We changing the way we cook here on Food52—with articles and recipes and eight weeks bulletin. (You already signed up, right?) I just finished the first part of meal planning and decided to try it out for myself. Will following these steps really help me eat dinner faster? Here's what I learned.
“Just start by choosing One the recipe you want to eat. Say, Garlic Lime Oven Baked Salmon,” writes our newsletter leader Sarah Jampel. “Choose one recipe for dinner and purchase additional ingredients that will help you make use of the leftovers.”
And who doesn't look forward to salmon? Except, I had just had salmon the night before. When in doubt, do as Ina does: roast chicken. A 4 pound bird can feed a family of four for dinner, or can feed one person for four meals.
How to Grill Chicken Without a Recipe
Read Article
Saturday Dinner
Salt and pepper grilled chicken. Is it better than this? I love chickens so much, I wish I were a chicken (unless laying eggs sounds scary). I roasted the vegetables in the same oven—but on a separate baking sheet, so my chicken had its own space to get colorful and crispy. After I transferred the chicken to a cutting board, I transferred the vegetables to the chicken tray and tossed them in the fat. I made a vinegar salad for everyone to enjoy. I have all the wine. I love chicken! I like this assignment. I love my life.
Sunday Dinner
Chicken fajitas. Another moment of doubt: make fajitas. There's nothing that caramelized peppers and onions packed into a warm tortilla can't fix. I make whole wheat flour tortillas (like these) because I find them comforting, and once you've made them once, you really can't go back to buying store-bought tortillas (they go faster than you think). In any case, the stack seemed excessive next to my two chicken fajitas, but these tortillas were also excessive all part of the plan. Leftovers go into the freezer for what our Staff Writer Valerio Farris calls “anytime tacos”: scrambled eggs, thick yogurt, and salsa for breakfast, or tofu and avocado for lunch.
How to Make Green Sauce With *Any* Vegetable—and Without a Recipe
Read Article
Monday Dinner
Pesto pasta with chicken and green beans. Not going to lie—chicken isn't my first port of call here. I would be fine with just green beans. I boil them in salted water before the pasta because no one needs to clean an extra pot on a work day. I'm sure replacing the chicken with mozzarella pieces would be even tastier. But there was still chicken left and we still ate it. Our tips newsletter highlights green sauce as a way to use up leftover sauce in your fridge. My answer to this is always pesto: any greens, any beans, any cheese, any game. Make sure you thin it with enough pasta water to turn it into an emulsified, creamy sauce—that's the key.
Tuesday Lunch
Chicken Salad with Triscuits. I tried this potato salad recipe—bold and bright with mustard and olive oil, celery and capers, pepperoncini, and pickled jalapeños. I wish the chicken pieces were small Yukon potatoes. Or boiled eggs. Really, anything but chicken.
Sorry, chicken. It wasn't you—it was me. Because if someone eats enough, he will get old quickly. This brings us to the heart of successful meal planning: don't overdo it! Therefore, my revised, should-should-have-been week-long meal plan is below. Mix up your proteins if you can, or reuse some (but not all) of the components of a dish from the night before. You've worked hard to achieve your plan, now let your meal plan do the work for you.
Recommended meal plans revised:
- Saturday dinner: salt and pepper grilled chicken and schmaltzy root vegetables
- Sunday dinner: a bowl of rice with schmaltzy root vegetables, a crispy fried egg and yogurt
- Monday dinner: Chicken fajitas with caramelized peppers, onions and yogurt
- Tuesday dinner: fried rice with bacon, green beans, peas (frozen!), and scrambled eggs
- Wednesday dinner: Pesto kale pasta with chicken and green beans
- Thursday dinner: quesadillas with kale and caramelized peppers and onions
- Friday dinner: an open-faced chicken salad sandwich on thick challah toast with a giant salad
What's your best meal planning trick? Spill the secrets in the comments section below!
