Meal Planning - how do you do it?

kazmeister

Hi Biff

For whatever reasons I had cupboardfuls and freezers full of food but still didnt know what to do for tea each night and invariably went and bought more. OH didnt help either as when he picked DD up from school they used to go to Mr T's and he would come home with carrier bags of yellow stickered stuff.

I however realised it was ridiculous and started by making a list of everything in the freezer which I now keep in a folder in the kitchen which I have been using for over a year now. I date it when I put it in so I can rotate the older stuff as I used to find stuff that had been in there 2 - 3 years! Recently I have made a list of cupboard contents and I have a lot of stuff!

I now meal plan as follows
1 x Roast day
1 x Pasta day
1 x Rice day
1 x Meat day
1 x Fish day
1 x Snack day
1 x Other day

This gives us a variety and you will soon build up loads of different things to do (I have just recently checked my old lists and found that the max amount we have had 1 dish is 6 times in 15 weeks)

I start with the roast (using what I have from the freezer) as usually I can get another meal for the 4 of us (2 kids 8 and 15). So roast pork on Sunday becomes sweet n sour pork eg on Tuesday (which would become Rice day) so thats 2 days done and to the shopping list I have added veg, a jar of sweet n sour sauce ( i use Sharwoods small jar with no bits in) and maybe a pineapple (as hate tinned). Then I find something from the freezer to fill in one of the other days and then only add things to the shopping list that we havent got. To me its a really easy plan to follow and it seems to work and I dont do anything too complicated. Snack day is usually planned around when we have to rush out to sports clubs etc and need something quick.

Heres some ideas
Roast - Chicken, Pork, Beef. Lamb, Turkey
Pasta - Spag bol, Macaroni cheese, Sausage pasta, Pasta Carbonara,
Meat - Cold roast, chips n beans, Pork chops, Lamb chops, Sausage and Mash. Sausage casserole, Shepherds or Cottage pie (made by mincing leftover roast), Toad in the hole, Beef casserole (with dumplings) Liver & Bacon, Spanish Stew, Steak Pie n veg.
Fish - Fish fingers, Tuna/Tomato stew, Grilled Rainbow Trout (both kids love it), Fish cakes, Pan fried cod with HM chips or mash, Fish casserole.
Rice - Chicken Curry, Sweet n Sour, Chilli con Carne (mild for kids) Kebabs with a rice salad, Kedgeree or anything served with rice
Snacks - Sausage Pasta, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Tortilla wraps, Fish n Chips, Omelette, Chicken and Ham rolls, Burgers, Quiche, Jacket Potatoes, Salad
Other - Can be a duplication of any other day, a takeaway, Meal out, or leftovers from the fridge/freezer.

By using this plan I have really reduced the contents of my freezer (but not emptied it yet) and if I see a special offer at least now I have the room to put it in. It also means that I can check what I need for the next day and get it out of the freezer in advance so that when I get in from work at 5 we can have tea on the table by 6 instead of 8!

Try if for a month and see if you can stick within your budge and remember Martins mantra - do I need it etc.

In addition to the above I love Easycook magazine which comes out every couple of months which I get loads of ideas from. :rotfl:

Cheers

Kaz

balmaiden

As a child we knew what day of the week it was by what we ate for our main meal, it rarely altered.
My Mum and Dad are now 82 and STILL eat the same things on the same day they have been married for 59 years so it worked for them.

I meal plan but could not stick to the same thing every week. I think kazmeisters idea is probably the way to go for mealplannning newbies

newlywed

I get bored of cooking things if they are too much the same, so never stick to certain days. Plus we have the step kids 3 days a week so I tend to vary whether I do a roast just for us, or a roast for all 4 of us - depending on how far I want to stretch the meat

I do keep my meal plans saved on the computer and look back to see what we haven't eaten before.

Every few months I get bored and go through the cook books to find something else with ingredients we usually have in. Then I add them to my meal plan for a day where I will have time to sort it out without feeling rushed.

belfastgirl23

Set days would drive me bananas though I can see how if you have a few kids or whatever having that sense of routine might be a blessing. My mealplanning isn't rigid. I usually shop for one big dish (lasagna, chilli or whatever) which we eat for a couple of nights and then freeze the remainder of. I always have pizza as a fallback comfort food option and pasta as a fallback 'can't be bothered to cook' option as well. And personally I don't have a problem with the odd beans on toast night as well...and there's always the leftovers in the freezer.

