Meal Planning - how do you do it?

Sezzagirl

Hi

I just found this thread tonight and read it through as the whole "throwing it away because I don't fancy it" seems so familiar

A couple of months ago I got so fed up with doing this that I spent a boring afternoon at work writing out 4 lists of 7 meals each that we all would eat.

There was another post here that seemed quite similar to mine as we tend to have the same sort of thing on each day of the week although different variation ie Monday is Pasta Day but that could be any sort of pasta dish (but usually using up left-over meat from a roast on Sunday)

Roast dinner is a real favourite in our house so I do that most weeks but then we have enough left overs for something else

I have the lists in my filofax and lookat them before I go shopping but I take them as a guide and swap things around according to what we're doing

It does take quite a mind change though and a real determination to cook what is on the plan, even if you don't think it is what you fancy. When I've done plans in the past I've often found that I don't fancy what's on the plan but I don't really know what I do want instead so I might just as well cook to the plan!!

It's good to see what other people do

rosieben

Flat_Eric wrote: »

Finish work tomorrow for xmas and on the list of things to do over the xmas break is meal plan..... Not intending to plan for the next year :rotfl:but certainly think up some ideas.....

but once you have maybe a list of a month's meals that works for you then you can re-use it, maybe do a little tweaking if necessary.

I read a post by someone who kept a record in her diary of what they ate each day, and she then used that for the basis of her next year's meal plan

maman

Considering the absolutely staggering figures for the amount of food that is wasted over Christmas, I think meal planning is essential THROUGHOUT the year. Good luck everyone!

PolkaDotsAndLace

Mealplanning has worked really well for us this month - not one takeaway! I find what helps me is flexibility - I always make sure there are a few 'easy' freezer meals each week, so if one night we don't fancy making say, risotto that's on the plan for that night, we can have a meal from another night that might just be chicken kiev and chips and swap them round. I think if I stuck too rigidly OH would just moan that he hadn't had his favourite meal for a while, I would decide I couldn't be bothered cooking and just order pizza.

terra_ferma

I was looking for some inspiration and found this budget menu planner.
(There are also forms you can download, weekly and monthly planners)
http://www.netmums.com/family-food/meal-planning/cooking-tips/meal-planner

Flat_Eric

This is the plan for 2012 !


Happy New Year! I will be mostly planning my menus in 2012! by Flat Eric on Flickr, on Flickr

Plan to keep this in my kitchen and plan meals according to cupboards/freezers etc. Have written all social stuff into diary so know when I won't need to cook. Will keep shopping list to hand so won't forget to buy something thats needed and likewise won't buy something I already have !

FairyPrincessk

When I was single I did far less meal planning and more of, what do I have, what do I fancy, how can I combine the two types of meals....with OH that was getting quite expensive so we started meal planning. We've tried several approaches. Since we both cook during the week we start out by allocating days based on who is home/has time/has a less stressful day etc. Then I have a quick review of what we have that needs using--I'm pretty good at just remembering but a lot of times I'll have a quick look as well. I also try to determine if we need to have a frugal week or if its a week to produce a few extra freezer meals. After that we have a quick brainstorm and write it down. For awhile we used a piece of white paper with the days of the week and the meals written across and slid into a page protector. I then just wiped it clean every week. That got a bit impractical, so we started just doing it on a sheet of paper, but I'm having trouble remembering new things/what we've eaten loads etc. SO...this year we're going to do it in a little diary. As we go through, we try to base meals on what we have that needs using, how long they will take and if they will produce leftovers for lunch. We don't have much trouble sticking to this as right after that we go and do a weekly shop--then stay out of the supermarket except for milk for the rest of the week! We may switch up days but we generally follow the plan. The exception is that we tend to have an extravagant meal on Saturdays where we might pick up what we need--our guideline for this is that it shouldn't cost more than buying a ready made. Giving ourselves a little wiggle room helps us stick to the plan otherwise. I hope you find a system that works for you.

Flat_Eric

I have been trying to meal plan this morning in advance of my food shop delivery tomorrow except I have been staring at 21 squares of emptiness (well actually 15 squares):rotfl: so I decided to revisit this thread/re-read all the posts so that I could get some ideas.

I am annoyed that I shop first and plan second, I'm still wasting food and I still change my mind from when I buy something in the morning to when I get home and its time to cook it.

So anyway, having re-read all your posts, I have decided that I am going to dig out my index cards and write out breakfast (blue cards), lunch (yellow cards) and dinner (green cards) then I am going to mix them all up and pick seven cards of each colour which will give me my weekly menu ! back [STRIKE]soon [/STRIKE] much later...

crickett1234

For years and years I have done a menu and then a shopping list.

The plan is that I only buy what I need for the menu and that we won't go out and get anything else during the week. I always thought it was the cheapest way to do things. But now, I am not so sure...:o Most of my weekly meal choices aren't on the whoopsie shelf or on special deals. So am I really saving money?!

Would you say, is it better to make a menu then go shopping, or go shopping and then work up a menu based on what you get?

Or am I over thinking this entirely?!

RedLass

How about, week 1, make a menu, go shopping. If you see something on the whoopsie shelf or on special that you think you could use, buy it and freeze it. Week 2, plan your menu to use up the specials you got last week, and only shop for what you need to fill around it, unless you see more specials that you can use for week 3 etc. etc.. and the loop goes on.