Tis the Season to be Jolly

 A Failure to Plan is a Plan for Failure

Let's face it between Thanksgiving and New Year's day there's probably a good 10 of those days you are planning big festive food celebrations:  Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas Day, Hannuka, Yule Tide, Winter Solstic, Feast of the 7 Fishes, Christmas Eve, Christmas  Day, Kwanza, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. I'm hungry just typing that out. Now some people make big dinners on only a few of those days, it still requires a lot of planning. Remember the biggest reason to plan and do as much shopping ahead of time is the fact that: most stores close early on Christmas eve and don't reopen until early hours on the 26th. Same with New Year's Eve.  So that means if you forgot something, unless its something you can get at the local gas station convenient store (should they be open), YOU MY FRIEND ARE OUT OF LUCK!!! 

I'm going to share with you how James and I plan for the holidays and share with you our little secrets for keeping sane when trying to remember if we got everything for meals for when the stores are closed. 

Step 1.  We ALWAYS make a menu, like full on all the details menu, for the week of Christmas and then the week of New Year's. We always plan for 3 meals a day for each week. Yes some of those are leftovers (I mean we waste not we want not.) and some of them are simple as cereal or bagels. Its just the concept of planning for that week. Not ever meal is complicated, nothing wrong with a good ol' fashioned bowl of soup and a grilled cheese But its all allotted for so when we go to the store all those ingredients are bought. 

Step 2. In our house, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year's Eve, New Year's day are basically non-stop eating from morning till night. Brunch, Dinner, Dessert repeat. Because we have such traditions, we make a master menu and a master ingredient list. We include everything that's on the menu (even stuff we know we already have {salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, flour, sugar etc) Before we shop we double check our grocery supply and cross off what we know we already have and set out for what we know we need. 

Step 3.  Print out any recipes you maybe using or dig out any cookbook/recipe cards that you have that you plan on using for meals that week.  Having them on hand and not on your phone will ease in the process later. Nothing like having your phone done in the middle of making a recipe and you can't remember was it 1 cup or 1/2 a cup of milk and it keeps your phone/tablet clean from messy hands. 

Step 4.  If you happen to live in one of the 8 states that have a ban on single use plastic bags, you are in luck. Those bags you do pay for or reusable bags will become a lifesaver. I also have pans that I use to sort my recipes. This makes it easy for meal planning because all the non-perishable ingredients are in these along with recipe cards so I know what each one is for and what perishable ingredients are needed and keeps me from searching all over the kitchen for the ingredients for the recipe. Some of our recipes that we make have been passed down for others to make so they have all they need right there with instructions how to make it.  And this keeps stuff from being eaten, because in our house if its in these bins, its off limits. 

Step 5.  Relax if things fall apart or you did forget something RELAX. there's plenty of resources to find a substitute for an ingredient that you may need to replace.  

Step 6.  Remember its okay to say NO! Don't feel obligated to do something just because its a social media hashtag / photo of the day.  These are your holidays and they should be enjoyed the way you want to. 

We want to extend our warmest wishes to you and yours this holiday season and many wishes for a blessed and happy new year.   

Semper Fi

James & Comfort