Do you have certain days that you fix certain food?

[KristineIN]

For instance, we always have pancakes & sausage on Saturday mornings. On Sundays, I rotate, but it's either homemade cinnamon rolls and lately homemade donuts every other week.

I also try and fix biscuits and gravy in the winter about once every two-three weeks and I like to make breakfast pizza about every other week.

Do you have any meals that you have a regular routine to?

Kristine

[j.griff]

I don't do this "yet", but I am planning on starting a few "meal traditions"- Tuesday Night: Spaghetti; Friday night: Pizza; etc. this will make things easier for me- I'll KNOW what's for dinner on those days, kwim? I'll know what I need to buy at the store for those days, and I think it'll be kinda fun for the kids to KNOW Friday night is pizza night, etc.

[Audrey]

but I can tell you what the "local" rotation is. :rolleyes: Personally, I think it's stifling to my creativity to be on a food schedule that way, so it isn't for me. I get weird looks from local people, too, who quite strictly adhere to the following schedule.

Sunday: Chicken
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Spaghetti
Wednesday: Pork chops
Thursday: Hamburger
Friday: Fish
Saturday: Roast

Many folks around here swear by this. YMMV.

[Quiver0f10]

We always hame home made pizza on Friday and Spaghetti on Wednesday. That's about the only regulars we have.

[Karin]

Dd is on a 4 day rotational diet. This means we don't eat the same thing every Friday, but we eat the same basic things every 4 days.

[LibrarianMom]

use the following rotation:

Soupy Sunday during the winter and Salad Sunday during spring and summer
Meatless Monday
Crock-Pot Tuesday
Wacky Wednesday (anything goes; mostly leftovers)
Traditional Thursday (i.e. regular stuff like pasta)
Fishy Friday
Simmering Saturday (things that need to cook a long time)

I found this gave us lots of options. I put together a calendar to give more suggestions like Tuesday week 1 chicken in the crock-pot, week 2 beef, week 3, pork, week 4 meatless and I alternated so we didn't have all chicken one week.

This worked really well until my husband got a job where he works several evenings a week. I need to go back and figure out something again.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Sunday mornings when things are hectic trying to get out the door - it helps to have an easy-to-prepare breakfast: hard-boiled eggs, toast (and toppings) and orange juice. I know many familys have pizza night on Fridays. Wednesday nights we get home at 9:30 pm and throw the kids in bed. It helps to know that we are having left-overs the next day.

[Mom2jnb]

We do Breakfast for Dinner every Wednesday. Pancakes or waffles, eggs, Morningstar Bacon (or as dh calls it Fakeon), oj, milk.

Thursday my family comes over and we do a potluck.

We usually do make your own pizzas on Friday when we do family night with movies.
Sunday are always a 'big' dinner....roasts or something that takes some time and then we have lots of sides.

[j.griff]

blech, that sounds so boring and none of those foods would taste good after having the exact same thing week after week, IMO.

[Tap, tap, tap]

They have Tequila Tuesdays with homemade margaritas and Mexican food. Gotta love that one!:D

[Tia in Wa]

I don't have a plan, however I am willing to begin tequila Tue. I love mexican food and I am one of the few people I have ever met who like tequila straight.

[AngelaC]

We do bean burritos every Monday lunch.

Just today I was telling my dd that we need to find another meal for every week. It is wonderful waking up Monday morning and always knowing what we'll have for lunch.

[GreenKitty]

Fridays Pizza! Yum:)

[lori in tx]

Monday-breakfast bonus
Tuesday- Tequila tuesday or Italian (we either do mexican or italian)
Wednesday -cheap day no meat in the middle (sometimes we do this on Thursday instead)
Thursday- chicken lovin
Friday-crockpot/ freezer meal
Saturday- all request or whatever mom feels like
Sunday-grillin' day

that is it!

[Tracey in TX]

We usually have Drive-Thru Tuesday and Friday Pizza.

[Audrey]

Boring? No kidding! lol

[PariSarah]

It could be anywhere from a weekly rotation to a monthly one; and it tends to be based on categories rather than specific recipes. So, in the pasta category below, it'll be pasta, but it might be Vegetable Lo Mein, Peanut-Sauced Noodles, Spaghetti with tomato sauce, or Pasta Primavera. That keeps the rotation from being completely boring.

I recently dialed our rotation back to "emergency mode". In emergency mode, taste, variety, personal preference, and mood take a back seat to time and money. And until my diss is finished, I have revoked all responsibility for satisfying my family's tastes, preferences, and desires.

