Meal plan which is the same each week

[2ofeverything]

When I was growing up, my mum always cooked the same thing each Monday, Tuesday etc and I always thought it was a bit boring (and some things were a bit grim - Thursday liver and bacon, I'm looking at you!). Now though, I'm thinking that it would make my life easier as it's one less thing to have to think about, and it might save me some money. There are so many half used jars of ingredients in the cupboards from where I've tried something new and we haven't liked it, and I waste so much food.
Does anyone do this? I'm thinking roast one day, risotto, stir fry, a slow cooker meal, frittata, pizza, etc.
Grateful for any ideas or opinions!

I have an 8 week rotating meal plan that works around our family commitments. Some meals are repeated during that plan. I plugged it all into our shared google calendar, complete with where to find the recipes. During school hols (I’m a teacher) I experiment with new recipes and add in as appropriate, so it doesn’t get too boring.

That was my childhood! The same 8 or 9 meals on broadly the same day each week.

I used to make an effort to be not like that but now I have settled into a pattern where most days I just chuck some random veg & spices in a roasting pan, cook for a bit then add some lentils and serve with a variety of things (eggs, burrata, chicken, salmon). Occasionally I will cook a shakshuka, or a curry or dhal and sometimes pasta but mostly it’s the same sort of thing.

I need to plan, salad tomorrow.

I've been happily single for 6.5 years. This is the first post I've seen in all that time that's made me think "actually..." 🤣

Mine is taken but you just have to find a vegan or vegetarian partner who generally likes cooking and in the early days when you are both very loved up, complain vociferously about the extra work involved in cooking vegetarian food and how it is difficult to decide what to cook and eat every day.

Then go on a lot about how you loathe cooking every day for the first few weeks of living together . So in other words behave like most men do about things they don't want to do😂He soon volunteered to take care of the food .

I decided way before I married even the first time that I was not going to be primarily responsible for food in a household of more than me. Admittedly I ended up divorced the first time,. I doubt my not cooking was a major factor ( I didn't cook much then either) , though it probably didn't help matters

With DH it was easier as he just enjoyed cooking more than me. He is also more able to keep to a routine and is more organised than me

I do other stuff , most of rhe cleaning, all the washing ,maintenance stuff, all of the garden stuff. Just not food planning and cooking

Butchers in Australia cater for this. They all have standard meat packs at easy prices point. You just change what suits you and each week.

An example https://sotn.com.au/collections/meat-packs-1

I so want to be able to do this, but can never quite commit to it

Here's what we've had this week:

Asian salmon, noodles, broccoli

Beef Tacos

Spaghetti Bolognese, cesear salad

BBQ, sausages, homemade coleslaw, air fried greek potatoes

We do a meal plan every Sunday based on what’s in/what’s in a shopping order. We definitely rotate through the same meals, but not as rigidly as Monday means X and Tuesday is Y. I don’t work on a Wednesday so will often do something like a curry or a chilli then, and on a Sunday we tend to have something that takes care of Monday too (this week it was roast chicken as a Sunday roast, then chicken and red pepper risotto).

Our regular meals are things like:

Chilli with rice or jacket potatoes
Chickpea curry
Chicken satay curry
Spaghetti carbonara
Mexican rice with chorizo, avocado and a fried egg
Risottos
Basque chicken (delia recipe)
Pea and pesto gnocchi
Fajitas
Fritatta
Brinner (full English for dinner)
Easy dinners like shop bought quiche with jacket potato and salad, oven baked chicken breasts, oven chips, veg, stuffed pasta etc. usually a takeaway once a month (tends to be pizza).

Dhs mum did this

Shepherds pie on Monday
Chops on Tuesday
Liver on Wednesday
Sausage on Thursday
Fish on Friday
Stew on Saturday
Roast on Sunday

every week
The family would recite the list and even I remember it. The repetition was a family joke

Me too !

My colleague does exactly this, we used to joke about stir-fry Tuesday or omelette Wednesday.

I do meal plan for the week and write my list according to this. Eg
Sun- roast
Mon- leftovers
Tue- bolognaise (batch cooked and defrosted)
Wed- Sausage and veg (often salad at moment)
Thu- Curry (sometimes batch cooked)
Fri- Pizza
Sat- Enchiladas, lasagne, fish... (depends how I feel ans what I've bought).

I also keep in baking potatoes as a back up plan in case I forget to defrost something (I usually freeze my meat and often batch cook bolognaise, lasagne, curry, enchiladas...)

I do a variation of this -
Monday - salad/soup
tuesday - sweet jacket potato with omlette/ fritters/ chilli
Wednesday - pasta
Thursday - rice
friday - bulgar/quinoa/pearl barley

so it’s the same meal type but I vary the ingredients. So Wednesday might be a bolognaise or carbonara or arrabaiatta etc. Thursday might be a curry or bourguignon or chilli.
having the base means I’m really just thinking of the accompanying sauce.

I absolutely meal plan every week but not so rigidly. I do it to reduce food waste, increase efficiency, vary the carbs in particular so never pasta 2 days running, etc
So I think of a meal for 7 days then list it, then when I go shopping I sometimes change it as I walk round depending on availability of ingredients, offers etc . So if beef is reduced I might buy a joint for roast instead of Pork and if they don't have cauliflower I will replace with Leeks but then I also will take mince off the list as I'll be using the leftover roast in it's place and I might change a day's dish so I can use the leeks up with ham and chicken in a pie so I'll add on the pastry I need.
It's a lot of work but once it's done I just have to check the meal plan the night before. It also allows for quite a lot of flexibility when you get to Sat and no one wants to cook so you get a take away and bump your meal to the next available day based on when the ingredients need to be used.
Also as a family of 3 we always generate leftovers so they get factored in and added to meal plan. So for example I might have leftover Mac cheese the night I have gammon steak on the menu for they boys as I don't like it. But not to the extent of cooking 2 meals and it works both ways. My husband has mussels the night I'm making enchiladas as he hates them.
We do have a core set of go to dishes: chilli, Bolognese, Mac cheese, cottage pie, curries of various types, enchiladas, steaks, pies, roasts, even liver and bacon!

No unless you change the recipes each week for example if you’re having risotto every Monday then 1st Monday of the month could be veg risotto then next one could be prawn risotto etc.

Four adults. We wrote on large lolly pop sticks our favourite meals. Every Wednesday we each

Pick a stick. I then do the shopping on line for a Thursday delivery. Sunday is normally a roast, one night everyone is out and the last is a takeaway.