A month of meal plans!

Tink_04

Hi, we are a house of 4 (Me, DH, DD5 & DS15M) we have the usual busy lives, we both work, do school & nursery runs, try to shop well (MR A & Ald*) and cook from scratch.

But we have eaten so badly the last few weeks and have spent money on takeaway, shop brought 'easy' food and wasted food too. This is purely due to lack of planning and bad organisation on my part.

I'm not normally like this, things have been really stressful and I've just fell off the wagon a bit, this is why I need my planning back!

January is a long month and I want to keep in budget and stop eating rubbish just because we have nothing in. So I'm going to meal plan and write my shopping lists for the month.

I'm looking for inspiration to add to my meal plan list, I have a slow cooker I usually use once or twice a week as this really helps when in at work.

Hoping to get back on my wagon and 're introduce my body back to real food as I feel so sluggish!

Seanymph

quorn mince with carrot, onion and gravy - with cobbler one day, then use the left over potatoes for shepherds pie the next.

krlyr

Think of meals that overlap, without being too repetitive. So I might cook up a bolognese, then split half the mince off and add some kidney beans and chili flakes to turn half into chili con carne. You can add variety within those two meals too - they can be served with rice, pasta, on a jacket potato, on nachos, and so on. Bolognese can be easily made into lasagne with a quick homemade white sauce too. Mince is easily frozen into portions and reheated in the microwave (I bought a box of 100 takeaway tubs on eBay for this purpose - they go straight from freezer to microwave), so you're not forced to eat the same thing for days on end but you can easily cook several days' worth of meals in one go.

Things that can literally be chucked into the slow cooker and left are good too. I do pulled pork and pulled chicken - meat, sauce, spices, leave for the day and then shred. Again, I freeze in portions, and serve differently. In a bun with coleslaw and chips, with rice, in a wrap with salad.

With fresh salad/veggies I try to use it up within a couple of days to prevent binning due to spoilage, so plan carefully. Chicken fajitas one day, lasagne and a salad the next, a chicken pitta the next - it will depend on the season as well though, in summer we'd quite happily eat salad all week so I'd buy a lettuce, a pack of tomatoes, etc. and make it fresh, whereas in the winter we'd probably only get through a bag of pre-packed lettuce and a 3-pack of peppers over a few days before fancying something a bit more hearty.

See what sides you can bulk-cook too. I freeze things like rice, mash, homemade wedges, roasties, etc. so the prep is all done in one day. Nothing better than coming home after a long day and just having to ping a tub of rice and a tub of chili for an instant, tasty, homemade dinner.

kazmeister

Hi
Meal plans, personally I wouldnt try for anything over a week, otherwise it gets too difficult to plan for.

My plan is for 7 days
1 roast day - Pork, Beef, Chicken, Lamb. A joint might appear to cost a lost but it will usually stretch to 2 or 3 days and works out cheap in comparison.
1 pasta day - pasta bake, spag bol, carbonara, macaroni cheese etc
1 rice day - chilli, curry, risotto, kedgeree, sweet n sour, kebabs with a rice salad etc
1 meat day - Cold roast, chips n beans, Pork chops, Lamb chops, Sausage and Mash. Sausage casserole, Shepherds or Cottage pie (made by mincing leftover roast), Toad in the hole, Beef casserole (with dumplings) Liver & Bacon, Spanish Stew, Steak Pie n veg.
1 fish day - can be Fish fingers, Tuna/Tomato stew, Grilled Rainbow Trout (both kids love it), Fish cakes, Pan fried cod with HM chips or mash, Fish casserole or my latest triumph seafood risotto etc
1 snack day - Sausage Pasta, Hot Dogs, Pizza, Tortilla wraps, Fish n Chips, Omelette, Chicken and Ham rolls, Burgers, Quiche, Jacket Potatoes, Salad etc
1 other - can be a duplication of any of the others, a takeaway, Meal out, or leftovers from the fridge/freezer, or a simple beans on toast

I work out what I have in the cupboards and freezer (i actually keep a list of what needs using up first) and then make a shopping list for what I need to complete the list. It only goes to pot when OH shops with me! I find this plan works because there is variety and I can switch things round if I need to and know I still have all I need. I think if you try and plan for a month, shop for a month etc its easier for it too fall apart.

