Starting the New year right.

 One of the things that I want to be consistent with beginning this year is to have a weekly meal plan.  We have attempted this several times last year and when we start to deviate from the 'plan,' we tend to slip off the track.  I also do not like it whenever our helper will ask us, "Ano ang  lulutuin? (What will I cook?)"  Clearly she has also ran out of things to cook and is asking for some reinforcement.  Sometimes, I would quickly scour the net for recipes when she asks, but most of the time, I would just ask her to cook what she knows, which is the usual (adobo, sinigang, paksiw, tinola, ihaw, fried, etc). 

Honestly, planning a meal is not easy.  You want a balanced meal throughout the week and definitely variety.  We are also cutting back on frying food and take out is the super last option.  

One of my aunts has been implementing this in her household and this gets rid of the stress of impromptu planning.  It also helps in budgeting and keeps grocery shopping organized.  Adding variety to your menu will also broaden your knowledge on the different recipes available.  In my case, all the cooking books will be out into good use.  I am also planning to enroll our helper and myself to several sessions at 25 Mushrooms kitchen in keeping with this goal.

To kick off this quest on having a weekly meal plan, I made a weekly calendar, a grocery list and a recipe keeper for easier reference.  Not at all difficult! What follows is the more tedious task of planning the week ahead!  Good luck to me and I sure need to work hard on keeping the ball rolling and make it part of my weekly routine.

               Weekly meal plan, grocery list and recipe keeper all done in a flash!

                                        My go to recipe books for this month.