Cooking in a traditional manner requires a lot more planning and preparation than the average American cook is used to. My planning-ahead skills have never been very good, so I have had to really work on developing them. This has certainly not been an overnight thing, but something that I have had to grow into over the last year.
I now have a basic weekly routine that helps me to keep my kitchen humming along well. It all starts on Thursday night when I decide what we are going to eat for the next week. I keep a list of food that I know how to prepare in my Google Docs. Right now that list has 17 main dishes, 5 soups, 3 salads, 4 fermentations (e.g. pickles), 8 breakfast items (e.g. scones), and 6 desserts. On Thursday night I go through that list and plan about 4 main meals. I then look through various cookbooks or on the Internet for a new dish I haven’t made before. I like to try something new every week. If we like it I add it to the list. I also try to have one thing that can be ready as soon as we get home, like a crock-pot meal. On Wednesday nights we have our evening filled.
As I add an item to the list, I look at the ingredients and check to see what we already have on hand. I make my grocery list up (on paper) from what we need to make the 5 items I have selected. I use the number 5 because we usually have enough left-overs to make up the other 2 days. During the week as I use up basic supplies like wheat, rice, beans, salt, peanut butter, etc. I add these items to my grocery list.
On Friday after work I go grocery shopping at Arbor Farms.
Continued in part 2…
And here…we take it to the next level!
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My NT Recipe Repetoire & Spring GARDEN Planning Guide
What have I learned to prepare….let me count the things….
The(words) are a minimum of what my family SHOULD raise or plant to “grow our own” for THESE recipes….items are only listed once each)
I) Main dishes
Roast Beast of just about any barnyard species – lol (chicken, quail, goat, beef, geese & duck…garlic & yellow onions)
Baked Whiting (red onions)
II) Soups
Chicken stock (celery, carrots, parsley, vinegar)
Coconut chicken soup (red chilies, basil, sweet potatoes)
Bird & Bull Soup (tomatoes, red potatoes, cabbage)
Borsch (chives, beets, dill)
Bean Sprout Soup (green onions, mung beans)
III) Salads
IV) Fermentations (e.g. pickles)
Kefir (plain & smoothies) (eggs, milk)
Preserved lemons (whey)
KvassGrn
Tomato Salsa (cilantro, oregano, tomatillos, jalepenos)
LA Kraut Super Tonic (white onion, echinacea)
V) Breakfast Fair
Dutch Baby Pancakes (wheat)
Bread
Super Scramble
Blender Pancakes
VI) REAL Dairy (my own COW: milk, cream, cheeses)
Sour Cream
Curds & Whey
Cultured butter
VII) Breads & Desserts
Arrowroot Crackers (cayenne)
Sourdough Starter
MY OWN LOCAL GROCERY COOP ORDER (master list)
PRODUCE: Ginger, Horseradish
FRUITS: Bananas, Cherries, Apples, Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Pineapple
DRIED: Honduran Coffee, Sea Salt, Cloves, Blk Pepper, Cummin, Curry Powder, Bonito Flakes, Sesame Seed/Tahini, Nutmeg, Arrowroot Powder
GRAINS: Red Wheat, Rolled Oats, Brn Rice, Sushi Rice, Lentils, Oats, Flax Seed, Rye Berries
BOTTLED: Coconut, Palm, Sesame & Olive oils, Coconut milk, Rapadura/sucanot, Soy Sauce, Vanilla, Molasses, Honey, Maple Syrup
SUPPLEMENTS: Vitamin C, Psyllium, Hawthorn, Milk Thistle, Tea Tree, Lavendula,
This “plan” has already been revised on my own blog…I made lists of what actually needs to be grown. I have all the seeds and more. But now I can look at this and know what I really NEED to whittle away the things I will actually buy otherwise
) It will be a perpetual thing. Im convinced we wont always HAVE grocery coops.
[...] light of all that, these posts on Through the Cooking Glass are very timely: Planning, part 1 and part 2. I certainly needed a little inspiration, not to mention some practical help. Eating [...]
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