Time spent on meal planning?

fuddle

I've been meal planning for years now. I started with a 7 day plan purely for financial reasons - only needing to stock up on the bare minimum. Yes it was boring but we got to eat.

I then looked at what else I could make with the ingredients and put more options in and the extended the stocks of ingredients.

Of course, I came at it from a money point of you but here's a couple of my tips:

Keep a goto list of meals you've already come up with. Section them into food groups for easy planning. It takes time to build up, yeah, but will help in the long run.

A realisation that a change of side dishes can go down just as well as a change of meal.

Understand that meal plans have to be flexible too if they're going to work and by that I mean the changing seasons. Give my lot a salad on a dreary day and I know about.

Don't get hung up on it. Meal plans work best with a good store cupboard in my opinion and a good store cupboard (and knowledge) means I can turn my hand to anything if needed.

HTH from someone who likes the organisation and feelings of being control from the whole process.

[Deleted User]

As I am out on Sundays and Tuesdays I only have to sort out five evening meals per week My breakfasts are usually ,depending on weather either bran flakes and a banana,or granola and chopped fruit apple etc or porridge made with water a sprinkle of salt and a bit of milk.Lunches are normally crackers and cheese and HM soup with a piece of fruit or a small omelette. Dinners usually revolve around whats in the cupboard or freezer.At the moment I am trying to eat down my freezer so I can defrost, so its freezer roulette as there is quite a bit in there that I had't labelled, makes for interesting meals though :):) I always do my menu's on a Sunday morning and pin on the freezer with a magnet to remind me to get odd bits out to defrost.As there is only me to feed its probably a lot easier than if there was a family to cook for.

Islandmaid

Similar to some above, I start by checking what I have in already.

I try not to have the same carbs each day so if we have mash one day I try to avoid potato the next so rice, pasta or cous cous or bread instead.

I also try not to have 'wet' meals consecutively either so if we have curry, I wouldn't have chill the next night.

I like to eat veggie at least once a week, and I don't cook on a Friday Wednesday is my use up day, due to when I shop.

Read through the meal planning threads, and copy anything that you fancy, some amazing ideas there.

Sorry a bit garbled - need more coffee

LaineyT

I have a rough guide of 3 meat, 2 fish and 2 veggie main meals so base my weekly menu around that beginning on Sunday. Will obviously start with what's in the freezer etc and go from there, I regularly go through my cook-books and mark up what looks good but we do have our favourites. So this week's menu looks like this ;

Sunday - Steak Pie, Mash, Carrots and Leeks
Monday - Pesto strata with roasted cauliflower
Tuesday - Toad in the Hole, peas and broad beans.
Wednesday - Mackarel and stir-fry veg
Thursday - Chick-pea and olive burgers with roasted veg.
Friday - Salmon parcels and cauliflower cheese.
Saturday - Meatballs and tagliatelle, winter slaw.

We try to avoid carbs with our main meal so lunches tend to be HM soup, jacket pots or leftovers etc
Protein wise I pick up meat and fish when I see good quality yellow stickered, stale bread goes into freezer for things like the strata.
Takes me ten or fifteen minutes to do each week then an occasional trawl through the cookery books.

HTH

suki1964

I plan around what's available in the shops

This week I got a chicken, meat balls, fish mix, and good quality sausages , oh and steak we had last night as a treat

Then I decide what's happening to what I've got

I buy multipurpose veg, veg that will go with all different meals so I'm not just buying an ingredient for one meal

I have a whole shelf of herbs and spices and a good stock of pasta, rice, tinned toms


Then I wing it

Sausages may be toad, casserole, or sausages and chips, or even skinned and made into meat balls or even used to make scotch eggs

Chicken will start as a roast, but who knows what I'll fancy in the week

Fish was going to be fish pie, but I've just seen a type of Thai fish soup with noodles which looks yummy ( if I can remember when I saw it)

We have our favourites which pop up all the time, just at least once a month I try a new recipe. If it's a hit it stays on the regular list

I really am a lazy meal planner but for me it's the cheapest way. I work on what's good value for money rather then deciding we are having blah blah

LameWolf

We seem to have gotten into the way of having egg fried rice on Saturday and veggie toad-in-the-hole on Sunday, unless it's the weekend for the monthly farmers market, when I make quiche.

