I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this, but I've found a way to always know what's for dinner. I make up a monthly menu and post it on the refrigerator door. This saves time and money because I'm no longer tossing "science projects" into my compost pile or running to the store at the last minute to pick up something for dinner.

I start with a calendar page I make up on the computer. First, I fill in all the dates I'm sure of. For instance, I know we have beans and hotdogs every Saturday night except for the third Saturday of the month. (That's our "once a month" dinner date. If there is a special occasion such as a birthday or an anniversary, I might splurge and go out to dinner twice that month.) So, now I have all my Saturday's covered. My husband gets paid once a month (on the 12th) so that's the (only) night we have steak. Next, I decide (based on what's in the freezer/pantry) what my Sunday dinners will be. (Usually a roast of some kind so I can have leftovers.) My grandson is here every Wednesday night, so I try to have his favorite meals then. Now, my Wednesdays are done. I have "assorted leftover" night two Fridays per month and the other Fridays are something simple like soup and sandwiches. Now my Fridays are done.

The rest of the month is filled in with casseroles (made by the double or triple batch), spaghetti (ditto with sauce), and in the summer time, we eat right out of the garden most of the time. All meals are served with salads and homemade rolls and/or breads. We don't usually have desserts, but occasionally will have brownies or ice cream on Sunday.

The best thing I do is to mark dishes ready for the freezer with the DATE TO BE SERVED instead of the date it went in and also mark it on the monthly menu. That way, I don't accidently forget something I meant to serve.

We have very simple tastes and live very conservatively. I am not a great cook but have learned how to make what my family enjoys most. I even wrote a cookbook (of comfort foods) for my daughters for Christmas.

I do major grocery shopping about twice a month, but shop weekly for fresh stuff like milk and fruit. I don't buy pre-processed foods or store bought cookies or bread.

This method works well for me and now I never have to ask myself "What's for dinner?"

Thanks for reading.

-- Dianne in Mass (dianne.bone@usa.net), April 19, 2001

Answers

my oh my - you are organized!!! good job!

-- kelly (kellytree@hotmail.com), April 20, 2001.

It sounds like you cook a lot like I do. Very little store-bought, and mostly from scratch or fresh from the garden. I used to be really bad about planning meals, but now I do it by the week. I look at the calendar and see what's going on, and plan according to what nights I'll be home to cook. One day on the weekend, I take enough out of the freezer for my weeks meals, and I have a lot easier time having it thawed out and ready. Plenty of leftovers and extras for lunches too.

-- Karen Braun (jbraun@one.net), April 20, 2001.

I have tried making up monthly menus and have failed miserably. But, your suggestions sound worth trying again. I think I had to many different menus and need to do weekly repeats. I am thinking maybe tacos every Friday, homemade pizza Saturday, Potroast Sundays, some variety of chicken on Monday...I'm on a roll. Thanks for the inspiration!

-- Sherry Cookson (ladybug_picnic_12@yahoo.com), April 23, 2001.

Hi, all,

It's not that I'm particularly organized (although I have been called in to make sense out of a few riots and fire drills), it's just that I'm not a very good cook. I don't cook fancy stuff like... shoot, I can't even think of any fancy stuff, much less cook it. Fortunately, my husband is not picky.

Here's a sample: Sunday: Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, rolls. Monday: American Chopped Suey, beets, corn muffins. Tuesday: Spaghetti, salad, rolls. Wednesday: Shepard's Pie, rolls. Thursday: Chicken in gravy over rice, green beans, carrot salad, rolls. Friday: Assorted leftovers. Saturday: Hotdogs & beans, rolls & pickles.

Sunday's baked chicken became Thursday's chicken over rice. The rest went into the freezer for chicken pot pie for another time. There was enough chicken & rice to make one serving for a leftover night. (The carcass is frozen for broth later.)

The large package of hamburger I fried up for Monday's Am. Chopped Suey and the leftover mashed potatoes and peas from Sunday made Wednesday's Shepard's Pie.

Friday's Ass't leftovers were: One helping of Sweet & Sour Chicken & one helping of pork Piccata, both from earlier in the month.

We have hotdogs & beans on Saturday night because my husband doesn't know it's Saturday unless it's hotdogs & beans. I buy large previously frozen packages of hamburger, let it finish thawing in the frig and fry up the whole thing. Then I package it in containers for a batch of chili or tacos or whatever. It thaws faster and the cooking part is already done.

Even though it's only two of us, I usually buy "family-size" portions of meat, chicken, etc. and freeze it in smaller portions. Whenever I cook pasta, rice or mashed potatoes, I make at least a double batch. Any kind of leftover meat goes into spaghetti sauce whether it's sausage, sloppy joes, taco meat, chili, pork roast, leftover roast beef. I just throw it all into sauce. It never tastes the same twice but so what.

I also have a set price I'll pay for things. For instance: I won't pay more than 99 cents/pound for hamburger or more than 69 cents/pound for a baking chicken. Most of my vegetables are those I canned, froze or dried from last season. I make enough rolls to re- heat for the week.

I've tried other plans, but this one works well for me. My mother swears I must have starved to death in another life because food in the house is like money in the bank to me.

Thanks for reading.

-- Dianne in Mass (dianne.bone@usa.net), April 23, 2001.

I'm getting married this summer and I am dreading having to cook all those meals all the time. Right now I can have cereal for supper if I feel like it and the dog and cats don't care, but the new husband might! I think I'll try your ideas when the time comes. Wait a minute...the new husband will get off work 2 hours before I do, maybe he should be in charge of supper.

-- debra in ks (solid-dkn@msn.com), April 26, 2001.

I recently ordered this book entitled, "Once A Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. It is a wonderful book that teaches u how to spend about one or two days a month in the kitchen to prepare meals for the whole month, so u know what u are having, and spend less time in the kitchen! I have always wanted to do this, and ran across her book. I had read and kept several articles over the years in magazines, but this is in one book. Only bad thing is you need freezer space, so it would be inconvenient if u only have a small one attached to your fridge. Blessings, Traci

-- Traci rae Davis (krystalgrace61@yahoo.com), June 08, 2001.

Thanks for the encouragement - I'm going to start out slow with a week's menu. I'm a working mom who is also a caregiver to my grandmother, so time is a critical resource to me. I never know from day to day what we're going to eat, and my pantry is stocked with canned and pre-processed food, and I felt so guilty. I really like the freezer tip also: Date to be served. Thanks for the encouragement and advice.

-- Gayle Sims (gsims@mississippi.org), October 03, 2001.

Dianne, I've been doing almost that exact same thing on and off for a few years now. I don't make up all the meals ahead of time but I do plan for one meal to affect the next by recycling the food.

One thing I try to do is on Saturdays make a pot of soup to be reheated and eaten on the Sabbath. I'm not always consistent but it sure is nice to come home from church and not have to fix anything. It doesn't have to be soup. It can be a casserole or lasagne. It can be something cold: lettuce salad, fruit salad, tuna salad.

By planning at least one meal a day ahead of time (lunch or supper, whichever is your largest and then use the leftovers for the next smaller meal) you are not only saving yourself from asking "What's for dinner?" you are saving yourself from Being Asked "What's for dinner?"!

When I was organized enough to plan a month's worth of meal, at least on paper, the kid's always knew what we were having.

-- LBD (lavendebluedilly@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001.