Complex Menu Planning

HJandR

I am rather new to posting - but have been reading this board with interest for some time, and feel I really want to give menu planning a try. My food bills are around £75-80 a week for 2 of us and a toddler. I seem to have heaving store cupboards and freezer - but nothing to eat !! My problems seem to come to the fact that both my husband and I work full time, by the time I get home at 6pm it is time to put my son to bed after a brief play.. and by the time that is done it is 8.30 and we are tired and cannot face cooking - or the imagination to be creative.

In addition I am vegetarian and do not tend to eat much in the way of spicy food, yet my husband is a spice freak and is a meat eater. For this reason we tend to cook together but each make different things. For these reasons I also really struggle to feed my little boy a sensible diet when he eats at home - which tends to be mostly weekends. I would like him to have a sensible view of mealtimes and family bonding etc - but this rarely happens at the moment.

Any advice on where to begin, and how with menus for differing tastes and requirements, but also practically how to ensure we all eat sensibly at a reasonable time would be much appreciated !!

Trinny

Hello there

I am pretty new to this too - but i can identify with the heaving freezer and nothing to cook feeling all too well.

I work full time as well and used to find that we were eating later than 9pm some nights, my OH would then invairably suggest that we order a take away as neither of us could be bothered to cook. You will see from my tag line that i joined the shopping challenge two months ago - and majorly undercut because we started living out of the freezer.

There are threads on here about meal planning and menus - and i am sure that one of the mods will be along in a minute to move this thread to somewhere that will answer your query but in the mean time -

First thing i did was make a list of the contents of the freezer - drawer by drawer - we have two, and taped it to the side of the freezer - i was amazed by the amount of stuff - including duplicates i had.

Each evening - i work out what we are going to have the next day, by choosing something off the list of freezer food and get it out of the freezer to defrost

That means that i can have a meal done within 30 mins of coming in from work - great on the evenings when we need to be out by 7.30pm.

Once the stocks begin to drop - then buy what you need each shopping trip - for example - buy the kidney beans to make the chilli using the TVP you have in the freezer.

Its been a massive step forward for us - and we are real newbies at this compared to most on here.

The key is - know what you have, plan ahead and use things up

Good luck

Trin

Silaqui

I've been menu planning for years, then came on here and discovered people who are miles better at it than me! But advice would be as above, take a good inventory of what you already have. This can form the basis of your first months plan.

I tend to plan a month at a time but you could do it week by week. Write out a list of days/dates, and fill in any days when you might not be home or don't need to plan for whatever reason.

Using your list of what you have, decide what meals you can make from them and write them down on your list, then if you need any extra ingredients stick them on a shopping list. First month you will only need to buy a few bits, but alway make sure you have a bag of frozen chips and a box of burgers/sausages, veggie and meat! for those days when you really can't be bothered to cook. Saves loads on takeaways!

Regarding the time issue, a lot of people in here do batch cooking which is great, but I find that I don't have enough room in the freezer to store it so I divide up meat and stuff into individual portions and then cook from scratch every night. I don't like reheated food either so this suits me better, but if you can fit it in your freezer I guess it's like having your own ready meals!

Hope this helps a bit

xx

Blairweech

I work until half eight every evening, so by the time I get home, I don't feel like cooking either. Fortunately, it is just me to feed, so much easier in that respect. Here is how I cope - this has taken me years to perfect though, so don't let it frighten you off

1. Plan 'quick' meals for weeknights e.g. pasta, sausage and mash etc

2. Batch cook at the weekends. I often make a big batch of chilli, sausage and bean casserole etc, portion it up and sling it in the freezer. That way, I have my own 'takeaway' if I really cannot be bothered

3. If possible, do some meal prep in the morning e.g. peel and chop veg, assemble pasta bake etc - that kinda thing. I usually do this whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, then I just have to come home and turn on the oven.

4. Make an effort to have a special meal at the weekend when you have more time. That way, you won't feel cheated by the quick midweek meals.

5. Consider a slowcooker. Put ingredients in in the morning, switch on for the day, take out lovely meal when you come home

It may be easier for you to make meal building blocks e.g. bechamel sauce, tomato sauce and freeze them. Then you can adapt these to your needs - add beans to the tomato sauce to make a 5 bean chilli for you, add spices and meat to make a normal chilli for your DH.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I don't do menu planning maybe because I work in a supermarket. i know what is in my freezer (more or less) I do work full time, but get home at 1.30 as I start at 5.30am.
When I get home, I get out something to defrost for the next night. Make the sandwiches whilst I am cooking for this night.
I have to cater to 3 meat eaters 1 vegetarian ond often a gluten free vegetarian.
I tend to make a lot of whatever I cook, especially for the veggies , so I have something I can just heat up, while I am cooking meat dish.
I don't know how you can do it with a baby as well.
Good luck.

Boodle

I would suggest perhaps having your main meals at lunchtime, then as soon as you all get in, you can have something quick and light all together. This means you can all eat at the table together for the family bonding you would like, and because it is light won't be too heavy on your son's stomach for bed. When I was working I used to come in and start the dinner before even taking my shoes and coat off. As beans heat up and bread toasts for example, you can sort the table and then you can all eat before you do anything else. Things like beans/egg/cheese on toast with salad, poached fish/egg with salad and a few chips, soup and bread, are things that jump to mind at the mo. HTH