Taking back control!

Countrywife

Hello everyone,

I have noticed lately that I have totally lost the plot with meal planning and have been running out of food. I literally have no inspiration to cook anything new and am bored stiff of the same old meals, so we've been eating too much convenience food/takeaways. Please help me get my head into gear and sort myself out! I am covered over Christmas but really want to start spending less and planning more moving forwards. Can anyone recommend any good books/blogs that will get me back on track? I wish I could be one of those people who would buy a bag of potatoes and use it for 3 different meals and not throw out half a bag unused as I usually do. I feel like a let down to my family 🙁

Artytarty

I'm the same, I've lost my cooking mojo.
I find entering my basic ingredients into a search engine sometimes gives good ideas, mostly I don't want to cook from a recipe though.

Wraithlady

I can recommend 'Cooking on a Bootstrap' - jack Monroe's blog. Her recipes are almost invariably uncomplicated and fairly quick (also budget-friendly and tasty).

If you feel like a let-down to your family just because your cooking lacks enthusiasm, there may be something more wrong than just feeling a bit meh.

joedenise

I try to menu plan for a month at a time but it inevitably means we repeat some meals. However you might find it helpful to have a very loose plan.

Sunday - roast of some sort
Monday - LO roast
Tuesday - Some sort of chunky soup - LO meat & veg
Wednesday - bacon/sausage/ egg meal
Thursday - casserole of some sort
Friday - fish meal
Saturday - Fake Takeaway - loads of "takeaway" ideas online

Denise

Spriggan

I find it helps to try and learn different ways to cook the same food. For example, I used up a red cabbage last week with half lightly boiled alongside sausage and mash, and the other shredded up with some chicken, noodles and peanuts (the colour looked amazing!)

I also made hassleback potatoes for the first time recently. Super easy, but delicious and different enough that you feel you've done something new even if you just have them alongside the same old thing.

YORKSHIRELASS

I think a lot of us can identify with that. Why not spend a bit of time over Chrismas browsing about on the internet for recipes and printing them out or get a notebook and jot down some ideas. I like the BBC Good Food website for reliable recipes.

trailingspouse

Meal planning is of course the key - but there are different ways to do it and what suits one person won't suit another.
My mother had a weekly rota of meals, you knew which day of the week it was by what she cooked! Monday - sausages, Thursday mince and so on. I guess one of the main advantages would be that she didn't have to think. And she didn't ever ask what we wanted - we got what she cooked and that was that. I don't think she ever even asked herself what she wanted.
I do it differently - for one thing, I don't have a strict rota like that! But I will decide that, say, we'll have mince on Monday, or chops on Saturday - but only decide exactly what I'm going to do on the day. So for 'mince on Monday' it might be spag bol, or homemade burgers, or chilli con carne, or savoury mince in Yorkshires, or whatever, depending on how hungry we are and how much time we have.
And the occasional takeaway won't do you any harm - don't beat yourself up.

maman

Countrywife wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I have noticed lately that I have totally lost the plot with meal planning and have been running out of food. I literally have no inspiration to cook anything new and am bored stiff of the same old meals, so we've been eating too much convenience food/takeaways. Please help me get my head into gear and sort myself out! I am covered over Christmas but really want to start spending less and planning more moving forwards. Can anyone recommend any good books/blogs that will get me back on track? I wish I could be one of those people who would buy a bag of potatoes and use it for 3 different meals and not throw out half a bag unused as I usually do. I feel like a let down to my family 🙁

I think we all get a bit like this at times. You've got the right idea to come up with a plan and transform your shopping and cooking in 2019. :T

You say you're cooking for a family. How many of you?

I'm surprised you don't get through a bag of potatoes. Stored well they can easily last a couple of weeks. Could you perhaps be a bit overzealous on sell by dates?

What about your lifestyle? How much time do you have for cooking? Can the family help? What sort of food do you all like? What sort of takeaway / ready meals do you choose?

Give us a bit more information so we can help you.

ska_lover

I agree OP.

we used to have a weekly meal plan thread on here - I havent seen it in ages. I used to get much inspiration from that

Id love it to restart

tealady

OP you have written what I feel (and expressed it far more eloquently)
I have decided next year to add more variety to my diet.
What I am going to do is list all my favourite ingredients and find recipies that only use those (or can skip stuff I don't like IYSWIM)
Then I will see what can be batch cooked and frozen.
The way I see it you have to decide if you are a "forward planner" or a "depends on what I feel like on the day" (am definitely in the 2nd group). That is where the freezer, microwave and slow cooker are my friends. Years of shift work have ruined my appetite for spending hours in the kitchen.
Also I find that too much information leaves me in a panic so tend to rely on ready meals.
Good luck, just remember that cooking for one doesn't mean cooking every day, your freezer is your friend.

trailingspouse

A few other things to think about.
Forget about 'Best before dates' - they're meaningless. A 'Use by' date means what it says, and you should avoid using something after the use by date (although I still prefer to trust my own nose...). A 'Best before' date simply means that something is 'Best' before a given date - but doesn't actually go off, and is still edible. So eat it, don't waste it!!
Keep a mental note of all the food you throw away. If you are regularly throwing the same thing away, stop buying it.