M. Suzanne Terry

This year, I threw my first annual Hemingway party. The food was simple and good – like Hemingway’s prose – and the party was alcohol-laden – like Hemingway himself.

Yesterday, we talked about the benefits of planning ahead when you have traditions that you like to celebrate every year. Today, we are going to talk about the importance of having a way to find, share, and save ideas that will make your planning easier.

For me, that way is Pinterest.

I wrote a miniature love note to Pinterest last month, but I want to talk more about it this month. It’s one of my favorite planning tools. I currently have 97 boards, and many of them are categories of recipes that I have tried or that I want to try. This is what keeps my recipe cards down to one box instead of twenty. It also is what helps me plan a party months before it happens.

Some of my traditions have their own boards. I like to have at least one theme party a year, and the Let Me Entertain You board has some great ideas about simple ways to do that. After I finish editing Epic Meal Planning, I’m going to revisit Feast, which will be about Easter specifically, but also celebrations and party planning tips (and three course meals with champagne cocktails) in general. The day after Thanksgiving, my family makes candy, and every once in a while I like to throw something new in the mix.  The year that Maggie and I had a cookie weekend and a pie weekend, both followed by omg-come-eat-all-these-things parties, I collected a lot of recipes that I still use and will revive the next time said parties happen.

Epic Meal Planning also has its own specific board, and I pin recipes and tips to it (as well as all this month’s posts). So if you like what you have been reading here and want to read deeper  or want to see alternatives to the various steps we’ve covered, I try to find at least one alternative method for everything we’ve done. I like to create my own spice list and pantry list, for example, but I’ve been cooking for 20+ years. If you haven’t, that may have been overwhelming to you, so there are pins on this board that give you solid starting lists.

What are your favorite ways to organize your planning tips and ideas?

I’m sharing my Epic Meal Planning strategies for Write 31 Days – click to see the master list.