For the next year, then, the schedule is:

Monday: Soup
Tuesday: Pasta
Wednesday: Stir-fry
Thursday: Crockpot beans
Friday: Something Fun (preferably involving meat or pizza)
Saturday: Indian or Other Vegetarian
Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner

[PariSarah]

Boring? No kidding! lol

But it doesn't have to be boring! I mean, if it's always the same fried chicken and biscuits, the same burger, the same fish sticks and fries, sure. Boring city.

(Funny story: the year my dh lived in France as a student, the host family had a Polish maid who was supposed to cook for them. The Polish maid knew how to make exactly fourteen things. And she made them in order. Every night. The same two-week rotation. For a year. In Paris! :eek:)

But fish could mean anything! You could have fish every Friday for a year and never eat the same dish twice! And how many different cuisines use pasta? You could have Italian (Northern or Southern), Chinese, Thai, Filipino, or Greek versions of pasta. Six weeks, six different pasta dinners. And "roast"--okay, roast what? Roast chicken, roast lamb, roast beef, roast venison, roast pork, roasted vegetables?

I'm sure the people you're talking about don't really approach their meals this way. On hamburger night, it's probably a choice between hamburger helper and sloppy joes. Yeah, I get you--I know those people too.

But I've found that a routine actually keeps me out of dinner ruts. It keeps me from serving chicken three nights in a row, just because it was on sale. It challenges me to do different things.

[Virginia Dawn]

Friday afternoon we have homemade pizza, Saturday night is soup-chili-or stew night, Monday morning is homemade pancakes or biscuits, Thursday afternoon is homemade cookies or cake time.
Other than that I cook with what happens to be available.

[Karin]

But it doesn't have to be boring!

But I've found that a routine actually keeps me out of dinner ruts. It keeps me from serving chicken three nights in a row, just because it was on sale. It challenges me to do different things.

Exactly. It's not hard to make many things from most foods. Jazz it up, change it around. For some with food sensitivities, this has to be a way of life, but it doesn't have to be the very same thing all the time. Gosh, this can be a great way to expand and improve culinary skills. Just think what the pioneers had to eat all winter.

[ThelmaLou]

Bean burritos on Saturdays, $0.59 burgers from Burger King on Tuesdays.

[Amy in MD]

Monday: Soup
Tuesday: Pasta
Wednesday: Stir-fry
Thursday: Crockpot beans
Friday: Something Fun (preferably involving meat or pizza)
Saturday: Indian or Other Vegetarian
Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner[/QUOTE]

That's relatively easy? We love Indian but I have had a hard time creating it at home (without spending all day in the kitchen with questionable results).

Here's one recently that I tried that was quick and good - kind of a thai/Indian combo... but family friendly.

1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 - 5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, minced
1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated
1 jalepeno chili, stemmed, seeded and halved (chilis vary in heat proceed with caution)
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 - 3 lbs. chicken, cut into small pieces
1 cup carrots, sliced
salt, to taste
2 teaspoons "hot madras" curry powder
14 ounces light coconut milk (unsweetened)
lemon juice, to taste
½ - 1 cup loosley packed, fresh cilantro, chopped
Puree together the onion, garlic, ginger root, chili, lemon zest, and water. Heat oil in pan, add the puree and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Add chicken, carrots and salt to taste. Cook for 10 min. turning meat. Add curry powder and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the coconut milk and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice to taste and cilantro. Enjoy with rice.

A variation would be to add green beans, canned baby corn, zucchini or other vegetables.

Notes:
I used the entire lemon from zesting. Children enjoyed this! Just use 'hot madras' curry for this recipe.

[claire at home]

We have just started to do homemade pizza on Friday nights. We got the idea from reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We change up the toppings to keep it from being boring. Last Friday we did sausage, pinenuts, raisins and a little red onion. May sound strange but it was our best pizza yet! DH makes the pizza crust in the breadmaker (his one culinary contribution for the week!) It almost feels like I have the night off!

Claire

[Kim in Appalachia]

dinners:

Friday: soup night
Saturday: pizza night
we have spaghetti once a week, usually Tuesday
we have often have a chicken dish on Monday
Beef or Pork on Sunday

Breakfast:

Sunday: cinnamon buns
Monday: pancakes
Tuesday: Oatmeal
Wed: eggs with toast or grits
Thur: baked oatmeal
Fri: cereal

We tend to have our big meal at 1:00, and have lunch/supper later. That is often left over pizza, P&J, or some other sort of sandwich.

I try to have my menus made out each week. It has helped a lot to be more organized in our meals.

Kim