How To Plan Meals

J.Bye

Basically as the title says really. How do you go about planning your meals for the week and only buying what you need?

haynrich

i plan for the fortnight as that is how i shop. right a meal for each day of the week.... fresh/fridge for the 1st week and freezer for the second week. once you get used to it, it will save you loads.

if you look in the old style money saving they have loads of ideas and tips for meal ideas and meal plans....

ems2

I have a look at my recepie books before I go and then make a list. Also have got some good recepies from supermarket handouts/doctors room magazines. Sainsbury's & Waitrose have the nicest recepies IMHO.
A good source of receipe books can be had at your local library, or if you are cheeky in bookshops. Just take a photo with your phone of the recepie you want to make:D

Make sure you always get side dishes rice/pasta/bread/veges too.

And include everything you plan to buy on your list, biccies/yoghurts/lunches/cleaning products etc, otherwise you might spend more than you expect to.

baby_fuzz

I start by listing each of the meals that I'm going to have to prepare (i'll skip out days when I know that we're going out, or going to someone's house to eat) - Breakie, Lunch, Dinner. (I do thi on the top right hand side of what will be my shopping list - as if I'm going to do some ad hoc changing depending on what is on offer, I can see how I can wangle it into my meal plan)

Then I'll look at what I have in the fridge, larder and freezer and come up with different meals for each of the days. Sometimes I'll double-up and if I'm making rice for one meal, I can cook extra rice and the next day, I can use it to make fried rice (ALWAYS use day-old rice for fried rice).

As I'm writing up the meal plan, I'll write the ingredients that I will need onto the list to the left. I generally also group depending on areas of teh supermarket, so that I don't have to rush back and forth across the shop when I realise I've forgotton something from teh veggie aisle.

When I shop, I'll stick to the list, but if something is on offer, I will amend my meal plan accordingly. Don't buy anything that we don't need - we are not big biscuit, chocolate, snacks, dessert eaters, so we're ok there... It's OK to buy something not on your mealplan if you can freeze it and you can use it for a meal the following week etc.

liam8282

My partner does the majority of the cooking / meal planning in our house.

Recently there was a tv programme called Economy Gastronomy, basically it showed you how to eat well, but spend less than you normally would on food. It was a really good programme, so I bought my partner the cookbook from the programme.

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/allegra+mcevedy/paul+merrett/economy+gastronomy/6705568/

My partner uses it quite a bit and it is now saving us money as we waste less food, it helps us to budget for the week in advance and also set meal plans.

For example, on Sunday we had a shoulder or lamb for sunday dinner, what was left over was chopped up and used in a Shepherds Pie last night. Before the leftovers might have just been given to the dog. Unlucky for the dog :rotfl:

triticale

I usually start by checking my freezer/larder, then see fi there is any reduced meat, chicken/mince etc. Then I base 2 or 3 meals around the meat item with maybe some spare to freeze for the next week.

I try to always cook in bulk and freeze, for example tonight I am cooking homemade bolognese with some mince I got on offer, for eating tomorrow night. :T

The rest will be frozen in portions for eating another week (I don't like having the same thing more than once in a week).

Tonight I am egg-frying some cooked rice I have in the freezer from last week with whatever bits of cooked meat I have in the freezer (chopped leftovers).

Freezer is a godsend for my meal planning. I also have 2 portions of beef (reduced ) and barley stew with cheesey mash in there at the moment.

I always have a loaf divided up in the freezer, some veg in there and some kind of meat/fish. I make sure I have spuds, pasta, rice and onions in the larder, eggs and cheese in the fridge and pretty much go from there.

I tend to plan during the day (daydreaming at work lol), knowing what is in my fridge/freezer/larder is vital, and I just use a little imagination to rustle something up without doing that deadly 'need something for tea' after work shopping trip...:eek::rotfl:

baby_fuzz

liam8282 wrote: »

Recently there was a tv programme called Economy Gastronomy, basically it showed you how to eat well, but spend less than you normally would on food.

blimey - if I spent what they spent on their meals, I'd be in the poor house! The whole premise was that these people were spending insane amounts of money on food in the first place (and wasting loads and chucking it all away!)...:eek:

Having said that, I did watch it, and I did make a few meals inspired by what I saw.:o

confused969

i have to agree, most of the folks that were on the programme, spent a fortune on food,but i really enjoyed the series, and did pick up a few tips

it makes you think about portion control as well, for instance on sunday we had roast beef with all the trimmings and mash, i always do too much mash and end up pilling everyones plate up, but this week i gave everyone a bit less mash and what was left was used monday tea time on a cottage pie, so this saves both time and money.i think it just takes a little more thought and being a bit more organised

NorthernLass

Mealplans here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2042087&highlight=mealplans

liam8282

I agree the programme was over the top with the people they chose, but even so it did still make us think about the food we were buying and how to get the most out of it.

I would recommend that cook book though, personally I have not even read the covers, but my partner is always getting recipes and ideas out of it.

clutterydrawer

Make a list of seven meals.

Buy the ingredients for those meals. Check that if any meal requires only half a pack of something perishable, you have a plan to use or store the rest.

Done.