plan ahead or procrastinate?

[cookgirl]

I gotta know..am I the only one? I am Q-U-E-E-N of spontaneous dinner, due to my topsvy turvy schedule. But I hear some of you who make things on the weekend for the whole week...or plan dinner (ahem..country of the month)for even longer!
So I wanna know: Are you a MAKE-AHEAD-MASTERMIND or a MID-AIR-MAGICIAN in the kitchen? And does it work for you?

[cookgirl]

Ooh guys...I had to post again. I think I'm about to be a member. WOOHOO!
To add info...In case you didn't notice, I'd consider myself to be a Mid-air-magician.

[lindrusso]

FYI - for more reading on this subject, you can check out these threads that ran previously:

These are mostly the ones who plan ahead (I'm in that group): http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/000648.html

And this group was made up of those who cook w/o a plan: http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/000666.html

Planning ahead keeps me sane and most important - it keeps from having to run to the grocery store with my two boys more than once a week - ack!

[Jeanne G]

cookgirl!
Who's to say that you're one way or the other?? I have to admit I play on both teams and at times that's a way to mix it up. However, I guess I find that I'm more like you and it depends on what I find at the farmer's market(being that it's summer) or what I crave or find I have extra. I love to plan ahead but sometimes you just gotta roll with what you have. And sometimes you don't have TIME to plan ahead. Or, should I rephrase, don't MAKE time to plan ahead. To me, it's always a labor of love, so it's a win - win situation in my kitchen!!
http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif
And lindrusso thanks for the info. I'll have to check out the sites you mentioned!

[pmmahan]

well, I'd have to say I'm a little of both. If I am feeling ambitious, I will plan a menu for the week. Sometimes, though, I like to look in the cabinets and the fridge and just fly by the seat of my pants (hehehe)
I did that saturday- I pulled red beans, brown rice, salsa and cilantro, and made an impromtu chili (well, not really) with a little cheddar on top. Pretty tasty.

[BeckyM]

I do both, but I must say more often than not I arrive home at about 7pm and wonder what I ought to whip up. One thing that really helps me is that I've been trying to keep a running list of things I'd like to make. Then when I make my grocery list, I make sure I have the ingredients for all those meals. That way I have a list of potential dinners that I know I have the stuff to make. Of course I don't follow the list exactly, but at least I know there's SOMETHING I have all the ingredients for.

Now if I'm having guests, that's an entirely different story. I PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif I have all sorts of lists of what I'm going to serve, what I need to buy, when I'm going to make things, etc. I probably plan a bit too much, but I guess that's because I want everything to be PERFECT. With my husband's influence, I'm learning to loosen up a bit, but when guests are involved, I'm always more comfortable with a plan.

[JJ40]

I am a plan-ahead girl. I always try to have ingredients for several meals in the fridge. This stems from the fact that I have never been one of those cooks who can work with what I have and just throw a whole bunch of ingredients together to produce an edible dish. I've always admired people who can cook like that. I guess it takes practice...

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by BeckyM:
Now if I'm having guests, that's an entirely different story. I PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif I have all sorts of lists of what I'm going to serve, what I need to buy, when I'm going to make things, etc. I probably plan a bit too much, but I guess that's because I want everything to be PERFECT. With my husband's influence, I'm learning to loosen up a bit, but when guests are involved, I'm always more comfortable with a plan.

I smiled when I read this because the last get-together I planned it seemed like there were lists everywhere. I think I needed a list of all my lists! Lists really help me budget my time - I try to get as many things done in advance as possible with the least amount left for the actual day of the event that I can get away with.

It did help everything go off nicely without that last minute stress due to missing ingredients or failures. I don't mind working my butt off to create a great meal, but I HATE running around at the last minute and not being able to enjoy myself at the actual party.

[MrsReber]

Don't usually plan ahead unless there is something that I really want to try. Then kind of like Becky, I just make sure I have lots of ingredients on hand for different dishes. That way I can just decide while I'm at work what to make for dinner based on what I already have in the house. Like today, I know there is port tenderloin defrosting in my fridge. I can make one of two dishes- either a pork stir fry or pork medallions with pineapple- or maybe I'll just throw the pineapple in my stir fry! Who knows, I usually never follow a recipe exactly anyway!

[wendyw]

As a single person that loves to cook, I go both ways. As I tell people who are shocked by the fact that I cook almost every night, that is an advantage of being single as I can open a can if I want to and I do good Trader Joe's (a specialty grocery chain that has great stuff at good prices).

When I have a dinner party, I plan and preprepare as much as possible so that I may enjoy my guests. Like MrsReber, I will keep ingredients for certain dishes around (often bought on sale)and preplan for any new recipes that I want to try, although it can be daunting when you have my addiction to collecting cookbooks. Somedays, I will get a craving for a certain dish and scuttle any plans that I had and other times I am a lost soul that will slap together a concoction with whatever is around. However, I have never been so ambitious as to plan for a whole week, maybe if I had a family.

[CATHIEA]

I'm a life member of Weight Watchers. I believe that planning keeps me on track, since I plan and shop for meals that are within my daily points range (If I plan to be home for 7 nights I plan 7 dinners, 5 nights 5 dinners, etc.,). Do I deviate from my plan? You bet. Life happens, but having planned meals helps me get back on track too. In addition, I only have to go grocery shopping once a week- so it's also a time saver. I actually "plan" visits to the midweek farmer's market. I know what should be ripe and have a couple of alternate dishes. When I think back to before I did weekly planning, I think that I was less adventurous, since I had to rely on my pantry and dishes I was familiar with. Because I plan to make "new" dishes, my pantry has a much broader variety of staples than it did before. Oh, one more benefit of planning- when I'm held up unexpectedly at work I can call my husband and tell him what to get started or even make himself!
CathieA-

[cookgirl]

Hey guys. Thanks for the feed back.
Lindrusso-Those are good threads. I can't believe I missed them before!
Wendy- I'm trying to be a planner like that. I threw a shower for a friend and it was awful for me. I did plan ahead, but I also did everything myself. Ooh.. Next topic..are you a kitchen dominator?
I totally am. I can't even stand for my husband to unload the groceries. I guess it's because, when I do decide to throw together a meal, I like to know exactly where everything is so that I can do it a s quickly as possible. I definitely don't like more than one person preparing food, unless its a three year old who REALLY likes to stir.

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by cookgirl:
Ooh.. Next topic..are you a kitchen dominator?
.

Yes, I am a kitchen dominatrix, ooops, I mean dominator.

I don't mind if my husband unloads the groceries, but I can't stand for anyone to go shopping for me. I'm used to certain brands, certain types, etc. It would take so long to describe the brand names and exact descriptions that I could have been done shopping before the list even gets done! For instance, if I put "tofu" on the list, who knows what I would get??? Firm, reduced-fat, extra-firm, the kind in a tray, the kind in a box, and on and on.

As far as help in the kitchen, it depends. Our kitchen is pretty small and there seems to be this one very popular space that is near the fridge, near the canned goods, near the measuring cups, near the utensils. If too many people are in the kitchen, we just end up tripping all over each other. So, in theory I wouldn't mind the help, but in practice, it just doesn't work very well in our kitchen.

In the end, I'd much prefer to have people help out by watching/entertaining the kids and helping with the clean-up and leave the cooking to me.