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ElizabethB
Guru
I wish I planned a weeks worth of meals. I am lucky if I remember to take protein out of the freezer for dinner tonight. A meal plan would probably help with food cost.
That’s why I have to plan.
ElizabethB
Guru
That is why I need a plan.
- Joined
- 11 Oct 2012
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- 18,439
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- SE Australia
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- www.satnavsaysstraighton.com
It does considerably.
Real-world example that even with a plan, I can mess it up.
We were set to have beef burgundy tonight. I went through the recipe days ago, thawed the chuck roast, bought the other ingredients I needed, and told myself that today, after breakfast, I’d get started on it.
Had a very nice breakfast, washed the dishes, made mimosas, got out the cookbook to make a proper start…oh
, that’s right, it’s a crockpot recipe, 9 hours plus prep time, and it’s already 11:30AM…guess I’ll make it today, but we’ll have it tomorrow. No worries, it’ll be even better. Let me get on with my mise en place, like a good little chef…“Eight pieces of bacon, diced”
No problem, let me just reach in here and take out the bacon that’s always thawed and in the fridge…oh, yeah, we had the rest of the thawed bacon yesterday with breakfast…frozen bacon out of the fridge and dumped into some cold water to thaw just enough to peel off eight strips…
…and that’s why beef burgundy won’t be ready until about 9PM tonight!
Even with a plan…I can’t plan.
Real-world example that even with a plan, I can mess it up.
We were set to have beef burgundy tonight. I went through the recipe days ago, thawed the chuck roast, bought the other ingredients I needed, and told myself that today, after breakfast, I’d get started on it.
Had a very nice breakfast, washed the dishes, made mimosas, got out the cookbook to make a proper start…oh
“Eight pieces of bacon, diced”
No problem, let me just reach in here and take out the bacon that’s always thawed and in the fridge…oh, yeah, we had the rest of the thawed bacon yesterday with breakfast…frozen bacon out of the fridge and dumped into some cold water to thaw just enough to peel off eight strips…
…and that’s why beef burgundy won’t be ready until about 9PM tonight!
Even with a plan…I can’t plan.
The problem is feeling the need to stick to that particular recipe. You can make beef Burgundy (Bourguignon) in 2 to 3 hours.
Yeah, but then I’d be stuck with all the specific ingredients I bought for this particular recipe.
To use those, I’d have to modify my weekly menu plan, then I’d be stuck with those ingredients…it’s a house of cards around here, just waiting to collapse!
karadekoolaid
Legendary Member
Get yourself a new deck.it’s a house of cards around here, just waiting to collapse!
What ingredients would they be? Beef Bourguignon is a pretty standard dish...
Ok, do you have your seatbelt fastened, because here’s how that goes around here:
Well crap, this takes 9 hours in the crockpot, I don’t have time for that! Let me just find a regular oven one…<drags out cookbooks, checking each one for recipes for beef burgundy>…
<Two hours later…>
This one uses flour as a thickener, but the other one calls for tapioca and I bought that, so I’d rather use what I bought…and this other one uses porcini mushrooms and this other one uses a mushroom mix and that other one uses white mushrooms, so I guess I’ll have to sub in the ones I have.
This recipe says to cook the aromatics as part of the sauce, that one says to put them in cheesecloth…this one calls for salt pork, that one for bacon, that other one for smoked bacon, and that other other one says whatever you do, don’t use smoked bacon, so I think I’m going to have to figure out what bits of each of these four recipes I can use and combine into one recipe that uses the ingredients I bought, and the method that doesn’t take 9 hours, let me just get some paper and write this out, or I’m going to get lost bouncing back and forth between them…
<Another hour goes by>
Ok, I think I’ve got it <starts cooking, and being my normal slow self, the prep alone takes me an hour, and I still find my usual roadblocks, like the frozen bacon, etc>…great, everything’s in the Dutch oven, let me just pop it in the low oven for a couple of hours…right now it’s…5:30PM! That’s when we normally eat! This isn’t going to be done until 7:30PM-8PM! Guess we’re having it tomorrow anyway.
But wait, there’s more:
<Next day, reheating and finishing the dish>
Me: You know this is pretty good!
<Little voice in the back of my head:> It would have been better if you hadn’t mashed together four recipes. You should have just stuck to the one. It didn’t save you any time anyway.
Me: Well…I thought it was pretty good, but maybe you’re right, these mushrooms seem to be clashing with the wine, because they’re from two different recipes.
<Little voice:> That’s exactly right. I don’t even know how you’re managing to eat that Frankenstein of a mess you call beef burgundy. It’s a travesty.
MrsT: Hey, this is fantastic! You really need to save this. What do you think?
Me: I can’t stand it. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. I think I’m going to be sick.
And that’s how my brain works.
Ok, do you have your seatbelt fastened, because here’s how that goes around here:
Well crap, this takes 9 hours in the crockpot, I don’t have time for that! Let me just find a regular oven one…<drags out cookbooks, checking each one for recipes for beef burgundy>…
<Two hours later…>
This one uses flour as a thickener, but the other one calls for tapioca and I bought that, so I’d rather use what I bought…and this other one uses porcini mushrooms and this other one uses a mushroom mix and that other one uses white mushrooms, so I guess I’ll have to sub in the ones I have.
This recipe says to cook the aromatics as part of the sauce, that one says to put them in cheesecloth…this one calls for salt pork, that one for bacon, that other one for smoked bacon, and that other other one says whatever you do, don’t use smoked bacon, so I think I’m going to have to figure out what bits of each of these four recipes I can use and combine into one recipe that uses the ingredients I bought, and the method that doesn’t take 9 hours, let me just get some paper and write this out, or I’m going to get lost bouncing back and forth between them…
<Another hour goes by>
Ok, I think I’ve got it <starts cooking, and being my normal slow self, the prep alone takes me an hour, and I still find my usual roadblocks, like the frozen bacon, etc>…great, everything’s in the Dutch oven, let me just pop it in the low oven for a couple of hours…right now it’s…5:30PM! That’s when we normally eat! This isn’t going to be done until 7:30PM-8PM! Guess we’re having it tomorrow anyway.
But wait, there’s more:
<Next day, reheating and finishing the dish>
Me: You know this is pretty good!
<Little voice in the back of my head:> It would have been better if you hadn’t mashed together four recipes. You should have just stuck to the one. It didn’t save you any time anyway.
Me: Well…I thought it was pretty good, but maybe you’re right, these mushrooms seem to be clashing with the wine, because they’re from two different recipes.
<Little voice:> That’s exactly right. I don’t even know how you’re managing to eat that Frankenstein of a mess you call beef burgundy. It’s a travesty.
MrsT: Hey, this is fantastic! You really need to save this. What do you think?
Me: I can’t stand it. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. I think I’m going to be sick.
And that’s how my brain works.
Made me laugh out loud. But seriously, beef Bourguignon is a simple dish and your multiple recipes seem to have complicated it beyond reason.
karadekoolaid
Legendary Member
You definitely need two things.
1) simplify your life and just follow the recipe. Even Joel Robluchon makes it simple.
2) get on to Amazon and see if you can find a new brain.
rascal
Forum GOD!
I know we have a big meal on Sunday for family dinner. So light meal Monday then s decent meal tues and thurs with light meals in between. Close as I get to planning.
Russ
Russ
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