Cooking with Chef Jo: Menu Planning for a Year!!!!

Yeah, I'm kind of extreme like that. I used to plan my meals menus for breakfast, lunch, dinners and snacks. I drove myself nuts! Now, I've simplified my menu so much that I pretty well know what to fix on any given night of the year so I can plan a rough menu for a year with little or no trouble. This is extremely helpful when growing your own food comes into play.

It didn't take long for a patterns to emerge. Once a week, we'd do an Italian night. Items like Spaghetti, lasagna, Ravioli, pizza, etc. With that came the usual tossed salad and garlic breadsticks. Once a week, we have a seafood night. Fish, shrimp, or other seafood. Sunday meals was always a roast of some kind and there had to be a dessert planned. I usually planned for leftovers of Sunday's fare for at least another night. This could be either a just as it was or made into another dish (roast beef= hash). At least once a week we'd have soup/chili/stew and cheese toast as a crockpot (cook's day off) usually on Saturday. That's five dinners out of seven. so planning a week's menu were really a no brainer. 

Breakfast during the summer was always fresh fruit and yogurt or commercial cereals. During the winter it was grits or oatmeal with cinnamon and dried fruit. I make pancakes, French toast and waffles once a month and freeze the excess for sprinkling in during the month. Plus, I'll make cinnamon rolls, Danishes, air fryer fritters, and doughnuts when I feel froggy and have extra time. And, there's always the old favorite of bacon/sausage and eggs with potatoes or grits.

We'd fill in the rest of the week with a grazing night (lunch meat, crackers, cheese, and fruit) And, for me, an oriental food night. Now we'd do a chicken or quail night because we grow our own. We'd supplement lamb/mutton nights when available or beef dishes. Since I rotationally purchase sides of meat during the year, we have choices or alternate meal plans for what we have the most of.

Snacks are simple things like peanuts and M&Ms, or peanut/cheese crackers, or fruit and veggie sticks and dips. Lunches are also simple ranging from snacks or sandwiches. I usually make chicken, egg, or tuna salad each week or maybe deviled ham.

Every meal has at least on starch and two cooked vegetables. So with all of this in mind, planning a meals for a year is really a matter of plugging in what we want when. So planning for a year is not that big of a deal. 

In the spring (Mar-April)I'll buy half a lamb. This way I'll be able to have a leg for Easter. Lamb stew or Shepherd's Pie for St Patrick's Day. I'll corn a beef brisket in early spring or late fall for yummy corned beef during the year.  So I can can the brisket or better yet smoke it for Pastrami for delicious sandwiches later. Do you know you can make corned beef out of any thick cut of meat? Several times a year one of my local grocery stores will have a sale on London broil. I'll stock up on them. I'll make jerky, corned beef, and Pastrami with them too. Just because I buy my beef on the hoof doesn't mean I won't take advantage of a great sale during the year from time to time. So by extending my menu out over months, I can see what I'll need when.

When buying meats in bulk, I'm able to can about half of it freeing up freezer space. That's how I get away with having only two freezers. This way I don't risk my entire meat supply if we lose power for a long period of time. I'll partially thaw large beef or pork roasts, and cut them into bite sized pieces and can them.  Add a jar of mushrooms, onions, and egg noodles with yogurt and you have Beef Stronganoff in the time it takes the pasta to cook. Or, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches. It's fast food, but homemade goodness. I'll always have some room for the odd deer, rabbit, quail or, chicken. If I process these in bulk, I'll can a portion (50%) too. This way I'll always have a quick fix option because you never know what is going to happen on the homestead from one day to the next.

Having said all of this, can you see how planning a meal menu plan for a year is possible? It helps me plan when to purchase meats in bulk, what vegetables and how much I'll need for a year. So is there any wiggly room in my menu plans? You betcha! For any Italian night, there's five or six menus and they are interchangeable. The same goes for any night of the week. There's only, at most, five weeks in a month.  If you are making a menu plan for a month you are 1/6 there towards a year plan. Figuring you can rotate every month every other month. Do you have to stick to the plan? Of course not! Feel free to play with different recipes, I know I do, but try to stick with the same meat. If the menu calls for meatloaf and you want burgers instead go ahead and make the burgers.

Grow your own, shop locally, eat well and thrive! This is what homesteading is all about.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Chef Jo