Dinner planning
erlang says:
My family have recently started planning dinners for a week at a time. This also means we go to the grocery store once a week.
I am a webdeveloper so I first planned to develop a webapplication my self for planning dinners, but then I discovered a way to use Remember the milk for that purpose, and we are really happy with the result.
Let me share how we do this.
First, me and my wife have a shared list in Remember the milk, this list is called Dinners. We both have this list available on our iPhones, and do the planning from there.
First time we did type in seven dishes (as tasks). We first added the needed ingredients to our shopping list (We are using Shopper for iphone for this, but you can use RTM as well). This means, all uncompleted tasks in this list, are dishes that we either already have all the ingredients for, or that we plan on shopping all the needed ingredients for very soon - we usually do the dinner planning right before going to the grocery store.
Then we put due dates usually for all of the next 7 days. We may still have a number of dishes (uncompleted tasks) without due dates; which means that we have all the ingredients and may swap if we feel like. The list will look something like this:
We are using iCal and the Calendar on the iPhone, and it is really important that we can get the dinner dishes in there; and luckily the icalendar format is supported by RTM. Start by copying the iCal URL from RTM:
And subscribe to this URL from iCal (or another calendar software):
Now, your dishes will be fully in sync on your calendar. The dinner planning is read only in your calendar - you do the planning in the RTM app.
Every day, when we make a dish, we check the dish as completed in the list. If we for some reason do not make the dish, we reschedule the due date, or empty the due date - meaning that it is a dish that we have not planned for a date, but still we got all the ingredients.
Now, to the really really cool part of this: as time go, you add and complete dishes, RTM will keep track of all the dishes that you have completed in the past. Just hit the completed link in your list:
Now you see all dishes that you have made in the past sorted by how long it is since you made it last time. The time you completed it last time is listed to the right in the list. And when you do dinner planning for the next week, start to swipe through the completed list to get ideas for what you want for the next week - and you even easily see what dishes it is a long time since you had. Check those dishes you want to make, and hit the Recomplete button.
I am a webdeveloper so I first planned to develop a webapplication my self for planning dinners, but then I discovered a way to use Remember the milk for that purpose, and we are really happy with the result.
Let me share how we do this.
First, me and my wife have a shared list in Remember the milk, this list is called Dinners. We both have this list available on our iPhones, and do the planning from there.
First time we did type in seven dishes (as tasks). We first added the needed ingredients to our shopping list (We are using Shopper for iphone for this, but you can use RTM as well). This means, all uncompleted tasks in this list, are dishes that we either already have all the ingredients for, or that we plan on shopping all the needed ingredients for very soon - we usually do the dinner planning right before going to the grocery store.
Then we put due dates usually for all of the next 7 days. We may still have a number of dishes (uncompleted tasks) without due dates; which means that we have all the ingredients and may swap if we feel like. The list will look something like this:
We are using iCal and the Calendar on the iPhone, and it is really important that we can get the dinner dishes in there; and luckily the icalendar format is supported by RTM. Start by copying the iCal URL from RTM:
And subscribe to this URL from iCal (or another calendar software):
Now, your dishes will be fully in sync on your calendar. The dinner planning is read only in your calendar - you do the planning in the RTM app.
Every day, when we make a dish, we check the dish as completed in the list. If we for some reason do not make the dish, we reschedule the due date, or empty the due date - meaning that it is a dish that we have not planned for a date, but still we got all the ingredients.
Now, to the really really cool part of this: as time go, you add and complete dishes, RTM will keep track of all the dishes that you have completed in the past. Just hit the completed link in your list:
Now you see all dishes that you have made in the past sorted by how long it is since you made it last time. The time you completed it last time is listed to the right in the list. And when you do dinner planning for the next week, start to swipe through the completed list to get ideas for what you want for the next week - and you even easily see what dishes it is a long time since you had. Check those dishes you want to make, and hit the Recomplete button.
This is a pretty interesting system that you are proposing here. I just tried it with Google calendar and it works very nicely. And to "keep track" of what has been served for past dinner is interesting too. The only part that I wasn't sure it the last one: once you have selected the meal that you want to re-schedule for the next week, what button are you hitting to bring them back (I don't see any Recomplete button, and using the Uncomplete will remove from the history). I have tried to "duplicate" action on the completed meals and assign a new date and it worked while keeping the history.
erlang says:
You are right. I meant the Uncomplete button.
