Smart Ingredient Stockup

The way Organizing Dinner helps you succeed is to teach you not to shop recipe by recipe, but rather to buy ingredients that allow you to cook MANY meals with what you have on hand. For many this means changing the way you approach shopping and cooking. Instead of thinking “What do I need to buy for tonight’s dinner?”… think “What categories does my family love?” Pasta, salads, sandwiches, Asian, etc?

Over the next few days and weeks, pay close attention to your family’s themes. In my family, strong themes are 1) anything that includes pasta, and 2) anything served on a tortilla, 3) anything in an omelet or 4) anything in a salad. So I stock up on noodles and tortillas, and in my weekly shopping trip, always buy eggs and lettuce. Since I also have stocked up on the 70 Meals Smart Ingredients, I always have chicken, beef, tilapia, canned tomatoes, rice, chicken broth and black beans. This simple grocery store strategy leaves me with the basis of at least 30 quick mix & match dinners for my family. With just with what’s mentioned above and my basic pantry stocking, I can make Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Caesar Wraps, Baked Pasta, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Simple Risotto, Salisbury Steak, tilapia or quiche 6 different ways…and that’s just for starters. Start buying along your Smart Ingredient themes, and increase your go-to list from 2 to 20. Let us know what themes you discovered, and post your mix and match questions here or on our Dinner 911 forum. Check the Recipes section of our website or the 70 Meals cookbook for the recipes mentioned above, and best wishes for your Stockup Success!