Guest guest Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 Hi everyone, There's one other thing I should have mentioned about how I plan menus. I guess I'm not the only person in the world who feels that they are sometimes in a bit of a rut when it comes to menu planning so I came up with a 'fun' way of choosing new recipes. It sounds a bit crazy but it works!! I have an Excel data base with all my cookbooks listed. Once a week/fortnight/month (more often it's a two weekly event) I ask my husband to pick a random number between 1 and .. (whatever the current highest number is). I must add here that Hans has absolutely no idea of the numbers on the list so he can't 'cheat' and pick a favourite book. When he tells me the number he has chosen I then find that particular cookbook and select a recipe from that book to add to the following menu. If by any chance he picks the number of a book which is too specialised for main meals (eg breads) I take the book with the next highest number. Sometimes the 'game' goes one stage further. I check the first and last page numbers of the chapter/s with main meal recipes and ask Hans to pick another number and that's the page I use for my recipe. If he happens to pick a page number with no recipe (photo, chapter introduction etc) I simply go to the next page. I can't pretend that all the recipes we have selected this way have become firm favourites but quite a few have. It is certainly a good way to try some new recipes and make sure that all my cookbooks get the chance of an occasional airing. Cheers from Marie in Haarlem, Netherlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 That sound like fun! I have a lot of vegetarian cookbooks and I took post-it notes and marked the pages that had interesting recipes that I wanted to try, then passed the book to my daughter and her husband and they initialed the recipes they would be willing to try and then every couple of weeks I try one of the dishes that all three of us have agreed to try. So far it has been an interesting experience and I have added some great new ideas to my menus. DJ , " Marie Rieuwers " <rieuwers wrote: > > Hi everyone, > > > > There's one other thing I should have mentioned about how I plan menus. I > guess I'm not the only person in the world who feels that they are sometimes > in a bit of a rut when it comes to menu planning so I came up with a 'fun' > way of choosing new recipes. It sounds a bit crazy but it works!! I have an > Excel data base with all my cookbooks listed. Once a week/fortnight/month > (more often it's a two weekly event) I ask my husband to pick a random > number between 1 and .. (whatever the current highest number is). I must > add here that Hans has absolutely no idea of the numbers on the list so he > can't 'cheat' and pick a favourite book. When he tells me the number he has > chosen I then find that particular cookbook and select a recipe from that > book to add to the following menu. If by any chance he picks the number of > a book which is too specialised for main meals (eg breads) I take the book > with the next highest number. Sometimes the 'game' goes one stage further. I > check the first and last page numbers of the chapter/s with main meal > recipes and ask Hans to pick another number and that's the page I use for my > recipe. If he happens to pick a page number with no recipe (photo, chapter > introduction etc) I simply go to the next page. I can't pretend that all > the recipes we have selected this way have become firm favourites but quite > a few have. It is certainly a good way to try some new recipes and make > sure that all my cookbooks get the chance of an occasional airing. > > > > Cheers from Marie in Haarlem, Netherlands > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2006 Report Share Posted September 8, 2006 You are so clever! What a wonderful and fun way to try new recipes in your home... very inspiring. ~ PT ~ And there came three birds who began singing such a song that all the songs they had previously heard were without harmony compared to this. ~ Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, from 'The Mabinogion' ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~> , " Marie Rieuwers " <rieuwers wrote: I can't pretend that all > the recipes we have selected this way have become firm favourites but quite > a few have. It is certainly a good way to try some new recipes and make > sure that all my cookbooks get the chance of an occasional airing. > Cheers from Marie in Haarlem, Netherlands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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