Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Trinny

Hi there

I would menu plan as some of the others have already said. Do you know how long you have at your current address?

If you can shop weekly for the things you need, you could do big hearty stuff like stews and soups. Using meat and veg you buy on a weekly basis. Some general herb mixes like "italian seasoning" and "herbes de provence" are good for a lot of meals.

Pasta with sauce, bolognaise, lasagne are all good.
You could have a chippy night once in a while if you cant make HM chips.

Best Wishes

Trin

zippychick

Hi Jordylass:hello:

There are a few threads which can help you

Meal planning how do you do it?

Meal planning where do i start?

I'll add your thread to the first link to keep all the information together

thanks:)
Zip

jordylass

Found some really nice areas to walk around, and some great greengrocers. Food is now sorted until I leave here, the meal plan was of great help.

archiesdad

I feel my family are stuck in a rut with our meal planning and eat pretty much the same things every week. I am currently on maternity leave and am enjoying cooking from scratch although use the occasional cook in sauce! Our family consist of me, hubby and son of 5 and daughter of 10 months (at the moment I make all the baby's food separately) although sometimes she has the same as us.

We usually have one mince dinner a week norm bolognase, chilli, or cottage pie and and a roast once a week.

Regular dinners we have are sausage and mash, fajitas, pork chops in various forms ham and eggs, steak, cajun chicken, steak pie, stew in winter and beef bourgionon can't think of any others although there are.

Husband and son like pasta but I will only eat it in lasagne, I have my bolognase on a jacket!!

In my freezer at the mo I have lots of chicken breasts, mince, some pork escalopes a whole chicken, a piece of brisket and a lamb shoulder a couple of pork shoulder joints and a couple of racks of lamb.

What would you make with the above?? please inspire me!!

We have meat pretty much every dinner, occsional fish and chips or fish pie or salmon fish cakes. I have looked through my various cookery books but cannot seem to be inspired. I would be interested in some veggi meals not sure what hubby will think though he likes his meat.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

CCP

Have you had a look through any of the weekly meal plan threads? There are a number of us that post our mealplans every week, which might give you a few ideas - the current one is here.

Apart from this thread, my regular source of inspiration is the BBC Good Food website - you can search by your ingredient then filter according to how long it takes to cook, how healthy it is, what type of dish it is, and lots of other criteria. I find this is really helpful when I get stuck for ideas.

Is that at all helpful?

archiesdad

Yes I do use the BBC good food website sometimes, but want to get out of the habit of always buying the same ingredients when I go shopping. Will have a look at the meal plans, I suppose if I see stuff I fancy I could always ask for the recipes.

Thanks

Pink.

Hi archiesdad,

As CCP has already said there is a meal planning thread (started anew each week, usually on a Thursday) which may give you inspiration and ideas.

These theads are full of tips and advice that should help:

Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Monthly Meal Planner

For vegetarian ideas have a look at this post for links.

And these threads may give you some ideas for using up the meat in your freezer:

What can I do with chicken breast fillets...

More exciting mince recipes

"I want pork but with a twist"

Rubber Chicken

what can I do with Brisket?

Lamb shoulder

roast pork shoulder?

Rack of lamb - What shall I cook to go with it?

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

irishwexford

I look at the meal plans and find lots of things I have never tried before but as recipes are not included I never try any. Will have to study the index. I am spending so much time on allotment growing all these wonderful fruit and veggies I find I do not have time to experiment and end up with the same boring old meals.

Pink.

irishwexford wrote: »

I look at the meal plans and find lots of things I have never tried before but as recipes are not included I never try any. Will have to study the index. I am spending so much time on allotment growing all these wonderful fruit and veggies I find I do not have time to experiment and end up with the same boring old meals.

Hi irishwexford,

If there's a meal that you like the sound of, just post into the thread and usually the op is only too happy to post up their recipe.

Likewise, with the fruit and veg from your allotment, just post and I'm sure that everyone will give you lots of ideas.

Pink

seraphina

How about soup and a pudding night? If I'm stuck for meal planning I tend to try and organise meals around themes, so:

salad meal (this can be a soup meal in winter whenever you fancy something hot) so it could be hummus with lots of chopped veggies, cold cuts, coleslaw, cucumber etc. Serve with bread or boiled new spuds if you don't have a rice/pasta salad on the go. You could also do a quiche or something here.

pasta meal - some variation of pasta (lasagne, bolognese, carbonara, pasta and tomato sauce, pasta and meatballs, risotto) however you did say you weren't the fondest of pasta

casserole/stew meal - one pot wonders

bread meal - toasted sandwiches, sandwiches, savoury bread pudding. Inexpensive and good for using up leftovers

veggie meal - we're vegetarian so every meal is vegetarian but it might be worth doing one veggie meal a week

rice meal - curry/stir fry/ spicy fried rice or any kind of meal that can be served with rice!

And so on.