Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Rockporkchop

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I have drawn up a weekly meal planner but don't know whether to have the paper portrait and have Monday - Sunday down the left handside or whether to have the paper landscape and have Monday to Sunday along the top ?? How do you do yours ???

Have a play with this free site, I print out my blank meal planners from here. You can add a title, do portrait or landscape and start and end at whatever date you like:

http://www.pdfcalendar.com/12-weeks/

Flat_Eric

Rockporkchop wrote: »

Have a play with this free site, I print out my blank meal planners from here. You can add a title, do portrait or landscape and start and end at whatever date you like:

http://www.pdfcalendar.com/12-weeks/

Fab :j Thank you

**Juice**

I always check what's in the freezers and cupboards before we go for a shop. We tend to just get some mix and match stuff like meat, potatoes, rice, veg etc and cook them in a variety of ways - I plan the night before what we're going to have the next day. And I always make sure the fresh veg etc is used up first, in stirfry, stew, with meals, in pasta etc.

BohemianCoast

I meal plan 'weekly' but find that odd unexpected meals out/takeaways/other weirdnesses often mean that stretches to 8 or 9 days. That means that the day we get our groceries delivered gradually moves through the week. We buy our fruit and veg from our very cheap and cheerful local market when we can. We both work most days and get in late, and we're often away in the weekend, so we need to plan things that are cookable after work. We're 4, DH eats everything, DD14 has an adult appetite, DS11 eats a bit randomly, so sometimes he'll eat everything and sometimes reject everything.

I used to use Menu Mailer (savingdinner.com) -- you have to translate the menus into English, and be a bit creative sometimes with ingredients that are not available/cheap in the UK, but pretty well every meal is cookable after work by a not-very-experienced cook, and it's cheap and most meals have actual lumps of meat in them if you like that sort of thing.

I've given that up totally now, though we do still cook several meals we discovered from there. Instead if I'm at home at the weekend, I often cook out of a book called Kitchen Revolution. Also a meal planning approach, and it's not particularly cheap, but it uses seasonal UK produce extensively and the food is fantastic. The catch is that the 'big meal' that you do at the weekend often takes a couple of hours of solid work, and the 'cook double and freeze' meal is often pretty hard too. The rest are ok though.

The huge advantage of structured meal plans like that is that it's incredibly quick to shop online; 20 minutes start to finish is not impossible. And although it's a more expensive approach than working off what's in your fridge, it's nothing like as expensive as turning up at a supermarket and just randomly getting stuff you think you need. I have done that too.

Weeks when shopping arrives mid-week, or we are going away at the weekend, I meal-plan out of my recipe books (or, increasingly, Paprika on my computer and iPad, and the internet). I'll typically plan one stew (cook double and freeze half), one 'Jamie 30 minute' meal, two quickish after-work recipes, a slow cooker meal, one defrost, and something completely trivial like tuna melts or pasta & pesto. With the first five I'd normally aim for two of beef/pork/lamb (one lump and one mince), one chicken (roast or parts), one fish, one veg. I will typically expect the food to produce a dozen portions of leftovers over the week, which we take for work lunches and occasionally have as a weekend lunch, and to be able to generate a soup from excess veg, for the other weekend lunch. This means that I can almost always feed one or two extra people by slightly amending my evening meal plan, and can feed four extras once a week if necessary. This is much cheaper, but also much more time consuming, than using a ready-to-go shopping list.

I then add the things I buy every week, the things I note on a notepad on the fridge when they're about to run out or have run out, breakfasts (cereal, bagels, occasionally eggs, juice) and fruit. I bake about once a fortnight to provide an occasional treat, and we very occasionally have a pudding.

Flat_Eric

Evening all.

Went to the supermarket earlier with no firm meal plan sorted and no shopping list ! damage *was only* £55.85.... need to meal plan now based on what has been bought today and what is in freeezer....

Here goes....

Tonight: Chicken and black bean sauce rice/chips
Sunday 6th November: Home made chill. Also planning on making beef casserole tomorrow so will have a choice.
Monday 7th November (casserole/chilli)
Tuesday 8th November .....

ummmmmmmm back when decided

Callisto

I go shopping once a week, usually a Thursday or Friday so that we have some nice fresh food in for the weekend. I really don't like going on Saturdays as it is so busy, so would rather go in the evening during the week. I alternate between going to Morrisons and Aldi, as Waitrose is too expensive and last time I went to Sainsburys I was really disappointed with their lack of offers. I love the Aldi fruit and veg offers and their continental meats, but also find I can't always get everything I want from Aldi, or at the price I want it, so find alternating between the two works for me!

