Dinner Plans
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Are there really people out there who create a weekly menu plan? Because even though I have compiled a healthy trove of lo-co recipes, these past few weeks I’ve been just… well… totally disinterested in figuring out what to cook every single day.
This led to an alarming increase in so-so-so-not-lo-co takeout in the waning summer months. Which explains my recent break from posting. Very embarrassing. Oh, and not healthy.
The only good thing I can say about the past month is that I’ve upped the exercise quotient. I have been spinning at Joyride every week – even after the need to train for my bike trip ended … a new personal best. Thank you Emma, for your inspiring music!
But I can’t spin every day. So here’s what I’m trying to kick-back into lo-co gear.
For running, there’s an iPhone app called Nike Plus which tracks where you are, your run time and distance, and coordinates with your iTunes playlists. It doesn’t require a chip or anything tied to your shoe anymore – all you need is your iPhone or iTouch.
Nike Plus plays right into my OCD need for knowledge; it’s really quite motivating. Oh, and it’s totally free. Woot. And it automatically downloads results to your computer so you can see how many miles you’ve run over time. My husband and I love it.
So exercise, check. (Though that will become problematic as the weather gets cold…sigh). But for now, I run outside and spin. So that (just, hah) leaves the dinner nightmare.
I tried a few things to get re-motivated for cooking healthy, lo-co dinners. Online searches for new menus left me uncharacteristically bored. Two beautiful (and expensive) new cookbooks have been skimmed but not used. Melissa Clark and Julia Moskin’s columns in the New York Times are interesting as always, but have just not inspired me to cook a new dish.
But the August 22 NYT article, “You Plan, I’ll Cook: Leaving the Menu to Others” hit home. I was particularly inspired by the efficiency of a service called The Fresh 20:
“… the Fresh20, a meal-planning service that provides recipes for a week’s worth of healthy dinners. Monday might be ginger and garlic pork with snow peas and red peppers; Friday, Napa rice noodle salad with Asian peanut dressing and mangoes. The week’s shopping list has 20 ingredients and is calibrated to eliminate waste (snow peas, carrots and red peppers appear in both days’ meals) and to cost $75 for five dinners for a family of four, or $3.75 a person per meal.
Ms. Swank Meili now shops for food just once a week. She is back at her pre-baby weight without, she says proudly, making one trip to the gym. And she is not stressed by figuring out what to cook and “making a million trips to the grocery store.”
Baby-weight-loss and cost savings were not what did it for me. What got me excited was the efficiency of this program: each week you get a menu, shopping list (which even offers quantities for substituing chicken or turkey for beef) – and you incorporate leftovers or earlier prep required for some meals later in the week.
A recipe skeptic, I warily checked out their site and was delighted to find that the menus looked like recipes I’d use – fresh ingredients that have steps (not just opening cans) but are also not too intricate… no one wants dinner-party recipes for every day. These recipes actually look like they’d taste good and be relatively easy to make.
So I joined. I chose the ‘classic’ menu; they also offer vegetarian and gluten-free subscriptions. Here’s what’s on this week’s menu:
- Orange Glazed Pork Tenderloin
- Halibut Puttanesca
- Cuban Pork Sandwiches
- Spaghetti and (turkey for me) meatballs
- Grilled squash, plum and white bean salad.
This was yummy! I put to use a white onion, a pair of smallish sweet peppers and a complete chunk
of smoked salmon ( not lox). I included some crimson pepper and served it about corn pasta merely because I am gluten
free of cost. Unbelievably wonderful recipe!