Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude: What's the plan, Stan?

Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I do not necessarily want to be a food blogger, but I do LOVE to talk about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food. Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.

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In June, I mentioned Stan, our contractor. This man, this Stan, ended up being the bane of my existence for the entirety of Summer 2011. For much of the summer, I was constantly having to call him. Then, the tables turned and for the remainder of the summer, he was constantly calling ME. For money. That our insurance was in the process of sending in the form of FIVE separate checks. Money that got delayed partly because Stan's company wanted MORE money and took their sweet time finishing their own damned invoice.

It will be a long, long time before I erase the memory of his phone number from my brain.  Seriously, I have his phone committed to MEMORY.

Anyway, today's title is in celebration of the end of my tortured relationship with Stan. I handed over the last and final check him yesterday.

So. Today I want to talk about menu planning. Hands down, a minimum of menu planning goes a long, long way for me. And when I say minimum, I am not jesting.

Each Sunday/Monday morning, I pull out my cookbooks and a folder of print-outs to get ideas for the coming week. I only plan meals for Monday through Thursday. Friday is a our long-standing take n' bake pizza night. On Saturday and Sundays I usually wing it. Most lunches are scrabbled together with leftovers and whatnot.

In short, I plan for 4 dinners a week and I add the ingredients to my shopping list.  The entire process takes about 15 minutes.   Often, while I am at the store, something in the produce section will catch my eye or happen to be on sale and then I will have my 5th and 6th meals taken care of.

I have a hoard of cookbooks, but these are the ones I use most frequently, so I keep them handy and easily accessible.  I used to have them on the countertop but I prefer them tucked away since it protects them from dust, grease, etc.

My Favorite Cookbooks List

Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India by Maya Kaimal

Simply Thai Cooking by Wandee Young and Byron Ayanoglu

Simply Mediterranean Cooking by Byron Ayanoglu and Algis Kemezys

Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless

The Asian Bistro Cookbook by Andrew Chase

Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala by Maya Kaimal

Awhile back, I had mentioned that Paper Coterie was giving away $40 worth of product.  I spent $17 of my alottment on this handy recipe book:

Full Disclosure: This post is NOT sponsored.  I simply received the recipe book for free.

And I LOVE IT.

It took several hours worth of work digging through emails, bookmarked links, past blog posts, etc.  Recipes that had all been printed out previously and existed in a chaotic mess inside a red folder.  But it was worth the work and now, I have some of my favorite recipes in a single book.  In MY book.

I love how many of the recipes have come from friends - old and new.  It was quite a trip down memory lane.

I also love that I was able to use some of my favorite food photos as well.

I will always have a folder full of printouts and whatnot, that is the most exciting part of cooking as a hobby -- that constant discovery of new recipes and fresh ways to use one's favorite ingredients.

What are your favorite meal planning tips?  I am always looking for new ideas on how I can improve my schedule.