Meal Planning Capsule

Since organizing my freezer/pantry, I realized I have some things I don't use and I have trouble knowing what groceries I need to order.  (We have been ordering our groceries online since Sara was born - such a blessing to have groceries delivered to our door!)  I also know that, even though I have a personal cookbook that I compiled of our favorite recipes/new recipes I wanted to try, we tend to default into eating the same things over and over.  I felt like it was time to try capsule meal planning.  The idea is the same as with clothes - to have fewer choices, but to eat your favorite things all the time.  I've discovered with my last two clothing capsules that it's easier for me if I just sit down with pencil and paper and do it all off the top of my head, rather than looking at all the options and trying to narrow them down.  So I made a list of some of our favorite things that we eat all the time:

1. Spaghetti/Lasagna

2. Chicken Wraps (Caesar for me/Buffalo for Cameron) (Spring/Summer)

3. Tacos

4. BBQ pork w/ potato mash (sweet potato/white potato/carrots) OR slaw

5. Chicken Fried Rice/Lo Mein

Winter:
1. Chicken Soup
2. Shepherd's Pie

I showed Cameron the list and asked if he would be willing to experiment with only eating these things for a month, to see if it would satisfy us or if we would feel like it was not enough choices.  It's been around a month now, and we really haven't missed having more choices.  We added the caveat that we could eat out from the following restaurants: Burger Van or McDonald's (usually just if we are in a hurry).

For lunch, we either eat ham & cheese tortilla wraps w/ tomato & avocado or we order Subway.

On paper it seems so limited, but so far we have been completely satisfied with our choices.  I think it was a good decision.  It has also helped me with ordering groceries.  I just make sure I always have the ingredients to make these meals.  At the beginning, I downloaded a meal planning app, but I've found that with the limited choices, I don't really need it.  Limiting my choices took out the stress enough that I don't need to app.  I did have one little "hiccup" in that when I tried tacos for the first time since Sara's belly problems have gotten better, they seemed to upset her stomach.  :(  However, my mom suggested that I try using only half the taco seasoning, so we will try that next time to keep it on the menu.

I should add that we do also have a semiprepared section of the freezer for those days when we just don't have the energy to cook - chicken nuggets, pizza, and a few other things.  However, since starting this plan, we have used them less frequently than before, which is great.

Also, for breakfast we have been eating basically the same thing for years already.  We always have scrambled eggs and bread with cream cheese/peanut butter.  Recently, we have started putting bacon pieces in the eggs, which is great. On Mondays (our Sabbath day), we have pancakes with our eggs.  I also bought "carnati de bere" (sausages that taste like kielbasa) as a special treat.  And of course a cup of coffee.  :)