Meal Planning

J.Bye

Hi all.

I am after advise on planning for meals with the aim of cutting down food costs.

There is two adults in the house with a baby on the way. Our only Problem is that we regulary work long hours meaning we don't want to come home and spend time prepping our meals.

So basically I'm looking for meal ideas etc that I can buy the ingredients for, chuck em in a pan and cook it all. With minimal or no prep.

Cheers in advance.

thisismoneysaving

I think the easiest way for you to do this, is look at what you like, what you'd like to try and what you already have.

If you're having mince, then how about buying a bigger pick or bulking it out for 2 or 3 days. Or freezing the extra. You know?

Also, try seaching for one pot recipes (I think that's the right term!)

Butterfly_Brain

I would make two meals out of one as well you will be surprised how quickly you can build up a whole range of HM ready meals that can be cooked quickly when you get in.
Stir Fries are quick and healthy
Or how about a weekend cook in to make meals for the whole week and get your OH to help.

J.Bye

My OH (the preggers one) does the cooking and wont let me cook.

And im not a bad cook neither.

Patchwork_Quilt

A roast dinner is actually not too bad on preparation.

We were out at a parents' evening tonight, so before I went I put a chicken in the oven, with potatoes round it, as well as carrots and onions. The veg were peeled and then halved, but that's all. Then, I put some hot water in the tin and covered it all with foil. In the same oven, I put some apples to bake in a covered pot and some red cabbage to braise in value orange juice. When I came back to it, two hours later, it was all done and we had a complete meal ready. I just mixed some gravy.

Hardup_Hester

I swear by my slow cooker when I working long hours, it's lovely to come home to the smell of a meal already cooked.
Hester

Bitsy_Beans

There isn't much that I cook that's terribly long winded TBH. My slow cooker is fab for things like curry, spag bol, casseroles - start these off in the morning and when you get in from work all you need cook is some rice or potatoes.

I cook a whole chicken at weekends and strip the carcass of the meat for meals in the week. I freeze it once cooked and then defrost as and when I need it. So chicken, mash and veg might take 20 mins as all you've got to cook is the spuds and veg - as long as you remember to take it out of the freezer (but that's why microwaves were invented ).

maryb

November is menu planning month if you follow Flylady plus today was anti- procrastination day so the two together finally got me to do something I have been planning for a long time.

I have always had a rough and ready menu plan for the week
Monday is leftovers from the Sunday roast
Tuesday is something with mince, sausages or a casserole
Wednesday is something with eggs and cheese
Thursday is chicken based
Friday is fish
Saturday is a treat/ something a bit more elaborate
Sunday is a roast

Problem is I tended to stick to the same few recipes and it gets boring. I found myself wishing they'd invent another animal.

So what I did today was to brainstorm all the recipes I actually like that don't take too long and I came up with a list of about 50 meals.
Then I set up a spreadsheet in Excel with the headings for the different types of meal ie eggs/cheese, chicken etc and listed all the recipes down the side. I put a cross under each relevant column, with some meals fitting in more than one category eg chicken casserole. I can sort the spreadsheet by any of the columns and it gives me a complete list of all the possible meals under each heading.

I had always planned to do an Access database for this but it was just too difficult so I gave up. But this spreadsheet was really easy and it's surprising how many recipes I do actually have to choose from.

Not only that I then sat down and worked out a meal plan for the rest of the month and an outline shopping list for each week

This is going to save me so much time and hopefully money. I don't know why I didn't do it ages ago, I should know by now it's hopeless trying to do things in my head

LJM

get a slow cooker if you dont have one bung it in in morning it will be ready for you to munch soon as you get home,when you are preparing one meal double it up one to eat one for freezer get a store of homemade meals uptogether then you just pop in oven,i usually prep my veg etc mornings if i know i will be out or busy saves time when i get back

npsmama

Wow! Well done, that'll be so handy!

maryb wrote: »

November is menu planning month if you follow Flylady plus today was anti- procrastination day so the two together finally got me to do something I have been planning for a long time.

I have always had a rough and ready menu plan for the week
Monday is leftovers from the Sunday roast
Tuesday is something with mince, sausages or a casserole
Wednesday is something with eggs and cheese
Thursday is chicken based
Friday is fish
Saturday is a treat/ something a bit more elaborate
Sunday is a roast

Problem is I tended to stick to the same few recipes and it gets boring. I found myself wishing they'd invent another animal.

So what I did today was to brainstorm all the recipes I actually like that don't take too long and I came up with a list of about 50 meals.
Then I set up a spreadsheet in Excel with the headings for the different types of meal ie eggs/cheese, chicken etc and listed all the recipes down the side. I put a cross under each relevant column, with some meals fitting in more than one category eg chicken casserole. I can sort the spreadsheet by any of the columns and it gives me a complete list of all the possible meals under each heading.

I had always planned to do an Access database for this but it was just too difficult so I gave up. But this spreadsheet was really easy and it's surprising how many recipes I do actually have to choose from.

Not only that I then sat down and worked out a meal plan for the rest of the month and an outline shopping list for each week

This is going to save me so much time and hopefully money. I don't know why I didn't do it ages ago, I should know by now it's hopeless trying to do things in my head