Meal Planning - how do you do it?

purpleivy

thriftlady wrote: »

Bunny, another easy option is to cook twice or even three times as much as you need at one meal. Then stash the extra meals in the freezer if you have room. Do this for a few weeks and pretty soon you'll have a stock of freezer meals and one of your days can be 'freezer night'. The slow cooker would be useful here (and it isn't often i say anything good about slow cookers:D ).

If you are cooking for multiple meals, dish up into containers before it gets to the table, that way it won't end up as seconds! It's difficult to see your hard work and planning disappearing down an appreciative family's gullets!

mummy2mygirls

purpleivy wrote: »

If you are cooking for multiple meals, dish up into containers before it gets to the table, that way it won't end up as seconds! It's difficult to see your hard work and planning disappearing down an appreciative family's gullets!

this is what tends to happen at my house!!!! if my dh knows there is extra going it often just gets eaten up!!! i might dish it up as extra meal when i dish ours up so he knows not to touch!!!

Good idea of having a set thing each night! im usless at making the meal plans and im trying slowly to introuce different things in as we often have the same old stuff as i cant hink in advance!!

the GC always has good ideas to help you think of things, even if its just some one saying what they will have that night...

good luck with the meal planning.

kiwichick

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Hi

I menu plan for 9 days and try and find 2 days (buy for 7 days-2 days free IYKWIM) of free food :rolleyes: leftovers, stretching the roasts, egg & chips, bits needing using in fridge/freezer or just an omelette/something very basic that I know I have the ingredients for already.

I dont know if Ive explained that clearly..LOL.

PP
xx

I'm just trying menu planning for the first time and this seems like a great idea PP. Not only do you get 2 "free" days but it must mean the each week you are shopping 2 days later effectively?? Making a 9 day week sounds sensible.

Wish me luck!

Al x

Jaycee1972

Hi All

I have been trying for a few months to get to grips with meal planning but to no avail. I still have to much stuff in my cupboards and although I try to write out a meal plan, I never ever seem to stick to it!

Today I have made a big effort.... I have listed everything in my cupboards and made a shopping list which is fairly minimal. I have done a meal plan up to Christmas eve which I shall list separately.

I tend to find it hard to plan as I never seem to know what is happening from one day to the other. I live separately to my husband but we are in the process of reconciling so spend a good deal of time at one house or the other which can interfere with planning meals. We seem to decide what we are doing almost on a daily basis.

To help me plan, I have tried to list what meals myself and my son (2) have together and which ones we have separately. This works out as follows:-

Monday - I have lunch at work and tea at home. DS has lunch with Daddy and tea at nursery (but may need supper as they have tea at 3.15!)
Tuesday - I have lunch at work and tea at home. DS has lunch at nursery and tea at Grannies.
Wednesday - I have lunch at work (has to be a quick one to eat while working as I finish at lunchtime), tea at home. DS has lunch at nursery and tea with me.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - DS and I eat together for most of these with DH being around for 3 or 4 meals. I sometimes have Sat lunch on my own as they go out somewhere.

I also thought it may help to have some framework which went like this:-
Sat/Mon - curry and rice (leftovers for mon lunch)
Sun/Tues - Pasta and sauce (leftovers for tues lunch)
Wed/Fri - roast veg / something quorn / potato bake / something from the freezer
Thurs - Something quorn with veg, pots and gravy.

One meal a day is usually something quick like toast/soup/sandwich/pizza/pasta and pesto.

Soooo with all that in mind, I have tried to meal plan up until Christmas eve.

I was wondering how you guys go about meal planning and if you manage to stick to it! Any tips and comments would be welcome.

Jane xx

Pink.

Hi Jane,

There's a recent thread with lots of tips on how others meal plan that should help so I've added your thread to it to keep the replies together.

It might help too to have a browse through The Complete Menu Plans Collection for more ideas.

Pink

Jaycee1972

09/12 Tues - L = leftover chilli and rice, T = bagel & soup

10/12 Wed - L = soup and bread, T = roast veggies, potatoes and cheese bake

11/12 Thurs - L = beans on toast, T = quorn fillet, onion, mushrooms and gravy with roast potatoes and yorshire puds

12/12 Fri - L = chips, beans and quorn burgers or veg fingers, T = sandwiches (could be cheese, colslaw, soft cheese, pickle, chutney etc, alternatively may be toast!)

13/12 Sat - L = egg on toast, T = thai curry and rice(made with tofu, bn squash, pepper, mushrooms, onion etc).

14/12 Sun - L = quiche with potatoes and salad, T = pasta, pesto, tomatoes, peas, cheese

15/12 Mon - L = leftover thai curry and rice, T = leftover quiche, potatoes and salad

16/12 Tues - L = works christmas lunch, T = sandwiches

17/12 Wed - L = sandwiches, T = tofu, veg, noodles

18/12 Thurs - L = Pizza, T = potato, cheese and onion bake with veggie sausages

19/12 Fri - L = pasta, pesto, tomatoes, cheese, sweetcorn, T = soup and bread (poss out later for buffet)

20/12 Sat - L = Stromboli (from freezer) possibly with soup, T = risotto with sweetcorn, onion and mushrooms

21/12 Sun - L = Out with friends T = Sandwiches

22/12 Mon - L = Sandwiches, T = Out for curry after work

23/12 Tues - L = Sandwiches, T = pkt of savoury rice

24/12 Wed - L = Sandwiches, T = Fajitas (filled with either quorn or beans and veg)

In case you hadn't guessed I am vegetarian! Any refs to meat will be 'fake' meat lol:D

Jaycee1972

Thanks Pink, I will have a browse!

Pink.

Hi Jane,

Your menu looks great! Sorry, I should have added that every week there's a meal planning thread which might interest you where people post their meal plans to give each other inspiration and share recipes. It usually starts on a Thursday. Here's this week's:

MealPlans WB 5th December 2008

Pink

Sarahsaver

I have a small baby - 11 weeks, so i thought time to resurrect a plan. Now if you had the same plan each week do you think it would be too boring?
Today i have done a bung it in the dish pasta bake, sauce and all cooked from dry pasta.
I'm thinking something like sunday - roast dinner
Monday - somethign with leftover meat (e.g. curry, pie, chilli, risotto...)
tuesday - pizza
weds - pasta
thurs - meat and 2 veg sort of meal
fri - day off plan OR fish
saturday is hubbys domain
Then once a month a takeaway, and possibly once a fortnight a 'snacky tea' just sandwiches and finishing up odds and ends from the fridge.

This would not be forever just whilst bubba is tiny. Is it boring or do we expect too much these days in terms of culinary excitement? i think my dd would live on cheese on toast!

princesstippytoes

Why do you want it to be the same every week? Will that really make it any easier?