The I will MEAL PLAN and not change my mind thread.....

WantToBeSE

Can't believe i have stuck at my meal plan so far- you lot are obviously a good influence on me

I have also written next weeks meal plan, i'll share it with you tomorrow as i am off to bed in a sec.

Night!

trulymadlydeeply_indebt!

Blimey Charlie, I've just done an inventory of the fridge, 2 freezers and pantry and other than a few bits and bobs, I reckon me OH and 2 kids might have enough main meals for January and possibly into February. With some clever use of bakery staples, I think we could do most lunches too.

I never would have thought this at the start of today. Just need to keep the momentum going.

scrappie_2

Hi Guys - can I join you all please?

Only feeding myself (+ 2 cats), love to cook - do a lot of batch cooking and freeze in single portions. Work shifts, so somedays need to take breakfast/ lunch/ dinner to work. I usually manage it, but in past months seem to be throwing a lot of stuff away. I used to plan meals, I know it works. I need to get back to it.

Will be buying myself a nice new book tomorrow (I love new stationery!) to write down plans/ shopping lists etc. Also, I'm planning (for Jan at least) to only spend 'cash' for food - no cards allowed. That way I will find out exactly how much I'm spending. Will be keeping all reciepts for the month too - should give me some interesting reading in Feb.

I will list 10 or so meals that can be switched about depending on shift changes/ CBA nights!

Beef stroganoff
Meatballs + pasta
Special fried rice
Hunters chicken
Pasta + brocolli
Chips + beans
Jacket + chilli
Tuna pasta bake
Chicken + sweetcorn soup
Pea + ham soup
Roast chicken dinner
Sausage pasta
Burger + chips

Thats enough to be going on with - I'm off work next week, so can really get my head around this and make sure I dont go 'off plan'.

Thanks for the inspiration!

MummyEm

This is just what I need too. We are starting some work in the house in a few weeks which will mean having to move out for 3-4 weeks in the next few months. The whole of downstairs needs emptying so that the work can be done so I am desperately trying to use up food stocks both larder and freezer. Once we have used everything up, I will only buy for the following week following a strict mealplan to save on space. It does mean when the work is all finished we get a lovely new kitchen with a big freezer (no more going out the the garage) and big larder cupboards. I have also joined the grocery challenge with a much lower budget than what we normally spend as I'll be using so much that we have a stock already. I went through the freezers last night and we don't actually have that much meat in so I'll have to be careful about how I plan to make the budget stretch.
My plan for the next few days is-

Today-
Lunch-HM mushrooms & ham carbonara type pasta
Tea- Family over for buffet. Making various items for this all from item I have already

Thursday-
Lunch-I will take HM soup & bread to work/ Kids will have sarnies at home
Dinner- Kids Tuna pasta bake with garlic bread. Grown ups - Grilled lamb steak with redcurrant mint jelly, new pots & veggies

Friday - Dinner- Either Ommelettes or HM pizzas depending on what we fancy with HM potato wedges

Saturday - Haven't planned for this yet It will probably involve using up whatever fresh veggies we have left as we are going away on Monday for a few days.

Sunday -
Lunch - Spag bol/Chilli from freezer
Tea - At Nephew's bday party

It's a start anyway. If we stick to this plan, there will be no spends at all!! I may need to get a few bits towards Saturday's dinner though we shall see. I also have to write a plan for next week. We are away for four nights. We will have one meal out each day, but have breakfast and one other meal 'in' per day. I need to plan these meals and shop for whatever I need for these. We will probably eat posh 'ready made' or 'easy to cook' meals for the meals in as this is a holiday for us and I don't want to spend my holiday cooking but this will still be cheaper than eating out!

Rainbow82

WantToBeSE wrote: »

hi Rainbow, would you share your Cheesy Potato Bake please? I have loads of potatoes to use up, so could put that on my meal plan for next week

Hi WantToBeSE, I also have tins of potatoes to use so there will be lots on my menu this month lol. I do potato bake a couple of ways depending what I have in the fridge to use up but either:

Mushrooms, onions and a clove of garlic crushed up and dry fried together and layered in a dish alternately with mash potato (I usually a a small amount if diced raw onion to it too, surprisingly nice) then top with grated cheese and bake till hit through and cheese has melted.

Or if I have veg to use:
Boil carrots, parsnip, cauli, Broccoli (whatever I have available) and mix it into a cheese sauce (packet or HM)
Top with mash potato, and I'd there is cheese sauce left I make holes in the mash with a kebab skewer and put the cheese sauce on top, some sinks into the holes and makes lovely cheesy pockets.
Top with a sprinkling of grated cheese for extra luxury or when I want to fail saintly (or dieting again lol) I use natural yoghurt on top instead of cheese sauce)

I usually serve either version with beans. Hope this helps, not really so much potato bake as mash with a twist lol. If you arnt keen on mash though just swap for sliced potatoes and layer up with any veg then top with cheese sauce.

Thanks to 19p bags of potatoes in aldi I think I'm gonna be eating these recipes fog a while lol.

WantToBeSE

Thanks Rainbow, i'll be putting that on next weeks meal plan

lobbyludd

I've been vaguely sticking to the mealplan in that I haven't eaten anything that's not on it, but it's not been in the right order: back at work now so hopefully the week will be more structured with no more mid-week roasts to deal with!

I'm trying to lose weight too so it's all going into myfitness pal app.

need to plan breakfast as well - I need some sort of take-along protein based breakfast as I don't have time for one at home and am now starving and eyeing up my packed lunch (at not even 10 am! lets see how long I last....)

pollys

Please could I join in, our new years resolution is to have more in savings at the end of the year than we do now. Meal planning will help our challenge. Last night we were going to have chicken in peppers and tomato sauce with brown rice but we had beef left over from the NYE party so had that with chips instead. So tonights tea will be the chicken.

There are six of us and sometimes meals do have to change at short notice, I also try and alternate meals that take a while to prepare and are more expensive with easy cheaper meals - especially on days when children have their sports and I'm driving them around.


Looking forward to the challenge.


Pollys

craigywv

love the sound of the potato bake RAINBOW will deffo be doing that in the future sounds yum!

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi everyone - I really need to cut my grocery spends this year as they've got totally out of hand - mainly down to a very restrictive (and expensive) diet:eek:

I've never been good at meal planning but I really need to get to grips with it so will be joining you if that's OK!

Have inventoried the freezer so will come up with something for the week & post shortly