It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Toonie

I vaguely meal plan but only to inform my shopping list, even then the main components of the list can be made into multiple options. A lot of it is very much dependant on my mobility and pain throughout the week, which makes things unpredictable. This week is different though as DP has the week off work so we're planning more elaborate (for us) lunches, and we'll get in a few easy things as we're going to do some redecorating and we're having a Spring clean.

Pollycat

I've planned meals for years.
My excel spreadsheet dates back to April 2017 but I used to keep a paper copy before that.

If I want mushrooms in one meal, I like to buy a large pack and use them in other dishes (keeps the £ per kg down).
Ditto peppers.

I also keep an excel spreadsheet with my freezer contents and use this to decide on what meals we're having.
It can extend for a couple of weeks but is always flexible depending on what YS things I buy.
I'm doing lamb mince (YS) with onions, tomatoes, courgettes (YS) and aubergine (YS) in my big slow cooker and we'll have one portion tonight with a sliced potato topping (like hotpot).
The others will go in the freezer.

happydenial

I meal plan every week in an attempt to make my life easier, but with the knowledge that probably only 4/7 meals will be eaten! I always joke to DH that if I take an item out of the freezer to defrost for the next day, something will definitely happen the next night, a child will suddenly have a club or afterschool thing or be invited to a friends, DH will change his days in the office due to an emergency meeting etc etc. 

Having said that, nothing gets wasted and will always be eaten another day or cooked and refrozen. I do find it frustrating though! 

Brambling

I also do a vague menu plan which I put on a magnetic white sheet on the fridge. Some days I may just put chicken or pork chop and see what I fancy and sometimes I'm more specific like tonight I've taken lamb mince out of the freezer as I brought fennel for lamb meatballs and braised fennel (yotam ottolenghi recipe). LOS does sometimes mean it changes but they often do lunches or I plan like this week to have meatballs tonight and Tuesday night. 

Nelliegrace

It would be easier to plan if DH told be when he was going to be out. He forgets. Too late when it is already cooking. 
I give him a five minute reminder before serving dinner and he wanders off when it is ready. 

YorksLass

Another one here whose DH needs a 5 minute warning so he can go to the loo before sitting down to eat - it takes him ages to get upstairs and back, thanks to mobility issues.  I don't mind if it's salad - after all, what could spoil - but can get a bit miffed when it's Yorkshire puddings or dumplings that really need eating as soon as they're cooked and dished up.  

Lovely sunny day here, heating off and windows open.  If only it could be like that every day.

Yesterday I cooked a beef joint I bought on a promotional price and today have sliced/diced it.  There's enough for 6 meals for 2 (3 boxes of slices in gravy, a box of thin strips for a stir fry and enough chunks for 2 curry meals plus a round of sandwiches), so I'm happy with that.

DD rang last night in floods of tears.  She'd had her bag snatched earlier in the day and had spent quite a while in a police car touring the area in an effort to find the *****.  No luck, so ended up at a police station (miles away from where she lives) looking at mug shots.  No luck there either.  Luckily, her phone was in her pocket along with her bank card but they got away with her purse (not a lot of cash in it) and her house keys.  She said there wasn't anything in her bag to identify where she lives but, to be on the safe side, had called an emergency locksmith to change the locks and get into her own house.  Grrr.

Nelliegrace

So upsetting @YorksLass At least your daughter was not hurt. 

Elisheba

Oh, how horrible for your daughter, @YorksLass. 

When I lost my purse a couple of years ago (it could have been pinched from my bag, but it could also have fallen out - either way it wasn't there when I got home) the police wanted nothing to do with it. Apparently they no longer even have a lost property cupboard for people to hand things in, so if anyone had found it there was no way for them to get it back to me. No doubt due to cuts, but I thought that was ridiculous really. 

Auntycaz

How awful for your daughter @YorksLass hope she is feeling a bit better today. So pleased wasn't hurt.

ladyholly

Elisheba said:

Oh, how horrible for your daughter, @YorksLass. 

When I lost my purse a couple of years ago (it could have been pinched from my bag, but it could also have fallen out - either way it wasn't there when I got home) the police wanted nothing to do with it. Apparently they no longer even have a lost property cupboard for people to hand things in, so if anyone had found it there was no way for them to get it back to me. No doubt due to cuts, but I thought that was ridiculous really. 

That doesnt surprise me. the police seem to be doing less and less to help people. I know they have had large funding cuts but is a lost property office so hard to do? A little story. Many years ago my dh used to target shoot and owned a revolver which we used to hand in to the police station when we went away. (This was before the days of proper gun cupboards) Then one holiday we went to do the usual hand in and they wouldnt take it so we had to go  away leaving a hand gun in an unoccupied house for a week. It was well hidden but at the time we had a very small cottage so there werent many places it could go and if someone burgled us they could have found it. Apparently things have not improved.