Mealplanning - weekly, fortnightly or monthly?

nic82

I know it wasn't me who started this thread, but just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted. There are some excellent meals on here and given me some really good ideas.

As some of you will know, I'm only very new to OS and mealplanning in general - I've only been living in my house for 2 weeks, so have a lot to learn still. Further to my post a couple of weeks ago about the best cookery books to buy, I bought three :eek: and am now making it my aim to cook at least 1 new meal a week out of them. Tonight is my "new recipe" night and we're having pork pockets which sound quite easy to do, so we shall see :rolleyes:

Anyway, I seem to have hijacked this thread a bit with this post, so I'll stop talking now!

DopeyDora_2

Hi,

Tend to shop/plan for around 2 weeks. Bit askew at moment as I want to move to shopping for an actual calendar month

Current plan from 16th march to the end of the month:

Thurs 16th Vegetable stir fry & egg noodles
Friday Pork & apple casserole
Sat Home made pizza & garlic bread
Sun Roast chicken, roast spuds, stuffing, veg
Mon Chicken fajitas (using leftovers), tortilla chips & salsa, soured cream & jalapenos
Tues Red peppers stuffed with cous cous, pine nuts & feta
Wed Spaghetti bologanise or lasagne

Thurs Chicken korai & naan bread
Fri Toad in the hole
Sat Red pesto pasta & garlic bread
Sun Beef bourginon
Mon Homemade quiche
Tues Liver & bacon casserole
Wed Chicken kiev & wedges

Thurs Sausage casserole
Fri 31st Corn beef hash

Lunch tends to be sandwiches or leftovers from the previous evening taken to work. Neither of us ever have breakfast (slap wrists), and we never have puddings. Just not big eaters I guess although we do always really enjoy our evening meals.

Dora x

Linda32

I shop on Friday afternoon and buy the necessary food for the following week.

I'm pretty new to OS and don't really do alot of cooking from scratch, plus at the moment I'd be far too afraid to batch cook and freeze, might give us both a poorly tum.
However, this is the sort of thing I buy - this is for two of us.



Salmon / cod fillets.
Turkey or chicken breast.
Somthing or other from the "good for you range" - Asda
Veggie burgers / sausages
Tinned Mackeral - either salads or sandwich filling
Eggs - as above.
Potatoes and veg
Salad - we've got an allotment which is in its first year so hopfully more home grown stuff.


We're about to look at bulk buying dry produce as I have a Makro card.

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

nic82 wrote:

I've got to ask...what are cheesy mash castles?

LOL Cheesy mash castles are really my friend's invention. He makes normal mash (which I'm still trying to make without added lumps), then stirs in grated cheese and sometimes onion too. He then makes them into balls, puts them on a baking sheet, flattens them down slightly and puts them under a grill to brown the top. :drool:

Wendrie

I do a month to six weekly plans, I buy in bulk from SUMA (whole food/vegetarian co-op) every eight to ten weeks and try to ensure I have basic pantry items in stock - organic tinned tomatoes/sweet corn/black beans/baked beans/sauerkraut/passata/dried fruit/nuts etc. plus flour/pasta/rice/cous cous/tea/coffee/sugar/t'rolls/cleaning supplies. We store food in the kitchen, the hallway and under the stairs, plus in the basement Have used boxes under armchairs, corners of the living room and even the lean to/porch in one house. <G>

We also do a Costco shop about every six weeks - and I do a menu plan for about six weeks in advance. The current one finishes just before Easter as I don't know how much time off dh is getting and therefore don't know when we're back.

Sunday is usually CORD en Blue (Clear Out Refrigerator Darlings on Blue plates ) or easy/snacky stuff with ice cream/desserts as we do Sundaes on Sunday. Most meals I presume I'm going to feed the four of us (2 adults, 1 large teen male and 1 slightly smaller almost teen female) with maybe leftovers for one person's lunch (usually dh) sometimes two.

Monday 20th - Spinach pasta casserole (veggie lasagne like) Cake & icecream
Tuesday 21st - Sweet bean burritots (mashed sweet potato/carrot/parsnip basically what is left in the veg basket mixed with black beans, heated/fried with butter/celery and rolled in tortillas - add some lettuce and cheese)
Wednesday - baked potatoes, sausages, baked beans cornbread. Baked pears.
Thursday - pinto bean soup, left over cornbread. Ice cream and cookies
Friday - Chicken Jambalaya in the slow cooker, rice, broccoli.
Saturday - big shop at Costco so Rotisserie chicken salad sandwiches when we get home
Sunday - Lemon Basil Speg (add left over chicken) - melt butter add finely chopped fresh basil, lemon zest & juice pour over hot drained pasta. Also nice with broccoli and can add in left over meat bits.

Monday 27 - winter veg chowder, fresh baked rolls (bought part baked) Brownies.
Tuesday 28th Fish Marengo (with tomato salsa) roasted butternut squash and root veg medley broccoli
Wednesday 29 - Greek Pasta (pasta, olives, feta cheese) salad. Fruit and yogurt.
Thursday Cream of spinach soup, corn bread, fruit cobbler and custard.
Friday - Crock pot Bolognese sauce, speg, garlic rolls salad.
Saturday - home made cornish pasties (made by kids) salad, cookies.
Sunday stuffed beef tomatoes, root veg medley, green veg (broccoli/cabbage)

Monday Chicken casserole, rice, black bean side, green veg side
Tuesday - Zucchini (Courgettes) skillet supper, spaghetti, peas.
Wednesday - Double potato soup, cornbread, fruit crumble w ice cream/custard
Thursday Salmon burgers on buns, green salad plus extra bits.
Friday - Tuscan chicken w rice & broccoli.
Saturday Rosemary Chicken, mashed pot, roasted root veg/butternut squash, peas.

Wendrie

I know I've mentioned it elsewhere but https://www.savingdinner.com has free menus that you can download and print out. Her recipes often use bottled sauces (the spinach pasta casserole yesterday had one - and I just made my own, stuck it in the fridge and assembled it as if it was bottled later ) or other items you might want to change. I have two of her books and those plus More with Less Cooking are the mainstays of my menu planning.