Meal planning. What's your tips.

[inscotland]

I am truly a bad book but part of that is down to possibly being lazy and not planning well enough. I'll shop for food most days and it will just be what I fancy for dinner.

I really want to give BLW a go so REALLY need to be more organised/have meals prepared in the freezer etc.

What tips can you share with me. What meals do you make for the freezer.

THanks

[misshardbroom]

Well, all of mine were weaned in the baby rice & pureed pear era, so I don't know anything about BLW.

But I am queen of menu planning. I plan for 4 weeks at a time and get a massive Sainsbury's delivery on the first day, then top up perishable stuff like fruit, milk etc. on a weekly basis.

I have two fridges and two freezers (family of 5) and am worryingly obsessive about which ones are used for what types of food, e.g. all meat goes in outside freezer, while day to day things like frozen peas or potato wedges are in the kitchen freezer.

I do the plan by putting in the things I definitely know, e.g. Thursday is DD's ballet day, so it's always a really quick pasta meal or similar on Thursdays. I also usually plan a roast for Sunday and then leftover roast chicken & chips for Monday or Tuesday.

Then I try and fill in the blanks, but we tend to have the same meals twice each month. For instance, if you're making the base of a cottage pie, it's as easy to make two as one. Likewise with things like fishcakes, or pasta sauce, or homemade chicken nuggets, which are probably quite good for babies going onto finger food.

Also, because I do the 'top-up' shop on a Monday, I try to plan meals that use very perishable things (e.g. salad leaves) for early in the week so I don't get to my planned meal for Friday and find a miserable little bag of soggy lettuce.

That's it really. Doesn't always work 100% but I definitely find the meal preparation easier and spend a bit less... or at least, I have a much better grasp of how much I'm spending.

HTH!

[HeliumBee]

I've been recommending this book right left and centre;

www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Healthy-Balanced-Kitchen-Saucepans/dp/1905862156/ref=cm_lm?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 ftit1_rsrssi1

I should be on commision! It has BRILLIANT weekly meal planners using different supermarkets and recipes and let's you know exactly how much it will cost you each week.

Just fab!