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Meal Planning with an unpredictable OH

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babymonster2
babymonster2 Posts: 101 Forumite
in Old style MoneySaving
Hi,

Normally lurk on the OS board as would love to be more OS but don't seem to be able to get started as well as I'd like!

A lot of the ideas about decluttering and cleaning I am getting there with (on a good week!) but it's meal planning I'm really struggling with.

OH has his own company and usually call him once DD (2) is in bed to see whether he's coming home for dinner or working late - he never knows earlier in the day :mad:

So where do I start? I feel bad if I meal plan for just me and then he comes home as he then just ends up getting a takeaway, but it's hard to plan meals that I make and then he doesn't come home til 10/11 at night as then he doesn't really want to eat them :(

Any suggestions gratefully received! But maybe worth mentioning that a lot of the types of meals that keep well (stews, soups, casseroles etc) are really not my type of thing hence making this so much harder!
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  • cutestkids
    cutestkids Posts: 1,651 Forumite
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    Can you give us some idea of what kind of meals you eat at the moment as well as things that you dont like, that will make it easier to make suggestions
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  • culpepper
    culpepper Posts: 4,076 Forumite
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    When OH was on odd shifts, I used to make everyones dinner, plate his up and put it aside, if he got home for dinner, it was put in the microwave,else it went in the freezer .
    If you did this every time you had dinner and he didn't turn up, it would make for a few ready meals in the freezer which he could get out when he was there instead of a takeaway.
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179 Forumite
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    I think batch cooking may be your best option, fill your freezer with ready meals, if he likes takeaway maybe currys are the way to go, and some boil in the bag rice (not very os but if he's making his own and is very tired it saves standing for ages) whats about spag bol it only takes a 5mins to boil some pasta and defrost the mince in the microwave, or you could make up a few roast dinners in tubs for him, if he's a big eater so mash, veg, meat and gravy in a foil tray to pop in the oven and hm roasties and yorkshires to pop on the oven tray to bulk it out.
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  • Owain_Moneysaver
    Owain_Moneysaver Posts: 11,357 Forumite
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    Perhaps OH could get a small freezer and keep some of your home-made meals at work to reheat when he is ready / has time to eat during the day? If he has a proper lunch then he could just have a snack with you in the evening.
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  • tyllwyd
    tyllwyd Posts: 5,496 Forumite
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    I find pasta meals are quite good - things like spaghetti bolognese or carbonara where you can just cook or heat up enough sauce for the number of people eating and it only takes a short time to get ready.

    Or how about cold meat - you can serve out enough for each person, and then cook potatoes & veg as needed.

    If he is that unpredictable, on the days he is working I think I would meal plan for myself and for him separately, and make sure that whatever you plan for him will last for a few days if he doesn't come home to eat it.
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 32,660 Forumite
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    We found this recipe http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/poultry-and-game/chicken/chicken-basque.html

    keeps good for a couple of hours or more providing you use brown rice. Ideal for those days when you have people coming and they get caught up in work/traffic.
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  • flipper_72
    flipper_72 Posts: 671 Forumite
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    When dh worked late he used to take a meal with him to reheat. most of the time it was his portion of what I and the kids had eaten the night before, occasionally we would have something that isn't nice reheated so he would have a homemade ready meal. We had this 3days per week for years, it helps to have a stock of meals in the freezer.
  • krlyr
    krlyr Posts: 5,993 Forumite
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    edited 10 December 2012 at 1:42PM
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    My OH is an engineer so works 'jobs' rather than set hours. Some days he's home before me, some days he's not home until 8 or 9, so I have a similar issue.
    For us, frozen "block" meals work well. So I batchcook mince into chili, bolognese, cottage pie, chicken into chicken casserole, fajita (with peppers and onion), etc. and then I have HM wedges, mash potato, flavoured rice, etc. ready in the freezer. OH just has to give me a ring with his ETA and I get everything prepared and in the oven or microwave ready for when he gets in. Plus it works well the other way around, two nights a week I'm at evening classes, if I'm starving then we have plenty of meals that the not-quite-Jamie-Oliver OH can shove in the microwave.
    The only thing that doesn't work so well is fresh veg/salad so we tend to save salad-y meals for the weekends, or I'll send him home via the supermarket to grab some on his way home if he decides he fancies something like fajitas (usually have wraps in the cupboard or freezer too)

    Lots of stuff can be frozen that you might not immediately think of, so you're not limited to just stews and casseroles. We've been trying to think outside of the box for a bit more variety. For example, the other day I decided to do something different with the cottage pie mince and I whizzed up some shortcrust pastry and we had it in a pie instead. You could freeze the whole pie, ready made in a pie dish or foil tin, to shove in the oven when he's on his way home.
    Having the 'sides' ready-made really helps, so the HM wedges, rice (just make sure you cool and reheat it properly, but we've not had any problems - 'mexican' rice is a big hit here, cooked in passata and stock and with added kidney beans, jalapenos, etc., its like Uncle Bens flavoured stuff but a fraction of the cost to make!), mash potato, etc. so we can mix and match dependant on what we feel like.
    HM burgers are something OH will often shove in to eat if he's got home later and doesn't feel like a whole dinner - 10 minutes in the George Foreman, and we keep a stash of Warburtons rolls in the freeze for buns.
  • babymonster2
    babymonster2 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    Sorry didn't get a chance to log back on yesterday to reply, many thanks for all your suggestions, think I hadn't been thinking as widely as I perhaps could have done.

    krlyr how do you do your HM wedges? At what stage do you freeze them ? They sound like a great idea :)
  • Noctu
    Noctu Posts: 1,553 Forumite
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    Krlyr can I also ask how you do your Mexican rice? Sounds wonderful! :-)
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