The Plan

When I considered the name of this blog* I thought about the fact that it meant a few things. To "make do" is to find a way to get by with what you have and to do that you sometimes need to be creative and sometimes you have to plan ahead.  It also sets the two categories of post "make" and "do". 

Cooking and Eating

Every week I sit down and plan out what we're going to eat. I should mention, this is coming from someone who has owned several unused day planners. It takes about 20 minutes.

I focus on meals Monday-Friday and leave the weekend open for eating out or getting fancy steaks.  I use those 1950's style shopping lists and menu planners you find at stores like Paper Source; Target also has a line from Real Simple. I like them because they have categories for shopping that makes remembering peanut butter a whole lot easier, plus they have magnet backs and come in a variety of colors. The iphone has shopping apps, but I'm a pen and paper sentimentalist. We've been doing this for a few years and as a result we have very little waste, we rarely eat take out, our grocery bill is pretty consistent and we keep to a healthy plan. It could help someone who has a lot of late nights at work or kids practice schedules to juggle keep to the concept of eating a home cooked meal, maybe even at a table, maybe even together. It certainly saved us when I was working a lot and helped me lose weight after I had a baby. Anyway, I thought it might be a fun experiment to share my week's plan as a sort of "make" and "do" combo. In future posts I will include recipes, shopping lists and cooking tips.

*Make Do became Poppy Haus in January 2012