FOOD + DRINK FOR all the family

My Weekly Meal Planner Experiment: Conclusion

spaghetti alla norma

It’s time to write my post-mortem. First, I shortened my weekly meal planner experiment by 2 weeks because I learned nothing new from the last two weeks. When I started this little experiment my hope was to add more recipes to my repertoire, and to start planning ahead. Let’s see how I did point by point.

Adding new recipes to my repertoire. I tried a few new recipes. But with a toddler and a busy schedule, it proved to be harder than I originally thought. For one thing, the fact that Zack is neither a fan of chicken nor steak reduced my choices. Several new recipes that inspired me where either too long or require ingredients that are normally found at the grocery store. This leads to planning ahead.

Planning ahead.  Despite the time saving benefits, I am still reluctant to modify my habit. Once in a while, I plan dinners for two nights but not more. I wish to claim more improvements over the next months. I have faith that my desire for a quick answer to the daunting What’s for dinner? question will motivate me enough to plan ahead.

On the plus side, I cooked almost every night and we ate well. The experiment was successful overall. I feel better equipped  and will use my past weekly menus as a tool to better plan ahead what I serve for dinner. And it started by putting this Spaghetti Alla Norma recipe that I spotted on the current issue of House & Home (you can buy the digital version on Zinio) on my agenda for a Sunday night.

+ photo credits: Stacey Brandford for House & Home – March 2013