9. Brainstorming Meal Ideas

We have talked about what and how to freeze, and how to cut our recipes in half and make our family loved recipes into supper starters. We have also talked about how menu planning helps us, tricks to help us save on our grocery's and budgeting.

Each family is different, you may or may not eat a wide variety. That's A-OK. When I started my married life I had about 10 recipes, all memorized. My new husband needed more variety than I did and he eventually helped me break out of my comfort zone to try new things. I will love him evermore for helping me do this. Baby steps ladies.

As we talked about before, when looking for recipes, it is helpful to think about how you could make each of your family's favorite recipes easier if you made some of it ahead. Anytime we change the way we do things, our family looks for comfort in the familiar. Even if they are willing to try, it can be hard if we move too fast. Try not to make more than 2-3 new recipes in a week. However, it is a GREAT idea to try new things as often as is good for your family. I truly believe that a skill we should teach our family is being willing to try the new and to adapt and cope with change. This is one way to teach that.

Go through your loved recipes and list them out. Categorize them in a way that makes sense to you. This could be by what meats they require, by what nationality they are from, by how they are cooked or even by what season they would be good to make them in. Eventually I have split up all my recipes into each of these categories. But for now just get your brain going and enlist your family's help for ideas they may have as well.

If you get stuck, below is a list of about a hundred off my list. Many of them are supper starter recipes here on my site even.

This little list you have created is like gold! It can save you thinking power later, so put it in a safe place that you can refer to it in the future. I have a meal planning folder that all of this stuff goes into. I have used and revised this list often over the years.

What kind of recipe do I look for?

• Recipes most of my family love. I say most because I have a husband that hated fish, a son that detested Sloppy Joes, another that was horrified that one day, he would have to eat beans to save his life. Does this mean we never serve these things in our house? Nope! We just planned serving things that they do like with it. We also changed things up alot, and tested new ways of cooking them. In the process of doing this for years, we have found fish that my husband will actually eat (and not throw up), we have found a different sloppy joe meat that my son likes and my goofy boy will actually eat beans (as long as they are whole and not re-fried) :/ Moral of the story, don't cross foods off the list that some don't like. Push their boundaries, require them to taste one small spoon worth each time it is served. They will one day thank you, or at least tolerate what you  put in front of them.
• Recipes that fit my family's lifestyle right now. What kinds of meals will best be eaten on what day? Nothing is ever set in stone, but life is life. What dramas do I daily face? How can you make them better? For me I do this with my supper starters, so come what may I have a variety of options to easily choose.
• Recipes that stay in my monthly budget. I have MANY ways to save on grocery money that we talked about in our last post! doing some of those things can stretch the budget to allow for things you wouldn't otherwise be able to have.
• Recipes that I can partially make up ahead of time. By measuring out most of the ingredients together, I can save time the day I cook it. 
• Recipes I can prep my meat ahead separately, saving money on sale meats when I find it. This allows me to just gather the meat, supper starter and maybe a few additional items and sides to complete the meal FAST and EASY. 
• Recipes I can easily multiply that don't require alot of time or expensive ingredients, but that allow me to measure, chop and gather ahead in multiples, saving me time.
• Recipes that are "mini projects" that take only a few extra minutes to multiply. These projects make a HUGE difference in getting dinner on the table fast. Such as taco meat, meatballs, spaghetti sauce, maybe a casserole or two, etc.
• Other "mini projects" that I can do in big batches such as prepping raw meats, cooking meats, chopping and freezing veggies or premixing dry mixes, etc.
• Recipes the are "Skinny". Pretty much everything that goes in my freezer is put into a quart or gallon freezer zip bag. They do not take up much space in my freezer. Freezer space is valuable space. This is why I don't do many casserole or pan freezer meals.
• Recipes that are healthy, have bold flavors, have a variety in spices and nationalities. I also love using the same recipes that can be serve in different ways to make even more use out of multiplying my time.
• Recipes that have a variety of cooking methods, using my crock pot, skillet, oven and grill. Having something cooked in the same way, every single meal gets old, old, OLD!

Our freezer allows us to save amazing amounts of time with a minimal cost involved. Everything we put in it should be as compact and uniform as possible so we can still have room for the Ice Cream that is required to be in there at all times. I repackage EVERYTHING I can. Wither you have an extra freezer or not, YOU CAN cook this way!