To bloody LOVE meal planning??

[mrsnesbit]

It completes my life truly!

Not done it for AGES, but as food shopping is so bleeding expensive ive started it again this week and shopped accordingly.
Spent £43 on the weeks shopping for me, dh & ds.

So far:
Mon: Pasta, bacon, chicken, tom sauce and garlic bread.
Tues: mash, sausages, yorkshire puddings, brocilli, carrots & gravy
Wed: Jacket spuds, ham, cheese & beans
Thurs: Grilled chicken burgers & salad
Fri: Chicken wraps & cous cous salad
Sat: Home made pizza
Sun: (BARGAIN) Gammon joint £3.50 from tesco...half price sale done in coke in my slow cooker and roast dinner.

Its GREAT! I know what we are having, everything ive bought will be eaten with no waste, its healthy and i feel organised and if i am honest...a bit like a godess of smarmy and smug quality.

Try it
For a week,
go on
give it a go if you dont.....

[OldRedEyes]

do you not have drinks, or wine, or treats or animals or bath or wash clothes

[Chipotle]

I 'planned' whilst walking around the supermarket but I've messed up 5 out if my 7 meals involve rice! :( I like rice. But not that much!

[mrsnesbit]

Na. went to macro about a month ago and got washing powderin HUGE box £8 i think it was, will last ages.

We dont drink alcohol (Too expensive so would be a treat when we are a bit flush)
Dont have animals...they cost money and i dont do animals for a multitude of reasons.
Bought a packet of chocolate digestives 69p, they will last because when they are gone..they are gone and i wont buy any more till next shopping day.

Am strict mum.

[mrsnesbit]

Lidle BRILLIANT for cheepo fruit & veg, only buy small packs as i prefer fresh weekly and cant bear to throw anything away.
Make every thing last...would be awsome at rationing me

[joric]

DH does this every week!! I swear it's the highlight of his week planning how he is going to fill his tummy!! He usually does the shopping too... Good because a) I don't have to do it and b) he only ever buys exactly what's on the list unlike me who fills the trolley with a million things and still have nothing for dinner!

[Poweredbypepsi]

I love meal planning i have mine in google calendar and when i find a recipe i like i skip ahead a few weeks an add it again - I also freezer cook and put this in my calendar.

At the moment my calendar is falling into ruins I have morning sickess and all i can face eating without being sick is cheese and pineapple and spicy italian subs from subway

[Kayano]

As I am childless for 6 more months I don't plan food for the week! But I LOVE planning menus for dinner parties lol

[Andrewofgg]

joric - I was at university with a grandson of Jack Cohen who was one of the founders of Tesco. He told me that it was a joke in his family that they should ban men because men buy from a list of what they need and if it's not there they don't but it, while women . . . well, on a site like this I won't repeat the rest of it!

[joric]

Andrew !!! while women.... Will buy any old rubbish especially if it's on BOGOF, on offer, in the sale, is packaged nicely, is new on market, is on the right shelf... I am Tesco's dream customer, that's why DH goes- if it isn't on the list he doesn't buy, if they don't have specific item on list, he doesn't buy alternative!! Tesco hate him!! :o

[Fuzzled]

Does anyone else think that meal planning is a good idea - but then end up with same meals every week coz you can't think of what else to cook?
I've tried writing a list of what I can cook, and the relevant ingredients - but my mind blanks

[madmomma]

I wish I could get into it. I'm too disorganised. Plus everyone eats different things - dd is veggie (&fussy), dh is a meatfreak, ds is a baby & eats way earlier than us...

[mrsnesbit]

Fuzzled fuzzled you need recipe books...you need Nigela/Jamie etc etc, or look on line or on here for ideas.

Its the ONLY way that i get over not doing the same thing every week!

[lenak]

"while women.... Will buy any old rubbish especially if it's on BOGOF, on offer, in the sale"

So true - the amount of conversations I've had with my mother that go something like:

Me: "Why have you bought six [random supermarket item]?"
DM: "Because they were BOGOF."
Me: "But you don't even eat [random supermarket item]?"
DM: "But they were a bargain. I saved £3"
Me: "But you didn't save £3, you spent £3 that you wouldn't have spent if you didn't buy six tins of [random supermarket item] that you never eat"
DM: "But it was a bargain"
Me: L

6 Months Later

DM: "Do you want these six tins of [random supermarket item] I found in the back of my cupboard? I was making room for [new random supermarket item] that was on BOGOF. I got 8 for £4!
Me:

[Andrewofgg]

Thank you joric for saying what I wouldn't dare. That was it except that we weren't calling it BOGOF then.!

[mrsnesbit]

ooh no i can see how it wouldnt work in your house madmomma, i spose im lucky in that they eat what they are given or get a slice of toast!

[faverolles]

We meal plan, it saves us £50ish a week!
At the moment with dc4 being little, it's all fairly simple meals and short cuts. I'm looking forward to trying more recipes and getting to grips with the slow cooker.

[tillyfernackerpants]

I need to try this again! Have done it before but it usually fell apart when I wouldn't be organised enough to cook the planned meal & ended up wasting food anyway. But will do it again as I can see it should save money.

Frazzled, the BBC Good Food website is great for ideas. You can sign up for free & any recipes you like save them in a binder for future. I did their Thai chicken cakes the other day, very popular in my house and only took 10 mins to make!

[tillyfernackerpants]

Sorry, that should be fuzzled, not frazzled

[SmethwickBelle]

My achilles heel is the milk and bread (and margarine and yoghurts)- I can't fit much in the freezer so end up popping to the corner shop for top ups and whilst there odd extra things leap into the basket. All these extra shops push our weekly bill up alarmingly.

If I had a chest freezer I could stockpile all the above and wouldn't need the extra trips. I think if I added up how much of these we get through I would be astonished.

I've started buying larger quantities of dry goods like pasta and rice etc.. so they're always in the cupboard, rather than just replacing the small packet that's just run out and will run out again in three days..

It takes a bit of time to get your head around buying for "a family" I think, I am very impressed with those who seem to do it instinctively.

[DorcasBouvier]

I like the idea of meal planning, but usually find that I don't fancy whatever I've planned when it comes round to cooking it. Luckily, Lidl is a 2minute walk away, so I pop in there every day and shop for a meal or two at a time.

[2rebecca]

Hate it, my bloke is always happy to help prepare dinner (not that he gets much choice)and is washing up pans now, but does expect me to have decided what we are eating, even when I'm home from work after him.
If we're self catering it's me who generally works out what we need.

[MaeMobley]

I want to plan meals but [irrational] it scares me.

[mrsnesbit]

Mae, dont be scared, just do it for one week.
Try this:

Just get a bit of paper, go to your freezer and see what meal you can make out of it....thats Monday next week done.

Then think about what your family LOVE for meals, write out each day.
THEN
start a shopping list. Put essentials on it, bread, milk etc (i buy bread on offer and freeze spare loaves)
Put on stuff you will need for the meals you have on your list.
Then do your shopping.
stick to the list....strictly.

i can say hand on heart that your shopping bill will be cut by at least 25%.

[Bramshott]

I have just made a list of all the meals we have the ingredients for already in the freezer / cupboard and find it takes us through the 12 days before we are off on holiday - BLISS!

[happytree]

I keep thinking about and it sounds good in theory, but i always end up recenting the food in the fridge and wishing it was something else, not sure what