To struggle with meal planning this much?

[Freecuthbert]

I'm a good cook and enjoy it, but I find meal planning hard work, can't really get my head around it. I have to research recipes and work out the right amount of ingredients for our household, write a list of what we need. But once I go through all that, pick what we want that week etc, it all ends up as odd bits of this and that ingredient and just not feasible at all. The food shop would cost me a bloody fortune! So then I have to try and whittle it down and plan the meals strategically so they share ingredients etc so things don't go to waste and I'm not overspending. It takes me hours tbh... I feel like I'm doing it all wrong.

I can't even look in my cupboard at bits and think up of meals out of that. I'm rubbish at remembering recipes as well! I have to look everything up, it's a nightmare. We're not the kind of family who could eat the same meals week in week out. If we ate the same thing every week I'd go right off it. We have some tried and tested favourites but they're more monthly than weekly if anything... wouldn't be favourites anymore if had more often than that tbh. And we love trying new things often.

I'm using gousto at the moment for 4 days a week because of this, so I only have 3 days a week to struggle with meal planning. But those 3 days now end up being a cop out. Mixture of fending for ourselves out of the freezer, takeaway, dinner at family's, quick stir fry, steak and chips, picky bits. We just have one child who is 12 months old, so it's easy to sort something out for her dinner when I'm not cooking properly... don't worry she doesn't have to cook a frozen pizza for herself or tuck into a medium rare steak!

Is it really meant to be this difficult? Or am I meant to just suck it up and have a set rota of meals that simplifies things (but loses a lot of joy for us), or spend hours on meticulous meal planning? Is there a secret app that basically plans all our meals and creates a shopping list? Honestly I don't mind cooking from fresh every night as long as the food is tasty and not monotonous.

Would love to shave some money off our food bill tbh, we are low income but not struggling and I'm frugal with lots of other things.

That all sounds really complicated. We just buy a few protein items and a big bag of veg with rice/pasta/couscous/ part-baked bread always in. I admire people who plan meals but it depresses me to know what I'm eating later, let alone on Thursday. I know it's easier for us as we are only a family of three and are all fairly easy-going with food.
I do, however, find it impossible to cook the exact right amount so there are always leftovers to freeze or use in a different way the next day. I don't often use recipes, but I suppose at 50+ I just know what works for us.

Have a couple of meals a week where you make double & put one in the freezer. Have a couple of meals where it is just super simple meat & two veg stuff or pasta & sauce; basically easy enough to remember the recipe. Then you are only having to plan 3 meals using recipes and you can put a bit more time and effort into these.

To cover three days I think I would just cook twice.
So dinner Leftovers are used for lunch the next day and the third day you scrounge from the freezer or get Takeaway. Basics for breakfast. So really you'd just be cooking two recipes, ingredients for two recipes should be too expensive. The cookbook one pan two plates might be good for your situation! Does all that seem reasonable? I used to use the service cooksmarts which makes your grocery list for you

I do a lot of clean out the fridge meals too, so if I'm making pasta or soup I'll often use up whatever meat/veggies are left from whatever else. Pantry staples I don't worry about using up so much. One thing you could do is when you're cooking, look in the fridge and pantry for anything you think might complement the dish. We made ina gartens cauliflower toast this week and the next night I used some of the mixture in place of cheese in a homemade pizza.

I start with planning out by category one per day. So fish, chicken, pasta, sausage, mince, beef, rice, etc. this way we get a balance over the week.
Then think of a recipe nearer the time in that category.
I keep a "freezer" day at least once per week where kids can have theirs snd we have a cook frisée meal the kids gong like.
We are not rigid and often takeaway and freeze things that don't end up used.
I have a six week category meal plan.
It really helps!

If you're having Gousto 4 days a week, keep hold of the recipes you particularly love and you'll soon build up to a few weeks worth of meal plans. Pad it out with staples such as chilli, pizza from the freezer, pasta with Lloyd Grossman sauce etc.

I have 31 recipes in a file, one for each day of the month. Really easy to plan the shopping, and more unusual dry ingredients don't go off because they're used again with a month. I obviously go 'off plan' every now and then if we're out for dinner or need a quick and easy freezer meal or a takeaway. We never get bored.

Everybody has half packets of things in their kitchen.
If it’s perishable put half in the freezer as soon as you have shopped, if not put it in a cupboard.

I have a 1 year old, he’s always climbing around something causing chaos, so I keep meals simple.

Usually cook and hope leftovers for the next day, or at least part. Every few days we just have something simple like scrambled eggs on toast/ soup for dinner with fruit after. It’s fine.

Today - roasted a chicken, made homemade coleslaw, potato wedges.
Tomorrow - leftover chicken. Will make a simple veg and chicken ramen type thing with udon noodles.
Monday - will use leftover coleslaw wtih homemade quiche ( ready made pastry for speed)
Tues - leftover quiche. Prob with some fresh Salad or veg i will buy in a few days.

