The grill made me do it!

About a month into my brave, bold attempt to tackle meal planning, I realized that I just have to be honest with you: it doesn't work for me. I gave it a fair shot, but that fair shot failed...hence, my lack of blogs. What I did take away from the experiment was two things: 1) Online grocery shopping and delivery is my best friend and 2) That grill's got a mind of its own...and I like it!

The bottom line: meal planning saves money. Knowing exactly what you're going to get, and the exact amount, limits those grocery cart surprises of the unneeded chocolate bar syndrome. But does it save time? Meal planning requires most of the time upfront. For people that like to keep it simple or don't mind eating the same foods all the time, maybe meal planning would take less time, but I am a variety girl and really enjoy experiencing new and unique dishes. Since I enjoy the art of cooking, researching the recipes and settling on a menu would take me at least an hour, if not longer. Then, add on to that the time spent grocery shopping whether online or not, and you'd easily add another 1 hour, at the very least. Online grocery shopping doesn't make a huge difference in time spent shopping, but it does add a more streamlined way to accomplish the same task, and having someone deliver to you is a huge perk.

What now? Well, I've adopted a new way to embrace the business of cooking. This new way embraces both my love for cooking, my desire to save time and money, as well as, my need for some flexibility. I like to call it meal designing. Basically, you cover all your bases: you buy the basic ingredients that you could easily mix-n-match for any number of meals. If you have a specialty dish in mind, you would buy those special ingredients on top of the basics. The basics include: frozen chicken, an array of vegetables, milk, cheese, butter, etc... (Get the idea?) That way, you can come home and still think "what do I feel like for dinner tonight?" but you already have everything you would need to design a great meal.

I will admit though, that I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. First, I got my iPhone 4 a couple of weeks ago. The iPhone 4 is a masterpiece, a true nerd's paradise (that I am unashamedly enjoying), AND on top of it's greatness, there's the App Store. After my first glimpse at the App Store, I excitedly exclaimed, "Where have you been all my life?!" You have Apps for miles. Apps of all kinds. There's Apps for the kids, for the big kids, for the men, the women, the nerd, the sports fanatic, the shopper, the emo kid, the creative tycoon....and for COOKING. I found some amazing FREE apps that put hundreds of recipes at your fingertips. My favorite cooking related apps:

Epicurious
Crock-Pot
AllRecipes
Shop to Lose
CookIt

And the best thing, I've only scratched the surface. Now, when I have some down time on the go or at work, I can whip out my iPhone and browse recipes to help decide what I'll cook next. Amazing! (And I know you all share my enthusiasm)

The other trick up my sleeve is the grill. Our cute, little Weber BBQ is just the thing we needed. Cooking on the BBQ takes about the same amount of time as cooking in the kitchen, but it is so much more rewarding and enjoyable. Who doesn't like the BBQ's smokey flavor? Our new love for grilling things has made our meal planning pretty simple: marinade meat, prepare vegetables for grilling, and go! Needless to say, we've been doing a ton of grilling since we got our BBQ on 4th of July weekend, so I'm sure its appeal will eventually die down, and it'll back to the kitchen for me, but for now, I'm enjoying the experience thoroughly.

So my Nibbles friends, Nibbles isn't going anywhere...it's here for good, but it's entering a new phase in its young Blogger life. I'm somewhat just along for the ride, and discovering new things about what works and what doesn't, and what tastes good. Ahhh, it feels good to get this all off my chest...now on to more cooking adventures! Bon voyage :)