If you use that button, you will keep track of every dishes that you have prepared and the last date you prepared each dish, sorted by that. That is what I need. I use the last date to make sure that I do not make the same dishes too often, instead introduce a dish that it is a long time since...
If you need to keep track of the full history of dishes, your idea by using duplicate seems like a wise choice.
I can add that I from time to time do tidy up the completed list. Deleting dishes that I know I never will create again, etc.
If you use that button, you will keep track of every dishes that you have prepared and the last date you prepared each dish, sorted by that. That is what I need. I use the last date to make sure that I do not make the same dishes too often, instead introduce a dish that it is a long time since...
If you need to keep track of the full history of dishes, your idea by using duplicate seems like a wise choice.
I can add that I from time to time do tidy up the completed list. Deleting dishes that I know I never will create again, etc.
markfrman says:
I was just about to start planning my meals weekly like this. Thanks for the iCal tip. I'm going to tag all the ingredients for our various meals with the meal name. I already have my groceries listed in RTM so this will be pretty fast and easy. Then create smart lists for each meal and we can easily see what we need to add to our grocery list.
I will probably add the meals to a meal list then duplicate the meals I want to schedule for this week and add a tag so that they will populate my Menu smart list and set a due date from the Menu smart list.
I will probably set tags on meals as reviews too to remind me if something was a particular hit with the kids or didn't agree with me etc.
Thanks a lot erlang!
I will probably add the meals to a meal list then duplicate the meals I want to schedule for this week and add a tag so that they will populate my Menu smart list and set a due date from the Menu smart list.
I will probably set tags on meals as reviews too to remind me if something was a particular hit with the kids or didn't agree with me etc.
Thanks a lot erlang!
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi erlang,
I just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner. We've upgraded your RTM account to have a free year of Pro. :)
I just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner. We've upgraded your RTM account to have a free year of Pro. :)
canh says:
Hey - you're Norwegian? Can't help but notice the fiskepudding and rømmegrøt there in your list!
Now this is exactly how me and my wife with our iPhones have been using RTM too! We do the groceries once a week. We continously add new dishes to the list that we find the kids enjoy. We make sure we eat fish three times a week. We also add in the recipe and ingredients in the notes part of each task.
Man, it sure beats standing hungry at Rema 1000 at suppertime grabbing som quick and easy junk Toro bag every day.
Now this is exactly how me and my wife with our iPhones have been using RTM too! We do the groceries once a week. We continously add new dishes to the list that we find the kids enjoy. We make sure we eat fish three times a week. We also add in the recipe and ingredients in the notes part of each task.
Man, it sure beats standing hungry at Rema 1000 at suppertime grabbing som quick and easy junk Toro bag every day.
I have a meal list with meals as tasks. I also copy the recipe as a note so I can check the ingredients, method etc to see if it is a practical option for the day I have in mind.
So if I see an interesting recipe I copy and paste the details into a task which I leave undated.
When I shop I tend to go to the local produce markets first so I can pick a recipe that fits whatever is seasonal and I can see all the ingredients at a glance. I then give it a date within the next week or two.
I then go to the supermarket and pick up the ingredients I don't have.
And if someone likes the recipe you have a copy of it handy!
So if I see an interesting recipe I copy and paste the details into a task which I leave undated.
When I shop I tend to go to the local produce markets first so I can pick a recipe that fits whatever is seasonal and I can see all the ingredients at a glance. I then give it a date within the next week or two.
I then go to the supermarket and pick up the ingredients I don't have.
And if someone likes the recipe you have a copy of it handy!
wheretheskygrows says:
I love this idea! I'm wondering how you link up your shopping list with your "dinners" smartlist? Whether that shopping list is in RTM or another app. I have a shopping smartlist and a groceries tag, but I'm not sure how to ascertain from my upcoming dinners what groceries I need to buy. Guess it's just as simple as toggling over to the groceries tag to see what I need, but it sounds like you've got a better system figured out.
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