So only the weekdays to bother about.

I try and work out what day I'll need to make a loaf, and schedule pizza for that day (so as to make the dough while the bread machine's to hand).

Then ask Mr LW if he has any particular requests.

Then see if there's anything that needs using up out of the way, and schedule a meal using it.

Then look through my "ideas for meals" list and choose something I think I can cope with doing (currently have frozen shoulder, on top of my ongoing health issues) for the remaining days.

It sounds a bit random, but it works for us.

Takes about 10 minutes, I reckon.

ETA: If I get the day wrong for needing to make a loaf, I just switch the pizza round with another meal.

And there's always the option to go completely off-piste if I'm feeling too unwell to cook, then Mr LW will do his specialty, omelette.

2nd ETA: Like freyasmum I have all the info on a spreadsheet, which also includes an inventory of the cupboard and freezer contents.

freyasmum

VfM4meplse wrote: »

If my parents had had the foresight to do this, my eating habits would be very different now! In the other hand, they may not necessarily have wanted to eat fish fingers and spaghetti hoops !

Lol, I think the same. The next step is teaching her how to cook what she loves

She's usually the chop (lamb) requester in the family. This week she went easy on the budget and opted for Bolognese and pork curry (which I bulk up with onions and carrots as well. Perhaps some butternut squash if we have it). Also loves anything with broccoli.

OH requested toad in the hole and shepherd's pie.

I've also made a Spanish chicken to fill in the rest

maman

I take about 5 minutes to do my meal plan which is a list of 7 dinners in the corner of my shopping list! I cut it off and stick it on the microwave for the rest of the week. Breakfasts and lunches I just buy ingredients and decide on the day.

I have a list of what's in my freezer so I start with that and check for any fresh stuff that needs using up. I cross off any days I'm eating out and choose a HM frozen ready meal for any days I'll be pushed for time. I generally do a roast on Sunday.

I buy in YS meat when I see it so I generally just have to decide what to make with it.

This week's plan as an example :
roast pork
stuffed marrow
sausage and mash
burger and chips
savoury mince and new potatoes
baked fish parcels with chips
chilli and rice

I buy in loads of veg to go with the meals.

amandaatnumber7

suki1964 wrote: »

I plan around what's available in the shops

This week I got a chicken, meat balls, fish mix, and good quality sausages , oh and steak we had last night as a treat

Then I decide what's happening to what I've got

I buy multipurpose veg, veg that will go with all different meals so I'm not just buying an ingredient for one meal

I have a whole shelf of herbs and spices and a good stock of pasta, rice, tinned toms


Then I wing it

Sausages may be toad, casserole, or sausages and chips, or even skinned and made into meat balls or even used to make scotch eggs

Chicken will start as a roast, but who knows what I'll fancy in the week

Fish was going to be fish pie, but I've just seen a type of Thai fish soup with noodles which looks yummy ( if I can remember when I saw it)

We have our favourites which pop up all the time, just at least once a month I try a new recipe. If it's a hit it stays on the regular list

I really am a lazy meal planner but for me it's the cheapest way. I work on what's good value for money rather then deciding we are having blah blah

This is pretty much how I do mine too, there's always a night or two for left overs and freezer meals when I cant be bothered cooking or a take away if its a good pay week

SouthCoastSkies

Do you use Pinterest ? I spend a few minutes just searching for recipes & pinning them. Then I can scroll back through my recipe board to get some inspiration for that week's plan. We're vegetarian, so try to use different protein sources on most days, along with a different carb