Menu Planning Tips (merged)

Bright_Eyes_3

Hi Emmie
Welcome
I find menu planning is the absolute key to money saving (frugality), time usage, health adn much more.

Here's what I do.
1. Made up a sheet on computer (word, using table) with columns for a) breakfast b) lunch c) dinner d) other (snacks or times when kids won't eat same/activities etc) and then shopping. 1 row (about 3 or 4 lines deep) for each day of week. Could draw a grid by hand and make loads of copies.
2. Decide what main dish each day will revolve around e.g. 1 of mince, 2 of fish, 1 or 2 of chicken, 1 vege, 1 rice or pasta etc. each week. This plus card index is my lynchpin.
3. use card index or notebook to keep recipes or ideas (often just a list such as mince = chilli, spag bol, keema curry, or pasta = carbonara, tomato and courgette, chicken and broccoli - you get the idea. Folder for stuff from magazines is useful too.
4. Fill in form each week a couple of days before shopping - starting with whats in cupboard/fridge to use and with main meal. Then add lunches and breakfasts (mainly to ensure that it's not bread/rice/pasta/chicken 3 times a day and for health balance)
5. Add anything outwith normal groceries to add to shopping list.

The card index or note book with page headings is very useful - can note anything someone doesn't like or variations on basic theme.

If you need actual recipes, trillions on this board or go to library adn look for simple (perhaps student) book.

Hope this helps. Happy munching.

KatieF

All the recipes on this thread sound delicious, and I'm a poor student so trying to save as much money as poss so less debt! (So hovering around this board and the student savings board!) So its wondereful to have all these ideas and mostly not too complicated - thanks all of you for sharing them!

One thing though, I have tried planning meals before and end up either wanting to gorge on fatty foods like takeaways, or not being bothered to cook and having a ready meal or something I can't freeze lots as I only have one third of a little freezer, and it has bread and frozen sweetcorn and things in. I have next to know willpower...anyone have ideas on encouraging myself to stick to plan and not just snack and binge-eat???

nicola1982_2

I tend not to menu plan for lunch and b/fast, just make sure I have plenty of bread, cereal and fillings. However I do menu plan all my main meals. Before I shop (I monthly shop) I check the freezer and cupboards to see what is in. I then list as many meals I can fit around that. Then I'll go through my cookery books and fill up the rest of the days with meals from that and create a shopping list for all the ingrediants I'll need. I spend about 30-70 pounds a month depending on how much is in.

Essex-girl_2

KatieF wrote:

One thing though, I have tried planning meals before and end up either wanting to gorge on fatty foods like takeaways, or not being bothered to cook and having a ready meal or something I can't freeze lots as I only have one third of a little freezer, and it has bread and frozen sweetcorn and things in. I have next to know willpower...anyone have ideas on encouraging myself to stick to plan and not just snack and binge-eat???

I know what you mean - I still have takeaways - just one every 7/10 days instead of 3 a week :eek: But as a family we will all sit down and decide what to have (generally chinese/indian) and we enjoy it so much more than we ever did before, so dont deprive yourself totally.

Calephetos

flea72 wrote:

i also have a freezer list, as i have a large chest freezer which i used to loose things in - and now i know exactly how many sausages, loaves of bread, pizza etc. i have and can plan meals around it, without having to go and rummage

I've got the week's meal plan and the add-it-as-you-remember-it shopping list written on the fridge in dry-marker and the freezer stock list on the freezer door, in same!

Looks a bit messy with blue scrawl all over the doors, but no one sees it but us And now I always know if we've got bagels/naan/veg sausages in without having to rummage through frost.

seraphina

I also don't plan what I'm going to have on what day, but I shop for a fixed number of meals each week. Before we do the weekly shop, we draw up a list of what we'd like for dinner and packed lunch each week, and buy in what we need. Then we wait until getting home from work to figure out what we fancy for tea that evening.

Otherwise I'd worry I'd get to jacket potato/pasta night and think I don't really fancy that and wind up getting a takeaway

Gingham_Ribbon

Thanks to everyone who's added ideas on here. I'm in need of inspiration as we seem to have fallen into our usual trap of having the same few meals all the time. They're all scratch meals and tasty but some more variety would be good. I've got the motivation now to try to organise it more effectively now.

Our usuals are all quick:

Breakfast:
Usually bread fresh from the breadmaker with butter followed by fruit. No one seems to want anything else because it smells so good.

