to not really understand meal planning?

[CheerfulYank]

I feel like I spend more money when I plan actual meals, because I have to track down ingredients I wouldn't usually get, etc. And yet I hate just buying a bunch of groceries and throwing something together, because it seems like we have the same (boring) thing all the time.

Am I doing it wrong? Any meal planning tips?

Steak in a stroggy?
Frog in a bog?

I'm intrigued, scaryteacher!

Tell us more...!

It takes practice but meal planning has helped us a great deal. We spend less, eat different meals to before and don't have to waste time trying to decide what to have on the day (we shop for a number of days and then either cook certain things on certain nights or choose something off the list each night using up things that are likely to go off quicker first)

I swear by an Android app called meal planner. There's an online version as well here you can save/import recipes, plan meals and add items to your shopping list, you can even keep a record of what's in your cupboards if you're really anal organised

We have about 30 or 40 recipes that we cook regularly. Some are seasonal, some come up more often than others (all hail spag bol) but most of the sauces, spices, basic bits and bobs that go in them all are in the pantry. So we only buy fresh food and top up dried or frozen food when we need to.

I couldn't not meal plan, actually. I need to know what I'm doing each day.

Hi, by the way

Stroggy is presumably stroganof!

Watching this thread with interest

Oh mumbaisapphire, I'm glad you mentioned the Excel spreadsheet first, I have one too! Meals down the first column, months across the top, and a 1 or 2 in the cell to show how many times it's been cooked that month.

(Geek emoticon)

I have all of about 5 or 6 things that I regularly cook!

Any ideas for new things to do??

And on top of everything else, I work 2-4 nights a week, and DS has Tae Kwon Do twice a week, so nothing to elaborate or messy on those days...

You need to make them complementry. And have a soup night, or an egg on toast night, or baked potatoe night/s to make it come out cheaper.

When I started meal planning and cooking properly, I found it really expensive, but after a while my storecupboard got lots of the basics, herbs and spices in, so I was just buying the add-ons.

If I didn't meal plan out week would go to hell in a handbasket as I don't have time to think when I get home from work and the DCs are squawking for food.

I've been back to meal planning for a few weeks now and have the plan on view and annotate it with what we actually ate on what night. I've come to the idea of only five out of seven days needing a meal Like lots of people have said.

I'm a complete batch cooker convert...I moved on from meal planning to batch cooking for the week on a Sunday. If it weren't for our tiny freezer, I'd attempt batch cooking for the month.

Meal planning is a state of mind You have to speculate to accumulate. So in the beginning it feels completely counterproductive spending so much more than you normally would. But eventually, like everyone else said, you build up an arsenal of staple ingredients, herbs, spices etc.

We eat paleo so never have so-called basics like bread or pasta in, so our staples are lots of different kinds of meats and fish, eggs, fresh vegetables but when we cook we make double portions. So we tend to cook only three or four actual recipes/dishes a week and cycle/alternate them each night.

We've got it down to a fine art! I could talk about food and eating for hours

We have a huge freezer in the basement but we've never plugged it in and used it; it came with the house.

Maybe I should! :)

cheerfulyank on the nights DH has rugby training we often have fritata style omelettes, filled with things like peppers, mushroom, cheese, ham and other random things from the fridge. Quick, cheap, and filling.

I used to meal plan when I lived on a budget. It is not just about picking out 7 meals you like and then buying all the ingredients for them but working out what meals go together without waste. If you use half a jar of x on Monday, what can you do with the other half on Tuesday or Wednesday? Can you make use of leftovers? For example, buy a slightly larger than usual joint for a Sunday roast and then curry/casserole whatever the excess meat. It'll be cheaper than buying a roasting joint and then additional ingredients for the curry/casserole. It takes a bit of thinking about but can really save money.

Stroggy = stroganoff
Frog in a bog = toad in the hole (having just found 48 sausages in my freezer I didn't realise were there, we'll be having that, sausage and veg casserole, and sausages in red wine gravy over the next few weeks, as the latter two I can bath cook and freeze).

Bugger - batch cook, not bath cook!

I'd turn your question around, how do you manage not to meal plan? Unless you have all the ingredients already bought how do you know what you can cook? I would think that would cost more and lead to more waste

I just don't see how people get home from work to hungry children and then start to think about what's for tea. Do you eat late or have children without hollow legs after a day at school?

No meal planning is easy with well stocked cupboards, a large freezer, a vegetable garden (so herbs even in winter are available), delivery of extra veg and some meat/fish bought. Plus alot of experience of cooking - my DH can't cook this way.

It really depends whether you see food as fuel and something to be fitted in/a task or as a pleasure. To me knowing that Tuesday is curry night, Wednesday sausage night etc... makes me want to scream.

Very little food gets thrown out - either frozen or else I use it for my lunch.

It has made me a much happier cook to ditch trying to meal plan. My DD came home from school yesterday wanting to make a chocolate cake, I had all the ingredients as usual so we baked.

