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.....

[drfayray]

I meal plan and it saves me a lot of time, money and angst about dinner time.

This is how I do it...I start with doing a stock take of the pantry, fridge and freezer (you only have to do this once properly if you haven't meal planned for a while) and take a look at what food you actually do have. Usually, I can come up with a fair number of meals already. It also stops me buying extra stuff of what I already have. I have this strange propensity for buying multiple tins of tinned tomatoes. At one stock take I had 20 tins. Why? Answer comes there none.

Then I think about the week; my children have some late activities that involve me driving to get them so I need something that is quick and easy to cook those nights. I write down a plan and include the groceries I might need. We have the same sort of things for breakfast everyday and lunches are usually soup for me, sandwiches and fruit for school. The main meal here is dinner and kids are always starving hungry. I also cook from scratch everyday. I find it cheaper and healthier. I enjoy cooking anyway.

What I like about meal planning is that I KNOW what we are having everyday. It gives me peace and tranquility. I know I will have all the ingredients too. "What is for dinner mum?" is the frequent wail in this house. " It is XYZ." say I with a zen-like calm. Before, it would be "How the fuck do I know? And why is it always me? Huh? Huh?" Of course this was not articulated to said children but sadly thought with much vehemence.

My plan for this week:
Monday: teriyaki stir fry beef and vegies with noodles (very healthy with oodles of veg and only took about 20 mins)
Tuesday: Late night so curry and naan bread
Wednesday: Went out for dinner to celebrate my new job
Thursday: Chicken pie
Friday: Meatballs in tomato sauce and spag
Saturday: Angus burgers, special potatoes and veg


I write a list of meals that everyone likes. I also try new recipes from time to time.

I do not waste food and only buy what I need.

polishes halo

[mrsnesbit]

See!!! Its fab.
Im trying to convert our friend who is a single father of 2. He told me he spent £140 last week in Morrisons and still had nothing for teas, AND had to go to the shop in the week as well.
Ive shown him how i do it. He was amazed, but says that his kids are fussy eaters.

The other BIG bonus for us is that we have takaways much much less when i meal plan. When we cant decide what we are having, and neither of us can be arsed to cook, we end up nipping to the chineese or the chippy, easily another £15 down the drain. SO we can have a takaway as a treat once a month instead and really look forward to it.

Keep it up and shne those halo's

[Mumswang]

It sounds exactly what I need to do. We only have waitrose in our town and everytime I
Pop in I spend at least £25. It's ridiculous.

So is there a book or an ap or something that'll make it dead easy?

I'm a novice cook and the American book scares me, I don't know about cups and capsicums

[Mumswang]

It sounds exactly what I need to do. We only have waitrose in our town and everytime I
Pop in I spend at least £25. It's ridiculous.

So is there a book or an ap or something that'll make it dead easy?

I'm a novice cook and the American book scares me, I don't know about cups and capsicums

[mrsnesbit]

Mumswang, Do it for just one week, give it a go......

Make life easy

Just make a list of your favourite or most common dinners that you and your family enjoy.

Also look in your fridge, freezer and store cupbourds. I can garuntee that you can make at least one meal out of what you have already in your house.


I dont use aps or owt like that, just a bit of paper and pen with the list for the week stuck to my fridge.

I make a shopping list according to what is on my weekly meal list.
Stick to it, dont be tempted to throw anything else into your trolley.
Good luck x