meal planning - where do i start?

Sarahsaver

https://www.recipemonster.com i think is the right address;)

pagan705

that link doesn't work but there is also http://search.allrecipes.com/recipe/Ingredient.aspx

but I'm sure there are many others as well

swampytiggaa

you are all fantastic!

my plan for monday then [I work weekends boo hiss] is to make a list of what is in my fridge/freezers/cupboards and see what meals i could make with what is there - then only buy what i need to add to them.

thank you all again - I feel inspired now!

wigginsmum

I'll join you on this, ST. Our second freezer arrives next Monday, and I'm planning on batch-cooking during the first week in January when I'm off work.

- Spag bol
- Boeuf Bourguignon
- Chicken curry
- Onion/lemon/prawn rice
- Pork + fruit casserole

Jules

jcr16

i shall be reading this thread hoping to get lots of ideas. i seem to have a problem as my cupboards can be full yet i still go shopping and buy even more. i do have a shopping budget and i do stick to it. but i generally buy the same things every week wether we need them or not. it got so bad that once we had 15 tins of beans in cupboard.
i like all normal meals like toad in hole , chilli , roast , spag bol etc etc. but even tho i make a menu up . i sometimes get bored and wanna try something different. i am a very good cook and enjoy cooking , but i have fairly limited time as i have young children .
although i suppose if i could drag myself away from mse in the evening's , then i could work out a meal planner. but all ideas and advice i would be so grateful off. i am gonna read the mega section in a min.

HOLsale

16011996 wrote:

try writing down favourite meals to get you started, and think about which nights your going to have most time to cook, i tend to do double batches some nights, that are then easy to warm up. on this website, there are some meal planner forms you can print off, i use these, i find they really help.

http://www.organizedhome.com/printable/index.php/cat/501

160.

the organised home site is brilliant for the forms alone

you can do pantry and fridge/freezer inventory forms too which will of course help with your meal planning

i have a 'living cookbook' which helps me to meal plan. i tell it what i have in the house (see, those inventory sheets from OH come in handy) then it trawls through the recipes you have in your database (comes with loads, their pages have loads more and easy to add your own) then it comes back with stuff you can make given what you have on hand... brilliant piece of software and their support on site is excellent too

Queenie

swampytiggaa wrote:

have just taken over the family shopping [now i have my 10% discount card for Tesco] and want to pull the cost of it all down as much as possible.

I realise that my problem is that i don't plan meals in advance but i really don't know where to start

ideas and help please

:snow_grin

If you are completely at a loss, one thing that may help ...

just write down, on your calendar, everything that you eat daily ... at the end of the month - you have a whole month worth of menu plans/meal ideas to skim over and incorporate into the next month.

A whole month too daunting? Try is for one (normal!) week - Christmas week probably isn't the best week to start

Another idea:

Use your till receipt as a meal planner.

Yes, both of those methods are really working backwards - but, for a first step they can prove extremely useful until you can get into the habit of drawing up your meal/menu plans in advance.

HTH

Sweet_Pea_2

Thanks for this thread. I've managed to get my shopping bill down, but I'm going to try menu planning after Christmas when normality returns.
I have tried this before over the years but haven't managed to stick to it. I struggle to come up with meals that we all like, as my lot are fussy (to say the least - OH included,) when it somes to food. My approach now is to just cook something and bung it in front of them. If they don't like it - tough. If I listened to them it would be chicken nuggets every night.
Also I was telling OH how my mum used to meal plan so I always knew what was for tea every night - it was chips on Mondays and Wednesdays, potatoes on Tuesdays and Thursdays etc for years. (My mum hates cooking - cant you tell, originality is not her forte, lol) OH said he would hate this. Too bad 'cos its coming to this house soon! Although maybe I can run to something a bit more exciting than chips or potatoes.

I was re reading my fave Ol' Style book, (tightwad gazette) and was surprised to find that Amy Dacyzn does not agree with menu planning, claiming that "the pantry principle" is more moneysaving in the long run. This is also the system that I kind of use myself at the moment. I'm going to compare food bills after Christmas and see which I think is more moneysaving for me.

Janeryan

Is this where you look in the pantry and then plan your meals?If not what is it please?

My husband works very strange shifts so I have trouble planning meals as we don't all eat togehter very often so they have to be things he can reheat/defrost-kind of rules out egg & chipsand toad in the hole

Also have picky 15yr old boy to cater for.


It's a nightmare!

Sweet_Pea_2

The pantry principle is when you have a basic storecupboard of all the things that you need to make the meals that you like. Then instead of planning your meals for weeks in advance and planning your shopping list around that, you do an inventory of your pantry, freezer whatever, then buy what you are running low on.
This is how I have always done my shopping list, I work my way through the freezers, fridge and cupboards one by one and write down anything we are low on. If there is anything we have totally run out of I write this on the blackboard in the kitchen as I use it so I dont forget to include it in my list. Then I go upstairs and have a look in the bathroom, as I get all my shampoo etc from the supermarket too.
This way you should have the basics in to do all your favourite meals, and if something is on bogoff that you use regularly you can stock up. As I generally keep a good stock of things its unusual to totally run out of things, so if I see a bargain I can stock up and cross something else off the list until next week so I can stay within the weekly budget.
I think meal planning is a bit different, as I will need to get used to just buying ingredients for my planned meals, therefore I will have less of a stock of things.