I have a rotation of 7 breakfast and lunch dishes so Monday lunch is always prawn baguette, Sunday breakfast is always bacon rolls. Dinners are planned according to what I have in the freezer/fridge/cupboard and I buy lots of reduced meat and fish. I take a stocktake, write a meal plan (5 meals a week and two days "free" in case we go to MILs/get a pizza etc) and a shopping list accordingly
I usually have a "Chicken Week" which involves a very large chicken and goes Roast/Pie/Patties/Pasta/Noodle Soup
I also get large packs of mince and have a week which involves Spag Bog/Lasagne/Cottage Pie/Tacos split up with other things so it doesn't get too "samey"
We have one fish meal per week and one vegetarian meal

or rather at least one fish and one veggie meal; depends on what we have in stock

MrsPepperpotty I'm happy to be a geek on this one! Mine just has the days of the week across the top, then the week commencing date in column A. Even more geeky......I colour code each day either green, blue or red to signify if we have an all-veggie meal, fish or meat. We aren't veggie, but I like to incorporate at least 2 veggie meals a week, and try to make sure we eat fish once a week. I'm doing well on the veggie meals, but am finding that fish is turning out to be once a fortnight, mainly because i like to buy it fresh, and have to factor in when I can get to the fishmonger. I find eating more veggie meals also keeps the food bill down.

Lifesa I get done with work at noon, so usually have some time to figure out what I'm going to throw together for dinner. :)

Mumbia are you planning a trip to the States soon? Can you stop by and teach me how to be you? :o

Chestnutx3, while I meal plan, I am not a slave to it. We don't have any "set" nights, as DH hated that growing up. I usually do a roast on Sundays - but not always. Most weeks, while doing the roast, I do a double batch of one of a wide range of dishes that are good to eat the next day - one for Monday and one to freeze.

Tuesday, I usually have something using fresh food bought at the weekend or leftovers from the Sunday joint. Wednesdays are usually a bit hectic, so usually something that I have made from a Sunday and frozen previously (again - wide range of options, although usually limited in any one week). The current au pair likes to cook once a week, so that is Thursday. Friday can be takeaway, or something relatively easy to make, or pre-frozen, or we might even go out to a local eatery. Saturday, DH and I have "date night", so DD eats seperately to us. We usually make something a little more involved then.

The basic idea for the week is on the fridge - but subject to change at a moment's notice. I try to make sure I have some emergency options in the freezer at all times (micro can defrost quickly), and space to freeze something I've bought but now won't eat. We have the ability to make a rubbishy meal like scrambled eggs (strips of salami or frozen smoked salmon make this interesting) or bacon sarnies if we don't feel like cooking. Or I can take out a bag of chicken breasts or pork pieces to make a stirfry if I feel like cooking properly when a rubbishy meal was planned. We have LOADS of variety in what we eat - and I take full advantage of what I can harvest from the allotment and garden, or offers in supermarkets etc. But I also have to take account of DH and I both working FT, DD in school, AP having evening classes, some likes and dislikes in everyone, and DH sometimes being away on business.

A basic list of "Sunday" dinners for Mondays and freezers, includes:

Spag bol sauce
Lasagne (can freeze cooked or uncooked)
Chilli
Rogan Josh curry
Shepherd's pie (well cottage as always mince beef - keep meaning to try lamb)
Smoked fish and brocolli pie (mash top)
Chicken and mushroom pie (mashed potato or pastry top)
A few different chicken curries (I easily have about 6/7)
Beef stew
Chicken chassuer (using thighs)
Chicken a la King
Sausage and tomato "stew"

If I am making a roast, I might try to do some extra roasted veggies for Mon/Tues - like medditeranean mix to put with couscous or beside grilled chicken. Or butternut squash - to make soup. If the spuds and veg are prepped the night before, it is easy to make a fast roast potatoes and roast lamb (chops) on med veg dinner midweek - takes 5 minutes to put on for eating once DD is in bed later, especially a night she might only want alphabetti sghettis (I know :blush: - but she loves it and is using it educationally to practise her words:)).

I know that if I am making spag bol or shep pie, I will need 2/3 carrots (to grate into the sauce with other veggies), so I might try to do roasted carrots with Sunday roast, and actually be bothered to make my salad for lunch at work Monday (I have 2 carrots in chunks, half a pepper diced, small handful each cherry toms and olives and a large handful lettuce, and any other veg that seems to work from the fridge) - whereas otherwise I might not do any of those.

I also keep a tub or 2 of a basic tomato sauce in the freezer - grill a couple of pieces of salmon, flake into sauce and serve with pasta for quick and tasty mid-week meal. Or grill nice sausages and do the same. Frozen peas are great to add into midweek meals.

Definitely agree with having HM stock in freezer, in usable sizes!!!

I might also prep bits the night before after dinner, so that I can cook quickly when I get in. Having a plan allows me to see what nights will be busy (that I need fast and easy) and if there is a chance to do stuff the day before or not. Like have potatoes peeled and covered in water in a pot, other veg peeled and chopped (carrots in water, mushrooms, onions, garlic, etc in airtight tubs, cabbage shredded and washed, lettuce washed and spun), meat diced if needed, sour cream mixed with chives....even the right tins, jars, seasonings found in cupboards and put where I can grab them quickly can all help.

Sorry, this wasn't meant to be a thesis....