Meal planning...which way works for you?

Vashti

I am sick to the back teeth of trying to plan a healthy, tasty variety of meals seven days a week for two adults and two adolecents.

It seems like I have been standing in supermarkets for years...like Groundhog Day...trying to remember when we last had Cheese and Ham kievs and salad.

I live right next to Asda (not sure if it is a blessing or a curse) so I tend to go in every day, as I find I can get a better choice of reduced to clear items which I use for that nights evening meal. I cook whole roasts or chickens at the weekend, and we have a variety of things from hot chicken caesar salad to mince and potatoes, or fresh fish during the week.

I just find it such a pain to try to remember what we had for the last couple of nights to make our diet as varied as possible.

My sister lives in the middle of nowhere, and has a routine where she plans fourteen meals, cooks one every night for two weeks, then starts again with same menu...maybe subsituting beef for chicken in curry etc.

How do you do it?

thriftlady_2

I know loads of people meal plan and it is a brilliant way of keeping to a budget. I can't make it work though. I find making a plan easy enough, but when it comes to it I never feel like cooking what I've planned.

I manage my family cooking by keeping a well stocked cupboard and freezer of things I can make a variety of meals from. This means I shop to replenish the cupboards rather than for specific meals.

I have plenty of time though, so it is easy for me to cook this way.

Why don't you keep a diary of what you eat for a month ? -just write the meal on a calendar. Then you can see which meals crop up again and again, and where you need to add more variety.

lambanana

I plan what we're having and write it up on the mini whiteboard in the kitchen, food shop once a week buying the stuff that is on the plan. I sometimes end up swapping days round or changing the meal very slightly but for the most part stick with it...some things we have every week like pasta and sauce on Mondays (day when I do food shop and therefore am home much later and have less cooking time) and we nearly always have corned beef hash one night and baked potatoes on night.

Little_Miss_Saver

Hello :hello:

I meal plan each week and just buy what I need for that week, I've found that it's worked for me. I sometimes have to swap days round for different reasons.
DS thinks its great as he helps decide what we are going to eat and he knows exactly what he's getting for his tea each night as its on a piece of paper on the fridge door- so no more "whats for tea mum!!".
I know that it doesn't always work for others but think you have to stick to a way that suits your individual needs.

LMS xx

taplady

Little_Miss_Saver wrote: »

Hello :hello:

I meal plan each week and just buy what I need for that week, I've found that it's worked for me. I sometimes have to swap days round for different reasons.
DS thinks its great as he helps decide what we are going to eat and he knows exactly what he's getting for his tea each night as its on a piece of paper on the fridge door- so no more "whats for tea mum!!".
I know that it doesn't always work for others but think you have to stick to a way that suits your individual needs.

LMS xx

we do the same as you do! once a week, tried doing it fortnightly but it didn't quite work.

Blairweech

I'm quite funny with my meal plan. I can't sit down one day and just write it, as it all depends what mood I'm in. If I'm full when I try and do my meal plan, nothing sounds appetising and it takes ages. If I'm hungry, everything sounds good and ultimately I have too much choice. So, I write it throughout the week, whenever I have a fancy e.g. this week I fancied beef stroganoff, so thats gone on there. I'm lucky in that its just me and OH, who will eat anything, so I can do my meal plan like this. I don't assign specific days to each meal, just buy for the week.
I then write the ingredients down for each meal (including sides) and tick off what I've already got. Anything I'm missing from that lot goes on the shopping list. I also only plan 6 meals for the week, as I know we will have leftovers at least once - if not, its something simple like cheese on toast.

lil_me

Mines more like a restaurant menu. Lists of options written down for anything from 7-14 meals, that way I still go from a plan and only buy what I need (in theory) to go with it, veg is never planned as I jsut use what is in at the time and needs using, get it delivered every Thursday, alternative menu for the kids who can have what we are or something else (some they can't/won't eat) then choose from there what to have each day, or the day before as a lot of the time something needs defrosting. I also make sure there is a something quick and easy meal on the list each week for the day where there is no choice but to do something quick. Set day plan just doesn't work for me.

ravenfire_2

I find it difficult to plan the week as well - I tend to bulk buy in meat etc in a monthly shop and then choose the day before what we will have and as, like you, we have a supermarket close Im able to just buy fresh veg or salad on a daily basis.

troll35

I write my shopping list on the top half of some scrap paper and the meal plan on the bottom half. Not sure why I do it that way round as I write the meal plan first and then the shopping list (sounds mad as I'm typing this). I ask DH and DS if there are any specific meals they would like including and then do the shopping list according to what is needed (bearing in mind what I've got in the cupboards and freezer. After we've been shopping the menu plan part gets blu-tacked to the kitchen cupboard where we can all see it.

JillD_2

I don't do this all the time or religiously but when I do do it, here's what I do (does that make sense even ?):

1. On a Thursday I write down a list of all the dinners we like, there are around 20 or so.

2. I look in the cupboards and se what we have and base the next 7 days meals around as much of what we have as poss

3. I write up the plans for the next 21 days.

4. I make a shopping list of what else I need to buy for the next 7 days

5. On the Friday I go shopping.

6. The next Thursday I consult the plan for the next 7 days (bearing in mind some scribbling and swapping around may have gone on since it was made!) and make a shoppng list for what else I need for the next week.

7. On the Friday I do the shopping.

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the 3rd week.

9. Back to the start again, I can't bear to just reuse the same 3 wek plan so I start at step 1 and make up a new plan altogether.

Now I must confess I haven't done this for months, I am pregnant and have all-day-morning-sickness-thought-its-getting-better-thank-god and what I fancy or feel like cooking on any day is anyone's guess. When I did do it though, it worked brilliantly for us. Also becuase we would occasionally have aveg box delivered on a Thursday so I coud incorporate the contants into the next 7 days plan.

HTH
Jill

Allison

On Thu or Fri I sit down and plan what we will eat for the following week. I check the freezer/cupboards for what we already have and then write a list. I try and stick to my list and only really buy whats not on the list if its a really good offer

I sometimes switch days around but usually use up all 7 planned meals in that week.