Party Planning

I love to entertain. I don’t know what it is about it but I do love to throw a party, and I hope that everyone enjoys the parties I have. I do believe they do because they always ask when the next one is going to be.

If you have been reading my blog you will have guessed by now that I love to cook, so it will be of no shock to you that I get emails from Allrecipes.com. As happens most times I am on the net I started to follow links and stumbled upon this one http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Party-Planning-Checklist/Detail.aspx?src=lp3976_l1
Before I schedule a party I always figure out what kind of party I want to have. In the past I have had a bar christening party (because the ex built a bar from scratch), super bowl parties, tea parties etc. Last party was on memorial day weekend. I have been asked to have another party and it will be scheduled in August. What kind of party will it be you ask? Just a BBQ (and if we have more rain) maybe a fire and some marshmallows.

Then once I have the type of party (BBQ), who I want to be there, and the schedule I start to think of food. I am blessed to have friends who love to cook as well, so it is always interesting to see what they want to bring to the party. Between the food I make and the food and drinks we bring no one ever goes home hungry.

The week of the party I start to clean my house, this gives me a full week to skip days or only do little tasks here and there. That way by the time the party arrives I don’t have to worry about the house, I just have to worry about the food.

The day before the party I will try and prep any food that I can, usually I will cook potatoes if I am going to be making potato salad and let that marinade over night so the only thing I need to do is add the bacon and mayo. And I will cook my eggs ahead of time because everyone always wants my deviled eggs (which I will share with you soon).

On the day of the party I will do any last minute clean up and start finishing up the cooking. IF I plan it right I give myself about an hour before people arrive to shower and get dressed. But one thing that I never thought of doing before I showered was to eat something light (which is what the above article suggested). I think this is a great idea because I know for me, there are times when once the party starts I worry about everyone but myself. And a cranky host is a bad host!

Happy Party Planning everyone!

 

Food Challenge

For the last few months one of the things I have been trying to get a handle on are my bills and cooking dinner. I might have mentioned in the past that I learned to cook from my dad (who grew up in a house of eight) and then learned more from Marie (who also grew up in a large home). Can you guess what one of my issues is? That is right learning how to cook for one and being able to pay my bills.

Like many (I think) I have one pay check that I have a little of wiggle room and another one that I don’t have any wiggle room. So one of the things I have started in the last two months is buying all of my groceries for the month. I wanted to try it a couple of times before I wrote about it to see if it would be possible.

Before I go to the store I look at my calendar and figure out how many nights I will be home so I know how much protein I need to buy. I try to make it so I cook enough dinner to have lunch the next day. This doesn’t always happen but if the majority of the month I am bringing my lunch to work that saves me money.

Then I go to the store and I start to buy the protein that I need. This last time I purchased picnic packs of chicken because that was cheaper and I was able to get three chicken breasts in each package (which for me can be lunch and dinner). Since it is summer I am making a lot of salads (pasta, tuna and potato) and I am purchasing a lot of marinades. I purchased a few veggies from the store but now that summer is here I like to buy my veggies from the farmers market.

Once I get home I start mixing marinades and bagging my meat portions into freezer bags with the selected marinades. Then everything goes into the freezer and I will pull it out as I need it.

So far the biggest challenge I have is pulling something out of the freezer and then not being able to use it because my plans get changed or I am just not that hungry.

By doing this it makes my first paycheck of the month not as stressful. I do have to purchase a few food items during this time period (mostly breakfast and some veggies) but it isn’t like I have to spend a large amount of money on food when every penny counts. I hope that my food challenge may help others who are trying to juggle budget and food purchases.