bored with meal planning?

mel_anthe

I've been trying to be good and meal plan - but am finding that every night when it comes to dinner time, I don't want to eat what I've put down on the plan. The freezer is chock full of stuff I've made with bulk cooking - but I still don't want any of it! The result is that I go and get something different, throwing my meal plan completely off and spending more, or just having something like toast

Maybe a meal plan is not for me... What do you do when/if this happens?...

lil_me

Try making a list of what is in with several 'different' ideas of what to make with each. I get bored easily aswell.

Mine at the minute for example includes

Mince in gravy - dumplings/yorkshire puddings/cottage pie
Mince (uncooked) - gravy, bolognese, lasagne
Sausages - casserole, onion gravy, toad in the hole

See what I mean ?

Always date the frozen bulk foods so you know when it has to be eaten by, find this makes me use it.

thriftlady_2

Or, do what I do and don't meal plan. I buy for my storecupboard - ie I always have certain things in so that I can make a variety of dishes. I vary the fresh stuff but always have the same staples. I have a pretty big repertoire of dishes I make regularly. Try making a list of your favourites and pinning it on the fridge. Make sure you always have the makings of those dishes and then you can be more flexible when it comes to deciding what to make for dinner.

I have exactly the same problem as you with bulk cooking for the freezer. I prefer to freeze meal components rather than whole meals - eg pizza bases (hm), tomato sauce, meat sauce, stock, cheese sauce

Penny_Watcher

Or just eat from the freezer for a week and blow the money you've saved on a take away on Saturday

(Hmmm - might try that myself )

Queenie

mel_anthe wrote:

I've been trying to be good and meal plan - but am finding that every night when it comes to dinner time, I don't want to eat what I've put down on the plan. The freezer is chock full of stuff I've made with bulk cooking - but I still don't want any of it! The result is that I go and get something different, throwing my meal plan completely off and spending more, or just having something like toast

Maybe a meal plan is not for me... What do you do when/if this happens?...

Menu Planning isn't for everyone and it's really a tool for keeping yourself within your chosen food budget so that you don't resort to unplanned expenses such as take-aways or eating out and resorting to the dreaded overdraft/cc to fund them.

Now, if you are spending more, then it becomes a question of self discipline. As L'il me suggests, don't make your meal plans rigid, but flexible.

Versatile broad ideas can work really well, mince and sausages both mentioned are versatile as are jacket potato meals, pasta meals, rice meals, chicken night, tuna night, vegetarian night.

Alternatively, try "retrospective" menu planning. Don't plan what you *will* have; simple keep a note on your calendar of what you have eaten that night ... in a month's time you'll be able to see very clearly which meals you tend to eat more of. Might even be worthwhile noting down if you were rushed, feeling happy/grumpy because that can have quite an impact on what you end up eating or even choosing to eat! You might see a pattern forming.

mel_anthe

Thank you everyone, there's some great ideas there. I hadn't thought about having more than one option for everything that's in, so I'll try that one.

I think part of my problem is that because I live on my own, it isn't really practical to have too much in the house as I'll just end up throwing it out because I haven't used it. I don't tend to throw anything really, with the result that my freezer is now completely full and I need to use up some of that stuff really. I rarely get takeaways or eat out - in fact I can't remember the last time I did either - I'm just getting very bored with mealplanning!

I know I'm not very disciplined - that's part of the problem too. I think I kind of feel like I'm depriving myself if I try to 'make do' with what's in the freezer too often...

I like the idea of the retrospective planner - I'll definitely try that too and see what happens