I guess it all depends on your personal taste really

marvalous

As I get bored very easily with what I eat however still on a tight budget, I either go to https://www.allrecipes.com or bbc.co.uk/food and use their ingredient search function to type in what I have in the cupboard or fridge and see what recipes come up.

that way you keep it interesting and don't spend a fortune in cookbooks!

countrymusicfan

I use the meal planning thread and use three recipes from the mega list section. If you do have ingredients in your freezer or cupboard, then you can google recipes that way. There is a really cheap section of recipes I will be using now in the run up to Christmas

CRANKY40

I meal plan on a list, but with spaces between so I can cross out and swap things round. You can plan for 2, 3 or 4 by making dishes that would serve 4 then freezing the spare portions. Eventually you will have enough spare portions to make one evenings whole meal. Shepherds pie, stew, pasta bake, spaghetti bolognese, chilli, all make extra portions and freeze well.

kazmeister

Hi

This is what I posted on the meal planning newbie thread


For whatever reasons I had cupboardfuls and freezers full of food but still didnt know what to do for tea each night and invariably went and bought more. OH didnt help either as when he picked DD up from school they used to go to Mr T's and he would come home with carrier bags of yellow stickered stuff.

I however realised it was ridiculous and started by making a list of everything in the freezer which I now keep in a folder in the kitchen which I have been using for over a year now. I date it when I put it in so I can rotate the older stuff as I used to find stuff that had been in there 2 - 3 years! Recently I have made a list of cupboard contents and I have a lot of stuff!

I now meal plan as follows
1 x Roast day
1 x Pasta day
1 x Rice day
1 x Meat day
1 x Fish day
1 x Snack day
1 x Other day

This gives us a variety and you will soon build up loads of different things to do (I have just recently checked my old lists and found that the max amount we have had 1 dish is 6 times in 15 weeks)

I start with the roast (using what I have from the freezer) as usually I can get another meal for the 4 of us (2 kids 8 and 15). So roast pork on Sunday becomes sweet n sour pork eg on Tuesday (which would become Rice day) so thats 2 days done and to the shopping list I have added veg, a jar of sweet n sour sauce ( i use Sharwoods small jar with no bits in) and maybe a pineapple (as hate tinned). Then I find something from the freezer to fill in one of the other days and then only add things to the shopping list that we havent got. To me its a really easy plan to follow and it seems to work and I dont do anything too complicated. Snack day is usually planned around when we have to rush out to sports clubs etc and need something quick.

Heres some ideas
Roast - Chicken, Pork, Beef. Lamb, Turkey
Pasta - Spag bol, Macaroni cheese, Sausage pasta, Pasta Carbonara,
Meat - Cold roast, chips n beans, Pork chops, Lamb chops, Sausage and Mash. Sausage casserole, Shepherds or Cottage pie (made by mincing leftover roast), Toad in the hole, Beef casserole (with dumplings) Liver & Bacon, Spanish Stew, Steak Pie n veg.
Fish - Fish fingers, Tuna/Tomato stew, Grilled Rainbow Trout (both kids love it), Fish cakes, Pan fried cod with HM chips or mash, Fish casserole.
Rice - Chicken Curry, Sweet n Sour, Chilli con Carne (mild for kids) Kebabs with a rice salad, Kedgeree or anything served with rice
Snacks - Sausage Pasta, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Tortilla wraps, Fish n Chips, Omelette, Chicken and Ham rolls, Burgers, Quiche, Jacket Potatoes, Salad
Other - Can be a duplication of any other day, a takeaway, Meal out, or leftovers from the fridge/freezer.

By using this plan I have really reduced the contents of my freezer (but not emptied it yet) and if I see a special offer at least now I have the room to put it in. It also means that I can check what I need for the next day and get it out of the freezer in advance so that when I get in from work at 5 we can have tea on the table by 6 instead of 8!

Try if for a month and see if you can stick within your budge and remember Martins mantra - do I need it etc.

In addition to the above I love Easycook magazine which comes out every couple of months which I get loads of ideas from. :rotfl:

Cheers

Kaz

Linda32

I do try to plan as best I can, mainly because of work OH cooks the weekday evening meal as he gets home abit earlier than me. He will cook whatever I ask him to do as long as I leave distructions

Its quite rare for me/him to cook savoury meals from scratch - yes I know but that dosn't have to mean ready meals either. For instance, we oftern have salad to go with meals, Cucumber/beetroot/sweet peppers/baby toms - no we don't eat in season either :eek: but these things can also be bulked out with cooked pasta mixed with mayo as a packed lunch.

A packet of decent sausages will make sausage and mash, mix some chopped onions in with the mash then the rest of the sausage we have in cobs with salad.

angeleyes

can you freeze corn beef hash??