Menu Lessons Learned So Far

I need to pay a bit more attention to "sell by" dates when I'm planning a menu because some things expire faster than others. I'm getting close to the end of the week and very close to the end of the shelf-life for some of the meats. I could have done my pasta (which is more or less vegetarian) at the end of the week. Additionally, I could've cooked some of the meats well in advance. For example, I wouldn't mind a reheated hamburger. As it stands, I had to freeze the ground beef before it spoiled.

Also, I'm currently buying more stuff than I need to cook. I'm allowing myself to waste a bit while I learn, but it'd be good to get into the habit of understanding how much I'm buying versus how much I'm cooking so that I can either buy less or plan multiple meals with the same ingredients. The bok choy, for example, came in a bushels twice the size of what I needed. So, when I get bok choy again, I need to plan for 2 meals that use it.

Another issue I ran into is that, during the week, I'm cooking after work. If I leave on time, I'll be home soon after 5. Sometimes things don't go as planned and I leave late. So, I need to be sure the recipes I'm planning on cooking for weeknights either have short prep and cook times or can be prepped more than 8 hours in advance.