How the hell do you meal plan successfully?!

[Burnt0utMum]

I've tried repeatedly to do meal planning but it just never seems to work out. I do a mix of regular/easy meals with the odd new recipe here and there. First problem is anything that requires fresh ingredients go off before the end of the week so I have to go shopping more than once a week or not have fresh veg in meals near the end of the week. Second problem is people not just eating the specified meals. Kids are fussy and end up refusing most meals (can't even get them to eat basic freezer food so it's not just a case of not liking veg, they barely like anything). DH is also fussy and ends up making his own food with whatever he finds which could include ingredients for planned meals. Third problem is I don't always know where we're going to be and we end up eating out unexpectedly which throws the meal plan upside down too. Anyone actually have a way of doing it that works? Or do I give up?

Is your fridge cold enough? Carrots usually last well over a week here, but recently we were on holiday and they were only lasting a couple of days. The fridge was noticeably warmer than at home.
Alternatively just plan to have frozen sweet corn and peas by the end of the week, and freeze your meat.

Also, you can always plan for just five days or whatever at a time? Surely that’s much better than nothing.

Each person has a fave night. The other nights are a ‘theme’.
By that I mean, Fish night, sausage night, pasta night, Fakeaway night.
I also found letting people serve themselves helped and having a couple of side options, so say it’s sausage and homemade potato wedges night, then you have beans and veg on offer.
With fussy eaters, it gives them control.

I like the ideas on here. OP, I'm with you on the fussy eating. My teen has asd, so at the moment it's chips every night or he doesn't eat what I've cooked --(then melts down because he's hungry). Help meeeeeee!!!

What is this fussy thing? How does it come about and how is it allowed to continue?

I had gastro enteritis as a child, the last thing I ate before being ill was prawns and to this day I cannot stand prawns.

The logical side of my brain knows they are not poisonous but I still can't eat them.

A few years age I had GI again, after eating pizza, it took me about 5 years to eat pizza again.

I have a friend who had a lot of gastro problems as a small child and as a result won't eat a lot of things.

I've known him 20+ years and he has started eating a few more things and will occasionally try something I'm eating.

@Burnt0utMum 5 and 7 is a good age, I don't know which is your DD but whether she is 5 or 5 she can put the chicken nuggets and chips on the tray and if you don't preheat the oven a 5 year old can put the tray in the oven.

I assume the spaghetti hoops are tinned, she might need help with opening a tin but putting them in a bowl / jug and in to the microwave (unless you have a microwave that is 6ft in the air).

I used to batch my non perishable groceries. Once a month I would go to Aldi and home bargains and buy everything that didn't go off. Tinned, frozen toilet roll cleaning stuff shampoo etc etc. Then I would only need fresh stuff once or twice a week and we just planned it around work etc.

I had to be insanely organised and to be honest I don't do it now because I just can't keep on top of it but it worked.

Plus I have a 4 year and 1 year old and the 4 year old is very fussy, doesn't eat much at all and some things aren't suitable for the 1 year old so the whole thing has gone out the window. Food shopping is such a pain now!

Also I did a meal plan for this week and have just received an email from Morrison's, the pizza, salad and ALL of the frozen veg I have ordered is unavailable. So that's completely thrown today's meal. So my planning was pointless anyway!

I only plan about 3 specific meals when I do the weekly shop. Usually a roast chicken dinner, then I use the leftover chicken another day to make something with store cupboard ingredients eg risotto or curry. Often plan a shepherds pie or lasagne and I make two and put one in the freezer for the next week.
In addition to that I get eggs, cheese, potatoes, frozen stuff, bread, dairy and they are good for quick meals that don’t require much planning.
I get a small amount of salad stuff and have that early in the week. I get other veg that doesn’t wilt easily eg celery, carrots, onions, peppers to use later in the week. Canned pulses eg chick peas are good for later in the week, or frozen veg. There’s usually leftovers to eat one day too. We get fish and chips every fortnight or so.
I think if you are too rigid and try and plan every day it is stressful. A loose plan with some flexibility works out best I think.

I meal plan, I do things that need fresh ingredients towards the front of the week, so stir fries etc where the veg won't keep. Then towards the end of the week the recipes include frozen veg like peas and broccoli.

DH and I fast twice a week and are omnivores, DD is pescatarian. So in my plan I cater for the fact that often she won't eat what we do. So if we have spaghetti bolognese, she has the pasta with some peas and cheese. This way everyone is catered for on the meal plan.

I keep a few back up plans in case our week gets thrown out of order (unexpected visit from in laws or sudden changes to plans), so jars for a pasta bake, frozen fish cakes or scamp, go to things I know are quick and easy and we all will eat.

Doing this stops repeated visits to the shop. We do however do a Friday night top up, so i can get extra fruit and sometimes some fresh salad for the guinea pigs!

I tend to plan mine around veg and when it will go off, some are hardier than others. carrots and cabbage will last about two weeks but mushrooms only about 4 days. Start with the meals that need the more precious veg and then meals later in the week use the others, moving into tinned and frozen after that. That's how I plan it at least, doesn't always end up that way though

I’d also recommend freezing any leftovers, so you have instant single portions of things. Even if there is just a small amount to freeze you can bulk it out with garlic bread, veg etc when you eat it.

My go to meal when I was a busy working mum and my children were still at home:

You need 2 very large trays, 2 large packs of chicken breasts, and a mixture of tomatoes, peppers, onions, plus garlic cloves in their skins..

Marinade the halved chicken breasts in olive oil, a splash of balsamic, a spoonful of mustard of your choice, salt, pepper + a few chili flakes if you like. Instead of mustard you could also use terriaki sauce, Hoisin sauce, or some other Asian flavouring.

