Meal Planning - how do you do it?

lisa26_2

It can be a biot complex for me as I work one shift pattern and OH works a different one, we also don't live together yet, his house is 30ish miles away so some days I cook for 1, somedays for both of us, sometimes I'm on night shifts and on day shifts I work till 7pm so its a bit allover the place!!! If I didn't meal plan I'd end up eating cr*p all the time!!! I start by deciding how much money I have!!! If I'm pretty skint (most of the time!) I try and plan all loof the main parts from what I have in with just some fresh fruit or salad added. I try to batch cook so I always try and use up atleast a couple of things from my freezer to make room for new stuff. The I'll make a batch of something thats different to whats already in the freezer so if I already have something with mince frozen I'll make something with chicken or fish. I do like to try new recipes but if I'm busy then I tend to make the old faithfuls as I can do them quicker!

curly_cabbage

I orginally started off looking at what i had in in cupboards and frezzer and we would follow a plan for the week then the kid would moan that they fancied somthing else. So now after each meal we have a chat and make the dision together so if they have an input they seem to eat it with out moaning.

Generally it works well as i cook mainly from sctarch and they meals they chose are a mixture of what we always have in stock, i'll just change the spice ect to suite what they all fancy. So far we have had no takeaways for 8 weeks or so and no complanits about what being cooked. although this may not work for some it seems to work well for us.

I usally have stock of:
Fish
Sausages
mince
chicken breasts
chicken 1/4
rice
pasta
potatoes
tin toms
various spice's
garlic
onions
carrots
and various bit in the frezzer which i have found on 3 for 2 ect.

I just replace the same basic stuff each month and turn it into what we fancy.

CC

[Deleted User]

As I live alone I usually just rummage through the freezer to see what's in there.
I always go to DD's for Sunday lunch so
Monday as I'm usually off to college that night I have an early dinner something quick and easy to prepare usually pasta of some sort.
Tuesday I like lamb chops ,
Wednesday if I have it in the freezer I like a curry
Thursday maybe sausage and mash
Friday fish of some sort usually done in the remoska
Saturday I do like steak, mash and mushrooms
I like to batch cook about twice a month and can often go a whole week eating prepared HM meals from the freezer.
Tonight I know I will have some chicken with bacon for a change as all my curries have been 'aquired' by my eldest DD as she loves them, and also likes to rummage through Mum's freezer for quick easy meals for herself as the rest of her brood aren't keen on spicy food.
I don't think I have ever had a really set plan at all,it seems to depend on what I can find in the supermarket,especially if its been yellow-stickered.

windowshopper100

I (try) and stick to:

2 x red meat (incl sausages, bacon, ham, etc)
2 x white meat
2 x fish (incl one oily)
1 x veggie (although a rasher of bacon usually sneaks in somewhere)

I'm thinking of doing this with accompanying carbs too, e.g.
2 x rice
2 x pasta
2 x potato
1 x something exotic (cous cous, quinoa, bulghar)

I'm working on a breakfast and lunch rota (trying to lose weight so will be easier to track) and incorporate 1 fruit with breakfast, (at least) 2 F&V with lunch and another (at least) 2 F&V with dinner.

I still take advantage of bargains and incorporate them in the next week's plan.

Quick edit: The picking order is: 1) leftovers and stuff that needs using pronto 2) freezer 3) shops.

I always try and have mega basics like a pie in the freezer just in case it all goes wrong and pie and wedges go on a tray in the oven and beans in the micro. Ta daa, a plate of brown food.

Of course there are days when all bets are off when OH must go hunter gathering to the takeaway, but I'm pleased to say that's quite rare. Nice when it does happen though.

Defo liking ideas further up. Can definitely incorporate those with what I do already - thanks chaps.

lilian1977

My process is fairly simple (only have a tiny freezer bit in the fridge so until we move I won't be having HM ready meals!):

Look in my diary for the upcoming week, work out how many meals will be in the house.

Look to see what's in the fridge or veg rack that needs using up.

See if I can think of anything we have liked in the past that uses the ingredients, if not go to BBC Good Food website and search for the ingredients.

Recipes that use existing storecupboard things win, otherwise we go to Tesco at the weekend!

Post up on the weekly thread to keep me on track!


That's all folks! x

Ballerinacaz

Ok
I want to make a meal plan but I'm not really sure where to start.
I'm a vegetarian - the only one in the house - my mum and dad happily eat veggie meals but my brother likes to have meat in pretty much every meal, so I need recipes that can either be adapted to add meat, or to take meat out.
For example when we do macoroni cheese, we have to cook some bacon to go with it for my brother.
I've never made a meal plan before, so if someone could help me along, that would be great x

katylou6180

Just a few thoughts I have had, pasta bake, veggie crumble (just include some meat in his, this is what my sister in law does for her fella as she is veggie) do you eat kinda meat substitutes? ie quorn or soya mince type things, as there is loads of good recipes that can be done with those....and maybe he wouldnt even notice if his spag bol was made with veggie mince? hope this helps...

miecherox

Hi,
My OH likes meat with every meal but I'm not so bothered and sometimes nor are the children. Quite often I add a chicken breast or salmon fillet to his meal so for example I might make a stir fry and have mine with just noodles or rice but put meat cooked seperately on his plate. Same with pasta and fajitas.
I learnt quick that if he thought there was lots of meat in a dish he was happy, so I make chilli with loads of beans and veg. So perhaps you could make a veggie chilli or veggie cottage pie and put pancetta on top or some sliced chorizo.
Make the meat the most obvious thing so he thinks there is loads! I'm learning fast living with my carnivore!
Good luck x

Ballerinacaz

I eat veggie mince, but apart from that I'm not a big fan of meat substitutes... In the past I've done sort of two batches, one with actual mince and one with veggie mince so I could do that type of thing?

stingy_rach

Hi guys

Today I placed an internet order with Mr T for a whole months worth of food. It came to the princely sum of £100 (two of us) and includes our household stuff and everything except bread, milk and some more fresh fruit in a couple of weeks.:eek:

However, although I am no stranger to batch cooking, in fact I am possibly excited at the prospect of spending the whole of Saturday in the kitchen, I am starting to get a little freaked out that this is a crazy idea and will go horribly wrong.

Has anyone else tried this or do this on a regular basis?

This month I have decided we will be mostly eating:

Chilli Con Carne (batch cooked)
Roasted Veg lasagne (gonna batch cook the ragu)
Pork & Mushroom Pie (filling already in freezer)
Meatball & goats cheese bake (ragu as veg lasagne)
Ribs & h/m coleslaw (can only really freeze the ribs for later use!)
Risotto (gonna use whatever is left over)
Potato, thyme & brie pizza (gonna freeze 1/2 pizza dough)
Crayfish pasta
Salmon & gnocchi bake (gonna freeze gnocchi in batches)
Salmon, mint & pea fishcakes (using leftover above & freeze 1/2)
Mushroom & potato curry (batch cook)
Thai prawn curry (batch cook)
Moussaka (batch cook ragu & roasted aubergine)
Paella (frozen seafood mix)


Anyone think I may be being overly ambitious - cooking not an issue - used to run pubs and am used to cooking for lots of people. Just a bit worried I'm gonna run out freezer space or end up with lots of leftovers?

Any thoughts?:eek:

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