I have always been a big fan of recipes from Real Simple magazine. They require few ingredients, take little time, and are usually full of flavor. Today I stumbled upon this great service they provide to help plan dinners each week. For $10/yr or $6/6 months you get a weekly meal plan and grocery list emailed to you. How easy is that? Real Simple Meal Planner.
It won’t work for me because I have too many food allergies. It could be wasteful if you have ingredients to use up each week that don’t work in the recipes. We love to cook in our house and experiment with new meals despite my food allergies.
I have found ways to prepare a variety of meals without much planning effort. Start by clipping recipes that interest you. Save them in a folder in your kitchen or on your computer. When you need inspiration or want to mix up your normal meals, go to that file and plan your meals for the week. Consider the ones you choose based on the ingredients you already have on hand. Consider what is on sale at your local supermarket. If the meal is great save the recipe. If it isn’t a keeper remove it from the folder. With this method, you will always try new foods. Meals won’t be boring and you won’t have to spend much time or money thinking of new ones.