Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Sambucus_Nigra

White board; each week we rub out what we are going to change but usually we stick to a few nights where it is the same [roasty on Sunday, pizza on Friday, jacket spud on tuesday as OH plays tennis]....and also we slow cook so on a Sunday, I prep the dinner, make some dough for bread [cooked in the hot oven after the roast], and put all the basics in the slow cooker for Monday and that gets used for the fillings for the jacket spud on Tuesday. So the next cooking day will be Weds. Whilst cooking on weds, pop some stuff in slowcooker for thurs and make the dough for the pizza. Then, freestyle on a Saturday..

Note: I make sure I have the basics at all times, and then just use what I have in the dishes that I make - so I can make anything from pasta to curries from whatever veg is in the allotment, garden or fridge.

BitterAndTwisted

I don't think you can start a proper plan before you've made an inventory of everything in the store-cupboard and freezer. I try to keep my cupboards in some sort of order so I can remember what's in there adn where to find it. So, for instance I group things together on the same shelf so that things like couscous, rice, quinoa and pasta are together as these are practically interchangeable for a lot of recipes.

Once you know what you've got a lot of recipe ideas will suggest themselves and then you know what you need to buy in for the week.

I think for busy people batch-cooking on the weekends can be key as then you've got almost complete meals at hand so then it's just a matter of remembering to take something out of the freezer at the beginning of the day to heat up later.

I reckon it's probably quite hard to leap in and be super-organised if you don't already have some kind of system, so perhaps a batch-cook and a plan for some nights of the week could get you started.

LJM

I shop weekly so I plan the meals for the week then write my shopping list

yorkiepud_2

I wrote a list of meals that all the family liked, then worked out which ones could be cooked from left overs from other meals - roast chicken with veg = cold chicken and chips, chicken soup, bubble and squeak etc. i got a large piece of paper and marked it into 7 columns and started writing. Days when i don't work I try to cook double portions to freeze one for work days and two days every week are blank - for occasional takeaways and for eating up any leftovers or whoopsies. The plan covers eight weeks and each weeks is stuck to the fridge door on Friday night/Saturday morning. I pick up the shopping on my way home from work, a couple of days at a time and if I get whoopsies or a glut of home grown veggies I just tweak the meal plan to fit them in or freeze them until I can.
it has saved me a fortune - i used to sit on the bus wondering what we would have for tea and then end up buying stuff in the supermarket when i got off the bus cos i could never remember what food i had in the freezer already. I also find it far less stressful - I can swap a couple of the days around so quick meals can be done when i get in from work and ones with longer cooking times can be made on my days off. I also batch cook cakes, bread and biscuits on days off and then freeze them until they're needed.

for eg - Saturday=?, Sunday=roast and veg, Monday=chicken and chips, Tuesday=?, Wednesday=jacket potatoes, cheese and beans, Thursday= Shepherd's pie x2 (one for freezer), Friday=pasta bake.

jcr16

i ask all the family to tell me one meal they would like on the menu, ( that covers 5 days ) then i try to do one new recipe or adapt a recipe, and then one easy meal say chilli con carne, or home made pie and veg etc.

i like to try a variety. and then once the meals have been chosen i write a list and go shopping. then i make up the menu and put it on fridge. i make sure i check it easy night so i can get the meat out freezer. the children love reading the menu to see what dinner is.

happy35

i loook to see what i have left in the fridge/freezer and decide what I am going to make with this, any ingredients I am missing go on the list

I then decide how many meals I need to buy, I walk around the supermarket look at what is a good offer (main ingredient such as meat/fish) and buy enough ingredients for those meals. I try to do one veggie meal a week that we will all eat I am veggie so this makes it an easy night but is not very popular with OH and DS.

DS has packed lunch so I buy the same few things for sandwiches, he is a big eater so has half a tiger loaf cut in half like a bread bun and filled, dont know where he puts it all but apparently the six slices of bread he used to have didnt fill him !!!!!!!!!!!!

i have the same staples i buy for breakfast, malt loaf/cereal/cereal bars/toast etc with milkof orange juice

CH27

I plan weekly.

I look in the fridge, freezer & cupboards to see what I have in & then try to have a balance of chicken, fish etc.

I always keep tinned tomatoes in & I chop & freeze peppers & mushrooms, chunks of garlic & onions so I always have the base for a pasta meal or casserole available.

Skylarker

Menu planning is possibly my favourite household "job" besides actually cooking. I have a poke to see whats in the fridge/freezer/cupboards then sit with my books and magazines and come up with meals to use what we have and then other things I fancy cooking, I really enjoy trying new recipes so we rarely have the same thing very often.
I plan on a Thursday when I have a day off and DH goes to the supermarket on a Saturday morning while I'm working and gets everything except meat which I buy from a local butcher on my way home from work on the Friday.
We go out on a Friday and always have soup before we go because I can make it the day before then its quick to heat up and have before we go, Sunday is also a quick meal, often a salad because we get back late so need something we can just throw together.


Also, inspired by the wonderful film 'Julie and Julia' (where an american woman, called Julie decides to cook through every single recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Childs) I am cooking my way through every recipe in Nigella Express and DH is doing the same with River Cottage Everyday. I usually do at least one recipe for a weekday dinner and he cooks his on a Saturday evening. While it's been enjoyable, we've had some delicious meals and discovered meals or foods we might not otherwise have tried, let me warn you that I do NOT advise this approach as moneysaving. It's cost us a bleeping fortune in ingredients we would not otherwise have bought so have compensated by moneysaving in other ways, ie stretching meat out to last longer, starting to bake our own bread, using up most leftovers in soups etc.

Sambucus_Nigra

Baking your own bread is one of the best changes you can make - if done properly. I recently went on an Artisan Bread Making course and since then, my bread has been absolutely amazing [if I do say so myself].

Linda32

Hi,

I only meal plan the tea time meal, which for us is two adults. I work on what we already have.

Tomorrow, OH is having jacket spud with chili as we have some coleslaw to use up, so this will be chili jacket with coleslaw, cucumber and toms. (I'm going to the gym from work so won't have anything until afterwards, when I will probably have an handfull of filled pasta shapes*

You see these in the fridge aisles, usually two packets for £2.50 I have an handfull and freeze the rest. This then becomes another few meals with salad things.

The chili is tinned chili (which might not suit all but I don't like red kidney beans, so therefore don't eat chili. I freeze half of the tin to make another meal.

Every now and again we have a roast chicken and then freeze the rest in portions.

Last night we and cold chicken, potatoes and salad, and tonight chicken, stuffing, potatoes and veg.

So my plan would read, Chili Jacket, Pasta, Chicken and Chicken (two different ways) I write out the list of items that we have in the freezer and cross off as used.

So that you have something for tea tomorrow, take something out tonight to defrost or settle on something now that you can have tomorrow night and stick to that. Then on Monday, decide for Tuesday.

Eventually it does work, if I can work it out then anyone can