Desserts, and one for Appetizers/Sides that I’ve tried and want to repeat. Then I’ve got one that contains recipes I want to try but haven’t yet tried. When I try one of those and I like it, I move it into one of my to-be-repeated recipe notebooks.
When it’s meal planning time, all I do is sit down with my app, choose the recipes I want to cook for the week, and make a list of all that I need to purchase for those recipes. I usually do this on Sunday evenings because it’s when my husband is home and can tend to the kids so I can have a decent block of quiet time. Plus, since he’s around, I can consult him and see what he might be in the mood for that week. I usually plan 4 dinners (with the intention of eating leftovers for the other 3 days), and unless it’s a completely crazy week, at least 1 out of those 4 recipes is something new.
Because my husband works late most nights, I can almost never get to the store alone. Since I don’t feel like subjecting the public to my children’s grocery shopping antics, I choose to get the majority of my groceries through Stop and Shop’s Online Peapod service (http://www.peapod.com/). Even though there’s a small delivery charge ($6.95), I have found it to be worth every penny. It means no long, unpleasant shopping trips with small, busy, and sometimes misbehaving children, it means I can comparison and sale shop much more easily (and even choose my recipes for the week based on what’s on sale), and I avoid impulse buys. For these reasons, and because Stop and Shop prices and selections are significantly better than our local grocery store’s, I find I actually save quite a bit of money this way (not to mention preserving my sanity…). It more than makes up for the delivery fee. I do still have to go the store for the occasional item, and I still make trips to places like Costco for certain things, but because I get most of what I need by ordering online, my store trips are short, and they are almost always drama and stress-free. Again, worth every penny.
In addition to my Evernote usage, I also keep a pad of paper and a pen near our fridge in the kitchen so my husband and I can write down when we’re running low on a staple item (like milk or bread, for instance). When I go to do my Peapod grocery order, I combine this list with the list of ingredients needed for the week’s recipes, and, there you have it, shopping complete.
How do you organize your recipes, meal plan, and shop? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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