Plan Your Meals Ahead

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2009

Cooking at the end of the day may be the last thing you want to do. Between work, school, community activities and all of the other demands on your time, you just want to relax. Yet, you have a hungry family to feed.

Making sure all family members are getting the right foods in the right amounts takes some planning. Since every family member has different tastes and wants, all of them need to be a part of the planning process.

If you have children who do not want to eat school lunches, then carried lunches need to be planned. Even though fast food may seem like the best option for adults, money and calories can be saved with carried lunches. Taking the number of people in the family who want to carry their lunch times five meals per week is a lot of meals. It can seem especially overwhelming when you are trying to plan nutritious evening meals as well.

For efficiency, make a written plan. Set up a grid with the days of the week across the top and the names of each individual needing a lunch down the left side. Add a row for dinner at the bottom of the left side. Next, fill in the boxes with the "menu" for each meal, making sure to choose foods from all of the foods in MyPyramid. (www.mypyramid.gov)

Typically, lunch will be some type of sandwich, fresh vegetables, fruit, yogurt and a beverage. If the person carrying the lunch has access to a microwave and can reheat items, leftovers from the night before may be a good choice.

The dinner menu that all family members will eat should include food from the grains, vegetable, fruit, protein and dairy groups. For example, whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, fresh lettuce salad, garlic bread, watermelon chunks and milk would include all of these groups.

After you have filled out the grid for all family members and dinner meals, make a shopping list. To save time and effort, think about how the grocery store is organized, and make your shopping list match that store layout.

Check your pantry to see what items you have on hand. If any menu items will be made from scratch, check the recipes to see what you need to buy. Try to limit high-cost items on the list such as frozen meals, sugary beverages and foods that are not in season. Leave room to make changes if something your family likes is on special that week.

Another way to help your family eat nutritiously during the busy week days is to do much of the food preparation on the weekend. When you have a menu, recipes and the shopping done, set aside some time on the weekend and ask all family members to pitch in.

Carried sandwiches for the week can be made on the weekend and frozen. Just remember to leave fresh vegetables like lettuce and tomatoes off as well as condiments such as mayonnaise. Those can be carried separately and put on at meal time. If canned fruit is used, buy reusable containers and portion out the fruit on the weekend. Keep these individual portions refrigerated until you pack the lunch.

For the evening meals that are planned ahead, main dishes can be at least partially prepared ahead of time. If several dishes call for cooked ground beef, you can cook it all ahead and portion it out to recipe sized amounts and freeze it. Tacos, chili and spaghetti sauce are some examples of foods that require cooked ground beef. To take it a step further, go ahead and make up these foods and freeze them so that all you need to do is thaw them all day in the refrigerator and heat them at mealtime.

Find ways to make food preparation faster. If you are making meatloaf, instead of making one big loaf that will take over an hour to cook, make individual meatloaves in muffin tins. These single servings are just the right size and leftovers can be frozen for later use. Some electric appliances can also save time—the electric grills that are on the market can be faster than heating up the outside grill. Don't forget that you can also grill vegetables!

If you continue to make these menu plans, soon you will have six to eight weeks of menus ready to go. You will know what has worked and can make any small changes needed but the planning is done. Just rotate the weekly menus to give variety to your meals!

Chicken Enchiladas*

1 pound cooked, diced or shredded chicken

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 4-ounce can green chilies, chopped

4 cups medium white sauce made with broth

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 package whole wheat flour tortillas

3/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

White Sauce for Chicken Enchiladas

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups chicken broth

In a medium saucepan, melt margarine or butter. When margarine is melted, add flour, using a wire whisk to keep the mixture smooth. Add salt. Cook for one minute. Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in broth, mixing until mixture is smooth. Return to heat, and cook until mixture is bubbly and thickened.

1. Boil chicken in saucepan with enough water to cover meat. Cover, reduce heat and cook 1½ to 2 hours. Remove meat from bones. Reserve broth, and use it to make medium white sauce. See recipe above.

2. In skillet or saucepan, sauté onion and green chilies in oil. Add white sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

3. Cut tortillas in quarters. Line bottom of casserole dish with tortillas; add a layer of chicken and a layer of sauce, and then top with cheese. Repeat layering process. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

4. Additional tortillas may be heated and served with casserole. If crisp tortillas are preferred, allow sauce to chill before using. Serves 8.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: 340 calories; 12 grams fat; 4.5 grams saturated fat; 70 mg cholesterol; 26 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams fiber, 31 grams protein, 610 milligrams sodium

Source: *Recipe can be found in the Cent$ible Nutrition Cookbook available for purchase. Log on to www.uwyo.edu/centsible for more information.

Source: Shirley Camp, MS RD, Extension Educator, Nutrition and Wellness, scamp@illinois.edu