Cut and mix tomatoes and peppers and coat in a similar mix, minus the mustard/terriaki etc.

Spread on 2 large trays. Bake veggie tray for 20 minutes at 200C, then add the onions and garlic; give a good stir. Bake for 20 minutes more and bake the chicken breasts at the same time. Baste halfway if you have time/remember/can be bothered. Serve with quinoa, rice, pasta, potatoes, whatever.

Delicious. Leftover chicken breasts serve as a basis for another meal and/or sandwiches.

I used to shop for seven dinners, and give them a choice of what they had each day. Breakfasts and lunches were just things like beans on toast, sandwiches, cereal, etc etc. and don't really need planning.
I keep my vegetables in the bottom of the fridge (or use frozen), they easily last a week.
I did topups for things like milk, bread and fruit.

Our meal plan goes on the wall in the kitchen and I also take a photo and send it to everyone so we always know what's for dinner.

Are you making a rod for your own back? I'd get on top of this right now.
You make a meal,they either eat it or they dont.
Nobody is suggesting starvation or cruelty and its lovely to involve children in the kitchen.Fact is,you and your partner are the adults here

I plan before I shop for the next 7 meals. Doesn't necessarily mean I do one shop though. Sometimes I'll break it into to half weeks.
I look at the diary, plan around that so if there's a class on it's a quick meal, if it's a busy day then it's a freezer meal etc. I don't have fussy eaters, we all eat the same. I try to cut some slack into the system so I'll put one or two meals that can be put in freezer if we end up eating out. That gets rolled onto next week's meal plan. Done it for 15years and it is less stressful.

Meal plan goes on the clipboard in the kitchen. I try and rotate widely and every few weeks I flip back through the cookbooks or look online for something "new" to introduce. DP will hunt down recipes for his days, too. I try and plan anything that might go off quicker and can't be frozen for earlier in the week or keep a note of what's needed and buy it separately to the online shop. I'm lazy at planning varied lunches during the week though. We both don't mind repetition- eating through a batch of soup or pasta isn't a problem.

My line on meal avoidance is once I've bought the food is that offering to buy take away just postpones the meal, it doesn't negate it. Especially if the item is freezable or it can be made up and had as a lunch. Especially in the time it takes to get take away delivered.

I plan meals that everyone likes. Sometimes that means some slight variations (e.g. I'll do a chicken curry and keep some chicken plain for the children, or I'll do some fish fingers if we are having a casserole or something) and I always do one of the very few vegetables they will eat as well as more varied ones for DH and I. It's trickier if your DH is fussy too. I check the dates when the food arrives and decide what day to have each meal based on that, and I write the use by dates on the meal plan so if we end up changing the plan I can freeze things before they go off. I find almost all veg lasts all week in the fridge, bar bean sprouts, lettuce, spinach and sometimes corn on the cob. I tend to buy 5 lots of meat/fish so I have a bit of wriggle room for take aways/meals out.

@sadperson16 the fussiness is allowed to continue when you have an autistic PDA child and the meltdowns mean your house is trashed if he is made to go hungry (because he didn't like the dinner) Better to give him something he will eat and then everyone will have a vaguely normal life!

I don't think the OP has an autistic child though. Of course there will be different considerations there (and I did have an autistic child).

I know which meals my children genuinely don't like - they're allowed one each! (which given I had 6 at home over lockdown did make it a bit tricky) but the rest is just preference and fussiness.

Cut yourself some slack OP - this is slightly tongue in cheek …

Your family are undermining your efforts to meal plan if they won’t eat what you have spent time prepping. Your DH is setting a particularly poor example to his children by showing them that they can eat what they like irrespective of what you have prepared. At an extreme parents like him create tedious people who can’t socialise properly in adulthood because of their ingrained fussiness over food (e.g I have known people who will only eat McDonalds, live on cheese sandwiches etc).
Do your kids a favour OP and nip this fussiness in the bud now.

In terms of meal planning don’t do it.

Tell your family it’s a waste of time and money. Instead stock the freezer with food your fussy DH and copy cat kids have said they want.

At mealtimes they decide what they want from the freezer and either eat or leave it and go hungry. Your DH shows off his parenting skills by eating the same meal as his children.

What veg doesn't last a week?

it goes without saying that a child with additional needs may also have additional needs around food....this hasn't been mentioned by the OP so I assume is irrelevant here.
We are all familiar with that feeling of " not being able to stomach " something due to connecting it with illness or an event. Again, no mention of that here, so irrelevant.
The OP is busy, I would politely suggest that she and her husband agree a meal plan, shop and stick to it.

I draw up a menu plan. Then write my list noting dates for any meat. And then go shopping. Once a week. Simples.

What is this fussy thing? How does it come about and how is it allowed to continue?

It is very easy to ask snarky, disingenous questions like this until you have a fussy child. Dh and I are pretty foodie, are good cooks and eat pretty much anything. Both our dc were fussy eaters in spite of the fact we fed them well from when they were weaned, didn't give them beige kids' food, served them what we ate etc. They both turned fussy at about age 3, which is very common apparently.

We continued to cook proper foods they did like, while continuing to introduce and reintroduce other things. We didn't pander to them or let them have junk or toast etc instead of a main meal. They are teens now and only a bit fussy. I'd be intrigued to know how else you think we should have gone about 'not allowing it to continue'!

I feel like this about meal planning too and have a very fussy 7yo - she'll happily help cook stuff but won't eat it. 9yo will eat anything and I have ridiculous dietary requirements. So it's a nightmare!

One of my issues is I always feel I'm starting from scratch each week. I need to write a list of meals that get eaten...