Lunch:
Lentil dahl with rice
Mushroom risotto
Cheese sandwiches
Pancakes and fruit
Sandwiches with quick fillings like jam, peanut butter, marmalade
Toast and beans/egg
Cheese on toast with fried mushrooms

Dinner:
Pasta with tomato sauce and veg
Pasta with cheese sauce and mushrooms
Pasta with chilli sauce
Pasta with creamy sauce and veg
Rice with root veg curry
Rice with chick pea and potato or cauliflower curry
Rice with 3 bean chilli
Pizza with assorted veggie toppings

Supper:
Porridge
Apple yum (ground millet cooked with grated apple and milk)

I want to do more with tatties (I have never got on top of the meat and 3 veg without the meat thing for any length of time.) And I want to do more stir fries. And tacos. And soups...Getting bored of pasta and rice.

muddled_midget

How about mixed vegetable stirfry with grilled flat mushrooms or tofu. The mushrooms are also good with couscous and salad. To go with the potatoes, home-made cheesy vegetable pie (no idea of a recipe, but I like the Sainsbury's version and figure it can't be too difficult to make...), quiche with new potatoes, and cheese and potato pie with sliced tomato, mushroom and onion on top. I think my mum also makes chickpea burgers, with chips. Also the ready-made veggie foods such as LM sausages/pies go well with mash and veg for a quick dinner. And for a special treat, BF makes me fajitas with beans instead of chicken :drool:

JayneC

Bogof_Babe wrote:

I am married to a veggie so that restricts our evening meals quite a bit. However some of the things we routinely have are...

Oven chips nearly every night (I kid you not. We are on Aunt Bessie's Homestyle at the moment and they are the best yet)

Bread rolls or sliced wholemeal or crusty bread - again every night, as it bulks the meal out, and most things taste better in a sandwich! Garlic bread quite often too, but only when knocked down to less than 50p! Or I make my own with garlic granules, dried herbs and leftover rolls.

Quiches or pizzas (when reduced or on special offer). I get a basic plain cheese and tomato pizza, and top with sliced mushrooms before cooking.

Dalepack cauliflower cheese grills or Vegetable Quarter Pounders (this is where the bread rolls come in - DIY veggie McD's lol) with breaded onion rings and chips.

Sainsbury's (or M&S when on 3for2) cheese and onion crispbakes - again with bread rolls and chips

Jacket potatoes with baked beans and cottage cheese. Don't have these too often, due to cost of gas to cook the spuds, but nice easy treat for a Saturday.

Home made veggie lasagne or pasta spirals (I don't make the pasta!) with Beanfeast sauce, tarted up with dried herbs, celery salt, mushrooms and tinned tomatoes, to make it taste of something! Not allowed to do this too often as I always make enough for two nights (justifies all that washing up!) and he gets fed up of it).

Sainsbury's frozen vegeburgers (8 for £1.99) or frankfurter style veggie sausages (they are delish) in rolls.

Occasionally Linda McCartney vegetarian pies, which are nice but take 40 mins in the oven from frozen.

Every night I make sure there is a decent helping of veg - something green and usually a sliced up carrot cooked with it "for interest". Loads of salads in summer, but often in winter too - basic but yummy one is little gem lettuces, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber, sliced hard boiled eggs, and salad cress on top. Sometimes I finely shred a bit of onion to give it extra oomph.

Luckily we both tend to eat to live rather than live to eat, so the lack of variety doesn't really matter. I try to mentally work out the cost of each night's main meal, and it is usually around £2 to £2.50 for both of us, which I don't think is too bad.

We are further restricted in that I am allergic to Quorn and not very keen on nuts, and he isn't very keen on pasta and doesn't like rice! Still we haven't starved yet! I never expect to spend more than the time it takes me to listen to The Archers (15 mins) in the kitchen preparing the evening offering, so apart from making salads and the pasta conconctions during the day, that's my lot! Delia Smith - don't eat your heart out! If it was just me I could actually live on mashed potato and cheese.:o

Dunno if anyone else has suggested this but you can do oven chips yourself. Just cut up potatoes into chips , toss in olive oil sprinkle with a bit of salt and cook for arond 20 mins at No 6 or 200 electric. Also nice if you leave on the skins and do 'wedges'. Also can do sweet potatoes and other veggies too - carrots, squashes, parsnips, corgettes,etc.

Lola23

You have given me lots of ideas. I will def start to plan my meals out better.
I work shifts too and it would be better if I was a bit more organised (might save me pennies too)

Thanks

Lola