to LOVE meal planning

[BumbleChum]

I have only just begun doing this (despite having 3 children...)
We always ate home cooked food, I just had a bit of a scramble at 4.30 every day to look through the fridge/cupboards and decide what it was going to be.

Now, thanks to MN, I have begun meal planning. Every Saturday I spend an hour checking what's in the fridge/freezer/cupboards, filling in the next week's menu and doing the online food order. It means I can take into account what's happening on the calendar (extra kids for tea/activities etc.) And I do more cooking ahead and freezing extra stuff etc. because I allocate when I'm going to do it. It's easier to incorporate new recipes and special offers from the online shop. And DS1 LOVES having a menu stuck up on the wall at home like there is at school He even cross-checks to make sure he's not getting the same thing twice in one day spoiled brat

It is bloody brilliant. Can't believe I didn't do it before, but it's just one of those things that if you've never done it, it can be hard to begin. We are definitely eating a wider variety and wasting less.

Thank you MN for enlightening me.

We've planned for over a year now, I mostly work away for home so my partner takes leftover from dinner to work for lunch.

Today: pork chop with peach salsa, rice, corn, asparagus
Sunday: soup, store bought I will have sandwich on way to work
Monday: made casserole today as I will be back late from work
Tuesday: spicy roast chicken, potatoes and veges
Wednesday: amai undon noodles from wagamama book
Thursday: spaghetti Bol that I cooked today and is now in freezer
Friday: chilli beef ramen from wagamama book night
Saturday: trying new onion and bean pizza

We are on a low gi eating plan so it's much easier to plan.

PublicEnemny We often have those quorn cheese and broc escalopes also. They are VERY good.

So how do you meal plan then? I should start doing this, I waste a shameful amount of food. Do you just take an inventory of everything in your fridge/freezer/cupboards and work out what you can make with it and buy any extra bits needed? And plan a week's meals the previous weekend?

I have a template on my computer lilola - it has the days of the week in one column and then the meals I need to do in the other columns (lunch/dinner).

So, I open up the template menu and do the following:-
a) some meals are regulars so already in (e.g. Sat lunch is always jacket potatoes & baked beans)
b) i add in anything i want to use up from the fridge or the freezer (and note any extras i need to buy for that
c) i check what's going to be in our weekly fruit&veg box and add in meals using those / or add them in as accompaniments for something else (again note any extras needed)
d) usually there's not many spaces left now, so quite easy to decide on what to have for those. Usually something using up leftovers, or a recipe i want to try, or something we've not had for a while, or a family favourite
d) i open up my online supermarket shop and add the extras to the online shop. If there's any good special offers, I might amend the meal plan, or just buy them and freeze them to use next week.

That's it! It's more complicated to write down than it is to do.

thanks I'll try it! But on paper, spreadsheets confuse me!

I love it too. I never, ever throw away unused food. Planning totally does away with waste. It saves so much money.

I have a spreadsheet with each day listed, along with any activities / working away arrangements. The rest of the list is organised into produce, provisions etc, with things we buy every week saved into the template.

We have a second spreadsheet with ingredient lists for some of the more commom meals, which can be pasted into the plan.

Still spend too much though.

I've just started batch cooking and I love it. I'm having a cooking day tomorrow which will last us about a month. I stumbled across an american website here and am loving it, totally worth the £5 as it means I don't actually have to make the spreadsheet / do the planning. I'm a lazy cook, so this works for me . We use the vegetarian menu, but they have loads of others for different diets, tastes, etc. I'm becoming evangelical about it.

I've just sat and done mine, although we're a bit limited this week as I've not been shopping properly due to my back. We're having:

Sunday: gammon steaks with cheesy mash and carrots
Monday: BBQ pork steaks with noodles, sweetcorn and peas
Tuesday: fish pie and veg
Wednesday: homemade vegetable soup with whole meal rolls
Thursday: pasta and meatballs with tomato and veg sauce
Friday: homemade pitta bread pizzas with homemade oven chips and beans

I can't function without a meal planner :)

Thanks for all the ideas! I'll post mine later in the week when I get round to doing one!

Ps- what's sunshine mix?

I've been Menu Planning for a while, although the last month or 3 I haven't been and have really noticed how much more I'm spending and wasting.

So I'm going to get back to it, as I do prefer knowing what I'm cooking also the children like to know what they are eating at tea time.

i love meal planning i bought a cheap black board from home bargins and write everything down on a sun night,i use it just for evening meals as my ds,dh take a packed lunch and i have homemade soup for lunch this week i'm having-
mon beef cassorole done in slow cooker
tues- stovies amde with left over beef
wed-macaroni cheese
thurs-toad in the hole
fri- either fish cakes or fish pie
sat-sauages mash
sun-roast chicken
all above served with veg,and i'll plan my meals the following weeek with left over chicken in mind

Theee is a fantastic app called Food Planner (free, but you can upgrade to a 'pro' version cheaply if you like it).It is the best app I have (along with MN talk, natch). It saves all the meals you've put in beore so you can see what you've done recently and use them again. I couldn't bear to be without it now