Man, I'm starting to think that "planning food" is harder than any planning ever. Nevermind writing plays, getting my Master's, moving, etc. Planning meals and similar activities is a vast morass of difficulty.
Well, let me qualify my dramatic assertion there by mentioning that I've been trying to get the "food situation" "under control" in my life since I moved out of my parent's house. Being married has intensified the "struggle" a little bit more. Mainly, I've been trying to figure out the following things:
a) how to keep track of recipes and use them
b) how to shop for the right things and not end up w/a bunch of random stuff
c) how to be cheap
d) how to be fairly nutritious
e) how to keep things interesting.
Like everyone else, I am like no one else. So, what works for me and my household probably will not work for, say, you. I know this. I know it as I read organizing books or books on frugality or cookbooks. But, unlike other areas of my life, I get offended at myself for not having one system down.
Perhaps the time has come to stop trying to be in uber-control of my foodlife and accept the various things that do work for me. I'll try to put them down, here, for everyone's benefit and edification. :)
What Works For Me
1. I don't take huge stock-up trips very often. I was doing this for awhile. I would blow our monthly food budget in one trip, even w/careful buying. So I thought I would just break the budget up into the weeks in the month, and only spend that amount. That didn't quite work, either. Now, I survey what I have in the house, and if I am short one ingredient for a dish or recipe, or need something we go through fairly quickly (like tortilla chips) or that is a fresher item (like lettuce or milk), I just go to the store and get it. The trick: I go to the store where it's cheapest. And I get what's on my list. And nothing more.
2. I stock up on the things that really need stocking-up. Mainly, stuff that will not go bad, and that we will definitely use. Like tortilla chips. Frozen meat. Veggies that I can cut up and freeze. The stuff that we use often. This is where my weekly plan fell flat - I don't want enough tortilla chips for the week. I want enough to eat them when I want them. Which is OFTEN.
3. I try to try a new recipe, but it better be finger-lickin' good, or else it will becomes leftovers I don't want to touch. I try not to try out too many new things in a week. I'm pretty good at eyeballing what will be tasty, but trying new recipes can often mean buying a lot of "new" ingredients, so I've been limiting that.
4. I accept the sprawl of my cookbooks. I can't get rid of any of them for various reasons, but I don't use them all that often. They are mighty good reads sometimes, though. And it's nice to have them as a resource. Someday, I will make better use of them, this I know for sure. In the meantime, I've decided to not collect any more recipes unless they are stunning. Like clothing at a thrift store, it must be "fantastic", or I don't need one more thing on my shelf. A good rule of thumb is if I've tried it already. Or know I'm going to make it soon.
5. I don't buy what I don't like. Thankfully, what I like is pretty broad. Similarly, I try not to keep stuff around that will add to my misery at a later date, even if it's nice in the short term. For example, potato chips. Chocolate. Oreos. (Tortilla chips, believe it or not, don't count. I've lost weight on them. They rule.) Yes, I will call forth "a moment on the lips, an eternity on the hips." Heh heh. Though I don't totally believe in that one, either.
6. I try to be a mix-master. Not w/actual mixes, necessarily, but I've been working on the ability to throw stuff together for a long time. So many things taste good together, and it's easy to make a lot of things if I have certain staples on hand, such as frozen veggies, meats, cheeses, and sauces or sauce fixings. And bread, rice, tortillas, pasta. Granted, it's just me n' hubby, and we have similar tastes. So that's easy enough to do right now. :)
Maybe someday I will make a meal plan and stick to it. But in the meantime, I'm not sweating my supposed "lack of disorganization." (Okay, I'm done with the quotation marks!) I'm going to enjoy the fruits of some of my labors instead - and spend less time and money thinking about food.
--Arwen