MENU PLANNING / COOKBOOKS AND ORGANIZATION

Menu Planning Grocery Shopping Tips On a Budget PINMenu Planning // Step One

One issue I continuously had when menu planning was that I can’t always find the time to browse through my cookbooks for inspiration and recipe ideas. Before we had Gigi, Kyle and I would spend our Sunday morning in bed, with our cookbooks and our coffee, making a menu for the week… now I need this process to be much more efficient. I used to plan for a week at a time but I personally find that doing a month at a time makes it so much easier, takes less time, and helps me keep our whole month’s budget in mind.

I went through every cookbook we owned, one at a time, using little Post-It’s to flag the recipes that looked good, that I regularly made, or that I had always wanted to make. If I went through a cookbook and only found one of two recipes that I liked/used I just put that cookbook in the pile for a the used bookstore… there are so many amazing cookbooks and recipes and streamlining the number of cookbooks I had really helped this process.

THEN I went through the cookbooks and typed all the recipe titles into the following categories: Breakfast. Lunch. Snack. Dinner (split into entrees/sides and main courses). Dessert. Drinks. Basics and Techniques. I also created hyperlinks in my document to my favorite food blogs. You could create as many or as few categories as you need for your family. Since I’m a stay at home mama who loves to cook (and eat) I needed all of them! Each section is divided up with headings for each cookbook. For example under BREAKFAST I have six different cookbooks that I took recipes from.

The BREAKFAST section looks like this:

BREAKFAST
 My Father’s Daughters.Gwyneth Paltrow 
sweet rice bowl GP.236
morning pancakes GP. 221
spiced apple crumb muffins GP.224
favorite granola GP.227
bruce’s world-famous pancakes GP.239

  Sprouted Kitchen.Sarah Forte 
breakfast tostadas SK.28
scrambled eggs and leeks SK.32
vegetable eggs benedict SK.31
softly scrambled eggs with creamy leeks SK.32
carrot-date muffins SK.34
creamy coconut barley with pomegranate molasses SK.39
tofu quiche in rosemary-almond meal crust SK.44
granola protein bars SK.154
green smoothie SK.162

…you get the idea. I gave each cookbook and a code before the page number so when I’m menu planning I don’t have to write our “Sprouted Kitchen” every time, just SK and the page number!

This process took a couple of weeks to complete but it was really enjoyable, I made tea and flipped through my beloved cookbooks with a stack of Post-It’s at hand. Admittedly putting them into a document on the computer felt a little tedious but I just I tackled one cookbook every other day or so and now that it’s done I’ve found that the menu creating process is really fast and filled with variety.

Here is a list of my current cookbooks:
My Father’s Daughter // Gwyneth Paltrow
It’s All Good // Gwyneth Paltrow
The Sprouted Kitchen // Sarah Forte
Start Fresh // Tyler Florence
Super Natural Every Day // Hedid Swanson
Joy the Baker // Joy Wilson
Very Fond of Food // Sophie Dahl
Spain: A Culinary Road Trip // Mario Batali
Tyler’s Ultimate // Tyler Florence
Jamie’s Kitchen // Jamie Oliver
Everyday Italian // Giada de Laurentiis

I also have some bigger cookbooks like America’s Test/Cook’s Illustrated Kitchen Family Cookbook, Interational Recipes, and New Best Recipes. I also have Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The Joy of Cooking. I didn’t go through these since they are so packed with recipes. I tend to reference them as needed or when I’m looking for something specific.

Some cookbooks on my wishlist:
Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights: Recipes for Every Season, Mood, and Appetite
Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch
The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution
Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits and Pieces
It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great
Miette: Recipes from San Francisco’s Most Charming Pastry Shop
The Sugar Cube: 50 Deliciously Twisted Treats from the Sweetest Little Food Cart on the Planet
Tartine
Home Made
Bouchon Bakery
…and so many more! What are your favorite cookbooks?