There is only me and OH, but he is a huge carnivore. However I do insist on at least two meat free days a week and more if I can get away with it as meat is getting so expensive.

Breakfasts are usually toast/crumpets/cereal and lunches tend to be sandwiches and fruit (crisps and chocolate instead of fruit for OH!), crisps and choc I just buy whatever is on offer and OH can go and buy his own snacks if he doesn't like what I have bought! I then don't go near a supermarket until the next week. If I run out of something before then I go without, or get milk or bread from the petrol station. It is not often I run out of milk or bread now as I know how much we generally get through, unless we have visitors!

I check freezer, fridge and pantry before I go shopping and we have a chalk board on the inside of the pantry door. Whoever uses the last of something writes it on the board. I don't automatically buy the item straight away though, I consider if we will use it that week. I do buy a little extra in the winter, usually a few extra tins of soup, some part baked rolls, long life milk and extra toilet rolls, just in case the weather gets bad and we can't get to the shops for a few days (semi rural location and local shop prices are extortionate!)

We tend to have a roast at the weekend, and use the left over meat the next day. We don't batch cook, but do make extra for use the next day, eg if we are having sausage and mash one night, we make extra mash for cheese and potato pie the next day.

During the winter we make a big pot of vegetable soup which lasts at least two meals, so we eat that over two days with bread, and it tastes nicer the next day! Also have a lazy day of pizza and garlic bread, other days would be something like chicken fajitas or sweet and sour pork and rice. OH doesn't like pasta, but I adore it, so I have that when he is not here, or make a bolognese and I have spaghetti and he has a jacket potato with it.

Sorry, this post is a bit epic...

Charityworker

I work out a weeks meal plan by consulting with my family about what they fancy for the week. Then I work out a home made recipe for each thing, write down the ingredients and times it by 4 to get a months worth. I've found the less times I go to the supermarket the less I spend.

Flat_Eric

Charityworker wrote: »

I work out a weeks meal plan by consulting with my family about what they fancy for the week. Then I work out a home made recipe for each thing, write down the ingredients and times it by 4 to get a months worth. I've found the less times I go to the supermarket the less I spend.

My shop today cost over £50. I'm hoping I can make this last the whole week and will try to avoid the shops. I know it will be possible, I just need to be strict with myself and not change my mind !

maman

Please don't think I'm stalking you eric but I was curious to find out why you shopped first and meal planned after. Guess it was a time thing.

I've always meal planned with my cupboard/fridge/freezer next to me and then written my shopping list accordingly. It's always saved me huge amounts of time as I know exactly what I need in the shops so no browsing and picking up the 'wrong' things. It's also saved me money as we don't end up throwing stuff away.

I always plan in some HM ready meals so if there are changes in plan (like eating out unexpectedly) they can stay in the freezer for another week.

Flat_Eric

maman wrote: »

Please don't think I'm stalking you eric but I was curious to find out why you shopped first and meal planned after. Guess it was a time thing.

I've always meal planned with my cupboard/fridge/freezer next to me and then written my shopping list accordingly. It's always saved me huge amounts of time as I know exactly what I need in the shops so no browsing and picking up the 'wrong' things. It's also saved me money as we don't end up throwing stuff away.

I always plan in some HM ready meals so if there are changes in plan (like eating out unexpectedly) they can stay in the freezer for another week.

I am still trying to get organised on the meal planning front. I don't know why but I suppose I have always shopped and then meal planned after / if at all ?

Yesterday's shop was only meant to be for a few bits but OH decided he wanted chicken and black bean for tea so that meant chicken was needed and I decided to take advantage of the 3 for £10 meat deal and picked up 2 packs of beef (one of which I am using today to make a casserole). OH came into the shop with me which is unusual because the main purpose of the visit was to get bits for his walking trip today. He put 3 bottles of beer into the trolley which were £1.74 each - I would only have bought them if they had been on offer. I bought washing tablets on offer at £4 when I know I have a box of powder at work to bring home and have since discovered, I still have washing stuff in the cupboard so they could have stayed on the shelf!

I have made a chilli today which is simmering away on the hob and the veg is all chopped for the casserole to be put on shortly. This has meant that I have used up all the veg in the fridge.

Plans this afternoon are to relax now that all the cooking is done and to meal plan for the week basing meals on what I have in.