Meal Planning - how do you do it?

rchddap1

Also use a storecupboard plan here too. If I change my mind...or more likely OH changes his mind we can pick out a different meal with no trouble.

Edit: Shopping every 3 days....sounds more like Boots than a supermarket to me.

OxJak

I do our weekly shop on a Wednesday (reason: Fridays are always really busy and we often go away at weekends), and so the OH sits down on a Tuesday evening and works out what she wants to cook for the week ahead (although because things don't keep for a week, she often gets stuff in fresh for the Tuesday night).

A lot of the time she puts something like "chicken breasts" and I get lots, depending on the special offers, we use what we need and freeze the rest (the freezer is our best friend!). So for an average five-day week (I cook at weekends) we normally only get in one or two meals "in full", with the rest made from what we've already got in. Average bill is about £20-25, with a bit more for non-food items.

VickyA_2

We've just started to meal plan and we're now 1 week into a 3 week erm "plan" It was based on what we've got in the freezer and storecupboard, to be honest. I'd always batch cooked and have got loads of veggie sauce, bolognese sauce and chilli and loads of tins of tuna (it was on bogof, ok? ) and sauces that we tend to use. Now we've actually got a system to use it all up. We may well keep it up once the 3 week "use up" has worked, but we tend to spend about £25 for the two of us per week on food.

anna27uk

I do my meal planner for the next week on a thurs. I start the meal planner from saturday and i do through my recipies and Good Food mags to get ideas. I also check what i have in the freezer and cupboards and use this stuff. I write a meal for every tea time adjacent to each day, and then i write my shopping list according to my meal planner. I then do a weeks shop at Tesco onlien and have it delivered on saturday, and that night i start from the weeks new meal planner.
I find this way i save so much money by sticking to the planner, and i save money shopping online as i dont impulse buy.
I can't remember what on earth i used to do before i did my meal planners, and i will always do them now!

arkonite_babe

Hi carl310166

If you check out the mega index (it's a sticky at the top of this board) then go to cooking and recipes section, there are some previous discussions on meal planning, listed under "M"

Hope this helps!

Chipps

Every so often I have these wonderful moments of being organised. Then I sit down before payday, & make up a monthly menu, with lunches, desserts etc included as well - and even notes like "cook double" & "take meal out of freezer for next day" kind of thing. I type the list out & put it up in the kitchen & everyone knows what's for dinner & there is always enough food.
The meal ideas are all noted down in a file in my kitchen - they are favourite meals that we have had before for the most part, although I do sometimes add new ones. When I first did it, I noted down meals we had had in the previous few weeks & also spent ages going through recipe books, but now I have a fairly comprehensive list - but it did take a couple of years to get as many as there are now.
My organisedness (is that a word?) usually lasts for a month - occasionally 2 or 3 - then it's back to panic at 4pm & dig out whatever seems to be available (like at the moment)
I would like some kind of middle ground! But I am always happier when the menu plan is up and running!

Disdisbiff

I am trying to reduce my grocery spending so am thinking that if i meal plan then this should be helpful in my quest.

I was wondering if it would be better to have set meal for set days (eg.minced meat meal-monday, sausage meal-tuesday etc)

Does anyone else do this and do you find it helpful in reducing your grocry bill

Replies eagerly awaited

Biff

Angelraesunshine

hi there Biff,

i have been doing meal planning since i found this site about 5-6 months ago and i have found it have saved me about £200 a month on my grocery shop well meal planning and buying online rather than going to the shops.

apart from fish on a Friday and a roast of some sort on a Sunday i do not do set meals for each day but i do set a type of meal for each week to go by, eg a pasta meal a rice meal a mince meal etc see my post here for my December meal plan it might help?

CT19720

Hi

I've been doing this for the last 6 months, and although my shopping bills were never huge (£50 for 2 adults and 2 children), I have managed to get it down to around £35 per week, by doing meal plans, and only buying what I will need for that particular week. At the moment I have a 4 week rotation. I also shop around more for the good deals, although this does mean that I don't just shop in Tescos, I now go to Iceland and the local greengrocers. We do treat outselves now and then. I have also started to make a bit more of say mince for spaghetti, so that the following night I can add some chilli packet mix to it, and shove some jacket potatoes in, so that a packet of mince does 2 meals.

I've got a really buzz with doing this meal planning, and we have less food thrown out at the end of the week.

Good luck with it, I am sure you will notice the difference in your wallet.

pollyanna24

Because my lot are big meat eaters, I base my meals around the different meats. I do a big shop at the beginning of the month and top up what I need during the month. I will basically buy:-

Mince (4-5 meals)
Braising steak (2 meals)
Chickens (2 meals)
Chicken breasts (1 meal)
Sausages (2-3 meals)
Pork Chops (1-2 meals)
Gammon (1 meal)
Pizzas (2-3 meals) - used to make my own, but Tesco 95p ones are brill!
"Lumps" of meat for roasts, i.e. pork, beef. (2 meals)
C.pancakes, chicken dippers for the days I can't be bothered (only buy when on offer though) (2-3 meals).

And I account for about 4 takeaways in the month (although it's usually more:o )

I haven't added up the days, but if it goes over or under, I either buy what I fancy for a particular day or let it roll over into the next month.

Then I always have in stock "accompaniments," i.e. spuds, rice, pasta, waffles, chips etc.

And I always have in stock frozen veg as another side dish, or (because of my meal plan, I will know), buy salad on the way home from work if I need it for a particular dish).

Depending on how I feel, I make different things out of each meat item that I have in the freezer, i.e.

Mince - spag bol, shepards pie, hamburgers, meatloaf.
Sausages - mixed with pasta and tomato sauce, sausage casserole, hotdogs
Chickens - roasted, shredded up and added to rice.
Chicken breasts - enchilidas, chicken tonight, chicken curry.
Braising steak - goulash, stew.

I rely very heavily on my freezer as I will make most of the above and freeze until I want it. If one day, we are out, I keep it till the next day, simple as.

Every month I look back at the month before and see if there anything we haven't had that I can add to this month's mealplan and I always look to see if we have too much of one thing (i.e. we seem to eat a lot of mince, but not a lot of lamb cos it is more expensive) and see if I can change it.

Know this seems very longwinded, and my bf thinks I'm mad, but it works for me. I like to know what I'm cooking each night as it makes it less stressful when I get in from work if I know what's going on. Plus I need to have all the stuff in my freezer ready for me as I don't drive and I can't be going, "ooh, ooh, can you take me to Tesco cos I need such and such" every day to my bf, cos I think he'd leave me if I did!!

PS I always check the offers online from Tesco to see if they have anything that can be incorporated into making a meal as well.