Meal planning, breakfasts and lunches?

[Backtonature]

I currently plan evening meals, but was wondering if I could make further savings by planning breakfasts and lunches? Does anyone do this?

[lastqueenofscotland]

I have left overs for lunch! saves a fortune

[WheresMyBurrito]

Yep, just make sure whatever you're having on an evening will work as leftovers the next day (or can be made into something else - eg roast dinner leftovers into bubble & squeak, make too much fajita filling and have it in quesadillas).

I am crap at practising what I preach though

[Backtonature]

Oh dear, we don't have left overs maybe if I cooked a bit extra that would work though. I'm not sure if I could eat a big meal at lunchtime though, leftover pie would fill me up for the rest of the day!

[whois]

But you don't have to eat a huge portion of the left overs for lunch ;-)

When you talk about meal planning lunches, is everyone out of the house or are you eating at home?

[canyou]

Simple things like make a stew into soup, meat into quiche or sandwich or have the pie but a smaller portion for lunch

[fullpipette]

Do you have kids at home?

My kids don't eat breakfast and eat lunch at school, so it's just me.

[Backtonature]

It's just me and the toddler at home, oldest dd age 5 has packed lunches twice a week, dh buys lunch at work. Then weekend is me and two dds at lunchtime and sometimes a relative might pop over at the weekend and want feeding too. At the moment for lunches I buy ham, cheese, hummus, crisps, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, soup. A lot of the salad goes in the bin and sometimes the hummus. We run out of ham, toddler can't eat cheese so she ends up with jam sandwich a lot. And I always seem to end up with cheese sandwich or tin soup, not very exciting!

Yes leftovers could work if I tried to limit myself to a small portion!!

[canyou]

I serve lunch on side plates with salad in a bowl to help with portion control.

[fullpipette]

Backtonature, I think meal planning can be very helpful but does have limitations. Schedules can often change without notice, OH often works late at the drop of a hat.

I think freezers can be really helpful. I batch cook and freeze in small portions, soup, tomato sauce, bolognese, curry, lasagne, I even freeze cooked rice and pasta in individual portions.
I can microwave a portion of bolognese in the time it takes to boil a kettle to plunge a portion of frozen pasta in a bowl of boiling water to defrost and heat.

[Backtonature]

Serving on side plates for lunch is a great idea!

[Backtonature]

Yes that's why I have been wary of too strict meal plans as sometimes our plans change, dh may not make it home, oldest dc has a party etc

[ivykaty44]

I bake my own bread so make sure I have flour to make a loaf or bread rolls

I usually lay out cereal - quick oats, chocolate cereal and muesli. Then jam and Marmite for toast ( we tend to buy one sliced loaf a week for toast, mainly for those that can't cut bread)
There is also a full bowl of fruit and yogurt

I have a student that's why it gets laid out so everyone can help themselves

I buy foods for fillings for rolls, bread or tortilla wraps - the last one is good as they last till the end of the week. We have fillings like tuns msyo, eggs, cream cheese & cucumber with tomato.

If we have left over they are eaten either for lunch or the student loves leftvovers for breakfast.

[ivykaty44]

I like to have three or four store cuboatd meals in reserve each week to allow for chsnged in the meal plan. So pea rissotto, fritatta as I usually have eggs, onions garlic and some left over vegetables.

[Backtonature]

I seem to end up with loads of odds and ends at the end of the week, half a bag of carrots, gone off lettuce, mouldy tomatoes!

[AvaCrowder]

How about writing down what you have eaten for lunch for a week so you can stop buying the things that get wasted?

[ivykaty44]

Left over can be planned into other meals

Carrots - soup then freeze
Lettuce ,- into a side salad with tomato and grated carrots to go with lssagna

[Backtonature]

That's a good idea, as what I imagine we eat and what we do eat is a bit different! Maybe if I stop buying the crisps the salad would get eaten