About the Cook
My name is Susan McQuilkin, and I am the founder of Menu Plan Cook. I am an environmental health advocate and former emergency management planner disguised as a food blogger.
Menu Plan Cook is an idea I’ve had, and domain name I have owned, since 2010. That’s when I started taking online dietary management classes while working a day job writing emergency management plans for a rural hospital. I am a hazmat-certified National Incident Command trainer with a background in disaster that 20 years with an international environmental consulting firm prepared me for. Menu Plan Cook is a synthesis of all these interests—nutrition, the environment, and preparedness.
The Food World I Grew Up In
II come by being a foodie honestly from both sides of my family. My father’s father, Harold Adams Campbell, was the founder the Hasty Tasty in Minneapolis. My grandfather’s Great Depression dream was to eventually establish restaurants on the highway between Minneapolis and Chicago that would serve a hearty but quick meal so motorists could be on their way . . . “Hasty” but “Tasty”. His restaurants were always considered upscale, perhaps because he insisted upon white linen tablecloths, a few of which I’ve inherited and keep in my china cabinet. Unfortunately, Bop-bop died in 1954 and by 1960 Howard Johnson usurped his dream. And we all know the rest of the story: A parade of fast-food restaurants followed along the interstate exits. What I have learned from my grandfather is to make quick but delicious meals, and to work toward owning one’s own means of food production. Because Thanksgiving was the biggest time of year for his restaurants, he bought a turkey farm.
My mother was Julia Child’s most dedicated TV audience fan and an ardent student of Madame Kuony, a Belgian woman who taught French cooking at her estate in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She along with two other suburban Green Bay housewives would brave rain, sleet, and snow to drive 73 miles to their cooking class with Mme. Kuony. I was eating truffles before I was a teen. All this French cooking did not serve me well when I was the resident cook at a ranch in Montana, where cowboys must have gravy with whatever is served with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I knew the right way was strictly “au jus”–but I buckled down and learned to make gravy anyway, just for them. The biggest influence French cooking has had on me is gravitating toward “meals in one dish,” the French way of serving everyday food.
What You’ll Get From This Food Blog
In this food blog you will find easy, simple recipes for a variety meals, from American favorites, to world cuisine, to special diets. There is an emphasis on using ingredients from the pantry instead of the refrigerator, just in case there is a loss of electricity that will require you to depend on cooking ingredients with a long shelf life.
Besides recipes, you will also find articles on the science of cooking as well as the environmental politics swirling around our food supply. I’ll alert you to circumstances that may affect your ability to obtain your favorite ingredients.
My promise to you is this: I will provide actionable, step-by-step guidance to minimize your grocery bills while eating healthy and well.
Menu Plan Cook Mission
Menu Plan Cook wants you to look at meals differently—not haphazardly from one recipe to the next, not even from a week of meals to the next—but on the macro level, the macronutrient level, from one month to the next. When you step back and look at the big picture of what you eat, you can make thoughtful adjustments, then buy only what you really need, not just what seems appealing, The free report you can request in the sidebar shows you how to create your own menu plan.
Dietary managers function like this every day in schools, assisted-living facilities, and other institutions. It is the professional way to approach meals: Establish the food supply first, armed with the best nutritional information available, then develop recipes to exhaust that food supply with the goal of zero waste. The mission of Menu Plan Cook is to help you apply these dietary management principles to your household meal preparation.
Join My Culinary Journey
Now that you know what this website is about, I hope you’ll feel inspired to join the community of people taking a dietary management approach to meal planning. Whether you are an experienced cook or a kitchen novice, there is something for everyone in this food blog.