Memorial Day Weekend Part 1: Planning the Meals

Hi, Grill enthusiasts! Memorial Day weekend was a big cooking weekend for me. I had decided to cook chicken and beef fajitas for Saturday night, Ribeye and New York Strip steaks for Sunday night and brisket for Monday.
I took some pictures of the meals and I hope to get those up quickly.
One of the things I have to say about a long weekend is that if you plan everything carefully, you should be able to make it through the weekend with a lot of leftovers for the following days. Considering I work, cooking is the last thing you want to do. So, I try to cook big batches of food during the weekend and use them throughout the week.
Take it from me. Planning a menu works very well if you follow these steps.

1. Check the weather closely. If you are cooking indoors, that should be a problem. If you are grilling, smoking or barbequing, you need to be aware of the weather.
2. Use the local grocery ads. With holiday weekends, you can take advantage of the sales.
3. If you cook outdoors, make sure you have enough propane, charcoal or wood to do your cooking. Nothing ruins a cookout more than running out of fuel. I have never done that, but I have had friends whom have had that happen. Not a pretty sight.
4. Create your menu. Figure out your entree and sidedishes and prepare a grocery list.
5. Take advantage of items in season. Buying things out of season is going to be costly.

I use a vacuum sealer to extend the life of my leftovers and try to make sure that my menu for the rest of the week can use the items I have already cooked. Planning is key.
In the next couple of blog entries, I will be discussing the fajitas, steaks and brisket. Stay tuned for the entries.