Until now, my experience with meal planning has yielded marginal results. On Monday morning, I design a week’s worth of inspired recipes that will save me time, money and calories. By Friday night, I’m snarfing pizza from a greasy carryout box balanced on my belly.
But if ever there is a month to manage waistlines, budgets and trips to the grocery store, December is it. Fortunately, “Stress-Free Family Meal Planning” by Kristen McCaffrey (Page Street Publishing Co., 2020) shows us the way. It’s packed with shopping lists, prep schedules and recipes for a month’s worth of healthier meals. Not just dinner — breakfast and lunch too. (Which is incredibly helpful if you have a house full of distance learners who are hungry All The Time.)
Its liberal use of the “cook once, eat twice” philosophy teaches you how to enjoy nonstop homemade meals without being tied to the stove. For example, you’ll make enough breakfast Sunday morning to enjoy the same on Tuesday and Thursday, and lunches are often leftover dinners.
McCaffrey’s one-skillet pork tenderloin recipe is a big hit with my people (although I did have to double the recipe to satisfy three teenage appetites). It’s a delicious, inexpensive bounty of lean protein that comes together in around half an hour. We loved the roasted apple and snap pea sides, but I won’t tell if you substitute fresh pineapple chunks and Brussels sprouts. Best of all, pizza is still part of the plan: The next morning, Pepperoni Pizza Mini Frittatas are on the menu.
Adapted from “Stress-Free Family Meal Planning” by Kristen McCaffrey (Page Street Publishing Co., 2020).
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