Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Flat_Eric

Grandmasu wrote: »

Hello, I have not properly meal planned for ages but will soon be working more hours so need to get organised. My most successful time was when all the family were home and I had a card index box and used the divisions for different days of the week. I then wrote out either a meal idea (ie steamed vegetables and salmon) or a complete recipe. and placed the appropriate card behind the day of the week.

I did not follow this slavishly and would move the cards around to allow for bargains or more or less time. I found I could plan about a fortnight ahead like this and i am sure it helped by stopping me impulse buying.

This is a really easy way to do it as you only have to look through your cards and arrange them behind the days index card and then make your list from there. I just made new cards when I tried new recipes to add to the existing ones. Hope this idea proves useful to someone.

I'm liking the index card system - I mentioned to a previous poster that I have hundreds of index cards left over from a failed studying mission. I now have a use for them :j

liz-paul

This isn't exactly tried & tested as I've only just started this system a couple of weeks ago but the plan is:
2 main Tesco delivery shops each month (roughly fortnightly). I work out how many dinners I have to get out of each shop (e.g. the shop I get on tues has to do us 11 nights). I then write 1 or 2 less dinners than I have nights (e.g. 11 nights = 1 or 2 dinners). I do this to allow for us going out for dinner, having a takeaway or having a meal that we think of on the day. This does save money for us as we would probably do this anyway even if I bought enough food for all the dinners. I then write down some suggestions for breakfasts & lunches (cereal, crumpets, tuna sandwiches etc). Then I write my list based on what I need for those meals and don't already have. I don't specify what snacks & treats as I buy whats on special offer. After that I write a list of what will need to be bought at the local shops between deliveries (e.g. fruit/veg, bread, milk, some meat etc). And the idea is that we stick to that list religiously!!!!! We are overspending on our small, local shopping rather than the big tesco shop.
This system means that I have the ingredients I need for a variety of dinners, lunches and breakfast but I can choose what day to have what meals & also hopefully that I won't spend too much between the big shops.
I also plan for things like monday & tuesday when in our house I have almost not time to cook so it needs to be frozen pizza, fresh pasta or something I can cook in advance and heat up, & for having a bit of a 'treat meal' at the weekend: maybe sausage and chips for the kids etc. My aim is to shop within a budget, I'm planning for £400 per month initially for 2 adults & 2 small kids to cover food, drinks (inc booze), household products & toiletries (inc nappies). November will be my first full month doing it.

maman

Hi eric:wave:

I have a very simple method that works for me. I have a freezer inventory stuck to side of microwave. I have a reporter notebook on top of microwave for shopping list. Anything I run out of during the week I write down.

Before doing my weekly shop I draw a small box in corner of shopping list 7 lines high. I cross off any days we're eating out and then write in enough main meals to cover days. The meals I decide on are based on what's in the freezer/storecupboards and I write any additional ingredients needed/veg to go with them on the list. My plan always includes some HM ready meals for CBA days or that can be left in the freezer if we go out unexpectedly. Also a mixture of things that take some time to prepare and quick stuff. I also make sure I have enough ingredients for lunches and breakfasts.

When I get back from shopping I cut out the little 'menu' and stick it on side of microwave in case I forget. We don't always have things in the order I've written them down and the ready-meals are always last resort to make sure I use up all the 'non-frozen' stuff first.

HTH

Linda32

Hi,

This is what I do and this was my meal plan from last week.

Thursday: Jacket potato with grated cheese and bacon and salad (cuc, toms, beetroot and caulslaw)

We always have a pack of bacon in as OH likes bacon sandwiches for breakfast on Saturday, so if you have something similar, build around what you buy anyway.

Friday: Always chip shop

Saturday: Naan bread pizza, mushrooms and courgettes on top. Salad and Wedges. So I buy mushrooms and naan bread, (courgettes and spuds for wedges are home grown) using more of the grated cheese already bought along with the salad things.

I might add here, that it seems to be cheaper to buy ready grated as you seem to need rather alot of grated cheese from a block to get a reasonable amount to cover a pizza. We do buy block cheese but thats for sandwiches.

Sunday: Chicken, - Previously roasted a whole chicken and portioned up. With potatoes and veggies.

Monday: Spagetti bolognese, previously made a bolognese mix and froze in portions. This mix we might have with spagetti or mash and veggies or on a Jacket spud. The idea is that we have have three different types of meals from the same mix, so that it dosn't get boring and the same.

So as I keep to the meal plan, last night when I cooked the chicken I also got the bolognese mix out of the freezer for tonights tea, so the plan can't go wrong.

Tuesday: Pasta sauce from a jar, with pasta which is already in the cupboard (so you add pasta sauce to your shopping list, obviously )

Wednesday: my own invention of allotment dinner, these not much point in me going into this, its just that we have a glut of veggies to use up from GYO in the summer.

HTH

his_missus

Hey there Eric!

I usually do a big shop once a fortnight or so and spend one Saturday or Sunday cooking up meals to go in the freezer - usually make enough to last 10 days to a fortnight. We don't get home til nearly 6pm and as I don't like eating too late, I like the convenience of heating up a meal quickly but hate bought convenience meals. I usually buy similar meats each time - mince, chicken, a gammon or beef joint (cheaper than deli meat for butties). I usually make a few sauces to go with pasta, meals like chilli or curry to go with rice and then stew type meals to go with boiled/mashed spuds. It means we've eaten and cleaned up by 7pm and can enjoy a relaxing evening. Often with leftover veg I make soup with either a tin of tomatoes as a bases or just veg stock, ideal for a quick lunch to go with a butty

I make my own bread - loaves for toast, rolls for butties, pizza bases.
My breakfasts are quite unadventurous really - cereal, toast or porridge.

cassan

I shop once a week and do a week's meal plans the day before. Dinners are based on two meat dishes, one fish, one vegetarian, one rice based and one pasta, and one of anything else - e.g. omlette, liver etc. I cook everything from scratch and put anything leftover in the freezer. The actual ingredients depend on what is in the garden, in season, on offer or in the freezer. About this time of year I get in a stock of extra tinned/ dried goods in case we get snowed in during the winter, then anything left over will be used on caravan holidays in the following summer. I also keep a list in the kitchen, and add anything I run out of.

Flat_Eric

more fab ideas :j thank you all so much

chickywiggle

have done the next 4 weeks meal plans (and this weeks) - as you can see tis extremly uncreative and full of processed stuff but hey thats us - it suits us and is actually surprisingly cheap as we aren't forking out for 'real' meat all the time.
There is a distinct lack of roast dinner as hubby doesn't seem to really care what i give him so why do i spend 3 hours cooking it?? will aim to plan in 1 every 2 weeks once decembers planning comes in tho as i do like a chicken roast.

Anyway it's here if anyone wants a read.

IAMKaren

It's so hard for me to do meal planning coz my son is just too picky with his food. But I would try the index card system though.

Pixie_Fairydust

Loving this thread, thanks Flat Eric :T

Chickywiggle - keep us informed of your big Christmas Shop

I tend to get bogged down trying to micro manage everything! Then nothing gets planned!

Will start with just evening meals, as b'fasts/lunches tend to be similar every week anyway!

Love the index card idea, thanks to the posters for this little gem

Need to do an online shop ASAP so will post my meal plan as soon as I've done it.

Have a good day everyone,
Pixie