Prepping potatoes.

Weekly mix and match meal prep for one.

Weekly mix and match meal prep works by spreading key ingredients across two or more dissimilar recipes for efficiency and variety at once.  The result is a shorter grocery list and fewer scraps to store.

So, which ingredients are considered "key" for planning O.f.O. style mix and match meal prep?

Fresh produce!  

Scoring discounts on high cost ingredients like proteins is always a plus, but savvy singles plan around less expensive lettuce anyway.  Why?  Overall efficiency.

Prioritize fresh produce.

No excuse for wasting produce.

Faster perishing not-so-freezable foods like fresh greens are most at risk of going to waste when a week flies by, but that's no excuse for skimping on veggies.  Mixing and matching "use-it-or-lose-it" foods like produce is the key to colorful variety without waste.

Family meal planning vs. O.f.O.

Frugal family meal planning often begins with scouting out discounts on pricey recipe staples, like fresh proteins.  Frozen leftovers aren't necessarily part of the plan, so saving money on the most expensive recipe components is the name of the game.

O.f.O. style planning prioritizes the utilization of fast-perishing, non-freezable ingredients over freezable ingredients.  Frozen leftovers are definitely part of the plan, and saving every freezable scrap goes hand in hand with saving money on the most expensive ingredients, like fresh proteins.

Instead of planning each recipe around fresh proteins, O.f.O.'s Mix & Match Scratch Pad instructs that recipe choices are to be coordinated to use up a week's worth of fresh produce.  To help that happen, systematic freezer rotation banks ingredient investments like money in a frozen vault.

Sustainable freezer rotation is as easy as one, two, and sometimes three.

1. Fresh ingredients are scattered between four-nine recipes each week.
2. "No frozen leftovers" recipes are prioritized for prep and dining, then balanced with freezable recipes and freezer meals.
3. Freezer preps can supplement or pair with fresh foods.
   

Do yourself a favor, fill your freezer full of flavor.  But only if you want to.

O.f.O.'s three-section layout was specifically designed to optimize freezer rotation for timeliness, value and variety, but successful solo planning can work without a freezer, for sure.  In fact, license to learn and grow by creating unique menus without compromise is what makes cooking for one educational and fun!

Mix and match to meal plan your way.

Fresh food is the best, and traditional menu planning is doable for singles when perishables are efficiently spread across recipes.  O.f.O.'s Mix and Match Scratch Pad can certainly be used to lay down fully fresh, "no frozen leftovers" meal plans.  But when it comes to sourcing high quality ingredients each week...girl, watch out for those prices!      

Cook what you want!

Decide on a fun recipe that you really want to try, then search for recipes calling for leftover perishables (like extra celery) from that recipe.  Use the Plan & Shop page's Mix & Match Scratch Pad to coordinate recipe choices.

O.f.O.'s Mix & Match Scratch Pad

Here are five steps for coordinating recipes with O.f.O.'s Mix & Match Scratch Pad:

The scratch pad consists of two side-by-side columns; one for listing each recipe's leftover perishables, and another for noting which recipes to match them with.  

1. Slide the pad to next to the "Recipes" column on the Plan & Shop page.
2.  As recipe fields are filled, reference ingredient lists to spot potential leftover perishables.  
3. List each recipe's leftovers on the left column of pad.
4. Copy color coded recipe titles onto the right column of the pad beside assigned leftovers.
5. Coordinate recipe choices to use up fresh produce, so nothing goes to waste.  

Focusing on finding recipes for using up veggies opens up a world of ideas! 

Google ingredients for recipe recommendations.

When it comes to exploring mix and match meal prep solutions, simple search engine queries can work wonders.  Search engines are recipe generators.  Just enter a few food words and voila!  Recipes.  No preface or punctuation are typically required.

For example, type:  chicken butter flour lemon milk.  Hit ENTER.  That's all there is too it!  

Free Google Keep and Apple Notes recipe boxes work the same way.

This technique is a great way to find new recipes, and each variation of ingredients yields different results.  Check out recipe generator sites like Supercook for even more suggestions based on specific ingredients. 

Pair fresh produce with homemade frozen preps.

Mixing portioned freezer preps with fresh foods can help round out the process of incorporating fresh produce into yummy recipes, for easier planning and cooking.

Here are a few examples of how freezer preps can mix and match with fresh foods:

• Frozen mashed potatoes can mix into protein-veggie-mashed potato bowls.
• Frozen grilled chicken can mix into a green salad.
• Frozen refried beans can mix into loaded nachos.
• Frozen cooked rice can mix into stir fry. 

There you go, planning like a pro!

Coordinating produce for mix and match meal prep saves time and money, and the process yields delicious discoveries for building a better recipe box.  

Here's to planning like a pro, so cooking for one is less work and more fun!