By Andrea Dunn

It’s 4pm – do you know what’s for dinner tonight? According to a report in dailynews.com – over 70% of people will answer no. How about you? Do you plan your meals for the week?

Know before you go. Know what’s for dinner, before you go out the door in the morning. A little planning ahead, and communication among those you eat with, can pave the wave to a hassle-free and enjoyable dinner time. Nothing worse than coming home from work at dinner time, pulling into the garage the same time as your spouse, only to realize it was your turn to make dinner happen. (The only thing worse than this? Realizing it was your turn to pick up the kids from day care.)

What if you did know what was for dinner– would you choose your mid-day meal differently? How many prepare a meal for dinner, only to have another family member come home and say, ‘chicken? I had chicken for lunch!’.

How do you plan your meals for the week? Some people tell me they have a set food theme for each day, for example, meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Fish Wednesday, Crockpot Thursday and Pasta Friday. Then within those categories, vary the items cooked. A friend showed me her menus -she plans out the meals for a month, complete with recipes. No, she is not a chef or a dietitian, but I do think she has a bit of OCD. A month? That is organized!

Meal planning and eating at home saves money. But it takes time to plan and grocery shop. Set a specific time of the week or weekend to make it happen. If you have kids and/or a varied work schedule, look ahead on the calendar to know who has what events on what days. Keep the meals simple on a work night – look for recipes that you can make in 30 minutes or less. A quick online search of 30-minute meals revealed hundreds of tasty recipes.

Or let someone else plan for you. Meal planning apps (some are free) are available or try https://www.choosemyplate.gov/budget-sample-two-week-menus for 2 weeks of menus with a grocery list. These recipes also list the cost per recipe and per serving. This website is under the USDA – so think of it as your tax dollars at work. Another great (tax dollars at work) resource is your public library – hundreds of cookbooks. A search online at my local library helped me find The giant $7 a meal cookbook: 701 inexpensive meals the whole family will love by Susan Irby as well as The $7 a meal Mediterranean cookbook: 301 delicious, nutritious recipes the whole family will love by Dawn Altomari-Rathjen. Another budget-conscious book is The $5 dinner mom cookbook: 200 recipes for quick, delicious, and nourishing meals that are easy on the budget and snap to prepare by Erin Chase.

Know before you go …and here’s to dining at home this week!

The post Know Before You Go first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.

By Andrea Dunn

Pease Porridge (children’s lyrics)

Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,

Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;

Some like it hot, some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

Oatmeal ranks #8 for popular breakfast foods on www.dailypress.com How does it rank at your breakfast table? Oats are a whole grain (you can find brands that are certified gluten-free, if needed) and versatile at the table – just like the old children’s song goes “some like it hot, some like it cold”.

Instant, one-minute, old fashioned and steel-cut oats grace the grocery store shelves. The individual packaged/instant versions come flavored and with sugar and salt, some even come with added dried fruit. Oats can be cooked in a pot on the stove or in the microwave (make sure you have a big enough microwavable container so it doesn’t bubble up and spill over. Who wants to clean a microwave at 6am?). Crockpots make it easy to cook the steel-cut oats overnight while you sleep. But keep it in the pot for nine days? I don’t think so. Oatmeal that dries out on a pot sticks like concrete. Soak your pot and bowl in the sink if you aren’t washing or rinsing them right away.

Cold oatmeal? Hot oatmeal, step aside- overnight oats is moving in! A quick search shows hundreds of results for overnight oats recipes. Die-hard hot oatmeal fans will have a hard time with this concept – and the texture. If you like your oatmeal creamy – don’t try the overnight oats. The texture is chewy – and raw uncooked oats have a different taste than the cooked. For those that like parfaits – you will like the cold oats.

Most overnight oats recipes start with old fashioned (rolled) oats and add milk or another liquid (start out with the same measurement of each for example 1/3 cup oats and 1/3 cup milk, you can always add more liquid if needed). Stir in fruit (1/2 cup berries or other cut up fruit), 1-2 tablespoons nuts and/or seeds and ¼ teaspoon or more spices (cinnamon, ginger, or my favorite – pumpkin pie spice with extra ginger sprinkled on top). Place all the ingredients in a mug, mason jar or bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator and you’ll have a delicious breakfast waiting for you when you wake up (without dirtying a pan). No more running out the door without breakfast. No more costly fast food drive-thru stops that make you late for work.

Oats are inexpensive, easy to find in the cereal section shelves and have been around for centuries. They are a good source of fiber (4 grams per ½ cup dry), low in fat (3 grams) and are sodium-free (if you don’t choose the instant packets).

So add some whole grains to tomorrow’s breakfast – hot or cold, you win!

The post How do you like your oats? first appeared on The Bedford Tribune.