Hope this helps

happy35

I only meal plan a week at a time as would be overwhelmed with a months worth. I do however buy meat or fish that is 3 for £10 or YS and make plans for future weeks using these, I dont plan what to do with them until the week in which I am going to use them though

redmel1621

I spent quite a while doing monthly meal plans and I think it worked out quite well.

I am planning on doing the same again this year. I will make use of the £5 off £50 at Farmfoods and the £5 off £40/45 at Aldi... Then I can stock up the chest freezer and know I have all meals in already... I also used to buy the full months dry goods too.

I found it saved me quite a bit of money as I wasn't tempted by the offers every time I went shopping Also as I only needed a small shop each time I could write a little list and send hubby, he is better at sticking to the list then me

Tink_04

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

What I've started doing is writing out a list on all the meals we usually eat/enjoy - adding some special occasion meals in & some 'tide us over till pay day meals' in too. I have 34 meals so far.

Then I wrote a list of breakfast stuff we eat, lunch for work stuff & fruit, veg, milk & cheese etc.

What I plan to do is a shopping list (weekly) and a meal plan for 10 days.

I too try to get the ald* voucher so that helps, the reason a weekly shop is a 10 day meal plan is just for the amount of fruit, milk, eggs & salad stuff we use for us for work and the kids snacks.

Will write it all up late to show you all to see if it makes any sense.

fairy3

It may be worth looking at what takeaways you like and having a go at making them yourself - pizza, curry and chinese dishes are all relatively simple to make and you can use up even in these dishes and make them healthy.

redmel1621

Tink_04 wrote: »

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

What I've started doing is writing out a list on all the meals we usually eat/enjoy - adding some special occasion meals in & some 'tide us over till pay day meals' in too. I have 34 meals so far.

Then I wrote a list of breakfast stuff we eat, lunch for work stuff & fruit, veg, milk & cheese etc.

What I plan to do is a shopping list (weekly) and a meal plan for 10 days.

I too try to get the ald* voucher so that helps, the reason a weekly shop is a 10 day meal plan is just for the amount of fruit, milk, eggs & salad stuff we use for us for work and the kids snacks.

Will write it all up late to show you all to see if it makes any sense.

So you are meaning it would be too much to buy the whole month in one go? I would have that problem now too :cool:

I did, and will do again, the same as you. I wrote a long list of meals we liked and ate regularly and chose 30/31 out of those, some replicated, and put them in the meal plan.. I don't allocate days as such but I do have 'easy' meals for busier days, 'particular types' of meals available for my 2nd son's swim training or competition days etc etc...

I will be interested to see your plan when you have time to post it:D

Butterfly_Brain

I always cook double or treble of whatever I am doing, this means a stockpile of home cooked ready meals in the freezer, with very little effort. All you have to do is reheat and do the veggies.

This weeks meal plan is

Today......... Roast lamb, brussels, carrots, roast potatoes with raspberry gateau for dessert (Left overs from yesterday)

Tomorrow.........29th
Left over lamb in a balti sauce with rice

Tuesday 30th
Chicken in hoisin sauce with spring rolls

Wednesday 31st
Gammon steaks, mushroom sauce, pineapple, chips and peas

Thursday 1st
Roast chicken, yorkshire puds, roast potatoes, broccolli, carrots and swede with tiramisu for dessert

Friday 2nd
Chicken Ametricanna using left over chicken from the roast

Saturday 3rd
Egg and chips

Sunday 4th
Roast pork, runner beans, roast potatoes, cauliflower and yorkshire pud

YORKSHIRELASS

I used to mealplan fortnightly then pretty much rotated the same meal plan to make a months worth.

I am shopping weekly at the moment though and I do find it a bit easier. I have been relying on bought pasta sauces/jars of curry sauce etc just lately though so I need to get back to properly cooking from scratch.

I used to sometimes make 2 meals at once too and havent done this much lately.

New start in the New Year I think!