It might help to do something like use the notes app on your phone for leftover stuff so you can refer to it and see what you can use it for
Or even more specific put the name of a recipe
So
Creme fraiche - pasta or chicken pie or good food Xyz recipe
Peas - risotto
Pancetta - pasta, add to beef stew

I tend to use left over bits for lunches mostly so if there is roast chicken then that's for sandwiches or wraps, and I also make a pasta bake as that can use up loads of bits and pieces or veg soup

Oh I went through a stage like this! Always having leftovers but trying to do lots of exciting healthy food.

In the end I went for the max I could do of Gousto, got one of the roasting tin books and cooked from there and tried to put any leftovers in stir fries, quesadillas.

I now have around 15 meals I know we like and add in new ones to spice it up. Still left with random jars of tahini though. What can I use tahini in?!

@Freecuthbert

I believe it is government advice that every household should have a minimum of three weeks of food stored, in case of emergencies like getting snowed-in, cut off by floods, terror attacks, petrol strikes, sudden lock-downs due to pandemics... etc.

I don't think it's standard to have the storage space (or money) to always have at least 3 weeks worth of breakfast, lunch and dinners surplus knocking about your house in addition to your normal food shop surely?

Okay, I've just done a bit of research and it seems the published advice is to keep three DAYS, not weeks, of non-perishable food and bottled water - my memory failed on that point.

But all the same, three weeks worth of the basics, for a single meal a day, - dry pasta, rice, tinned beans and tomatoes, herbs, gravy powder, etc. (whatever you normally eat) - doesn't take up that much space. And you buy in bulk when things are on offer to SAVE money. And it wouldn't be "knocking about your house" - it would be in the cupboard, sorted and stacked.

Sorry if this is off topic and not helpful - but it sounds like your problem is not just meal planning, it is bigger than that. It is your whole approach to storing food and running a kitchen.
I guess it comes with years of practice.

There's absolutely no shame in living on "things you whack in the oven" type dinners. I certainly did it when I was working full time and not getting home until 6:45 every night.

Things like chicken kievs, breaded fish, quiche, sausages etc, all do well in the oven. Whack some mash, rice, oven chips, oven roasties on the side, maybe a bit of veg, and you've got a perfectly acceptable dinner.

Don't let yourself get fooled into the idea that dinners need to be a "home cooked from fresh delight" every day. They don't.

@Blackandwhitehorse

Oh I went through a stage like this! Always having leftovers but trying to do lots of exciting healthy food.

In the end I went for the max I could do of Gousto, got one of the roasting tin books and cooked from there and tried to put any leftovers in stir fries, quesadillas.

I now have around 15 meals I know we like and add in new ones to spice it up. Still left with random jars of tahini though. What can I use tahini in?!

This is my favorite tahini heavy recipe: we do a bunch of sauteed veggies instead of chicken thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/sesame-chicken-noodles/

For something a little different: cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020650-marbled-tahini-cookies?smid=ck-recipe-android-share

We have a rota of meals -
Monday is meat (steak pie spag Bol, chilli)
Tues is pasta (Mac and cheese, carbonara, arrabiatta)
Wed is fish (fish and chips, fish pie, fish fingers)
Thursday is chicken (fajitas, enchiladas, curry, stir fry)
Friday is pizza / takeaway
Saturday and Sunday we see what we fancy.

All of it is homemade and I make double portions (at least) and store in the freezer so I’m only actually cooking a couple of time a week.

Spare veg goes into soups for lunches (again can be frozen) or currys and stir frys.
It’s not always very exciting but I know what I’m having each night of the week and it’s less work.

Try some batch cooking. So at least you don’t need to cook something new every week. It means that you use up most of the Ingredients.

Our menu plan for next week

Mon: veggie paella (from batch cooking)
Tuesday: veg chilli and nachos (from batch cooking)
Wednesday: broccoli tart (cooked fresh)
Thursday: lentil bolognaise (from batch cooking)
Friday: take away
Saturday: fajitas
Sunday: will batch cook something like fish pie
Wednesday

@Beancounter1

Stop jumping to ridiculous conclusions about my kitchen. You think I have empty cupboards and freezers and have food literally knocking about my house and don't even know how to store dry goods? And yes I'm aware people may buy in bulk to save on money. However you seem completely oblivious to the fact that many in this country can't afford the privilege of buying in bulk due to lack of money and space, same for having a spare 3 weeks worth of meals STACKED AND SORTED (to make it clearer for you) in their kitchen cupboards or perhaps sizeable pantry. Sorry not sure what you are hoping to achieve by your weird patronising posts? At least get your facts straight about government advice before dishing it out. And yes I have cupboard staples, spaghetti, rice, tins, jars etc, thank you very much for your concern

We work FT have two smalls and I cook all our dinners from scratch. We don’t meal plan. The principle really is simple -

1. Larder stocked with all manner of spices and rubs: Indian, African, Thai, Chinese, European, American

1. Larder also stocked with wide variety of pastes and stocks

1. Tin cabinet full of: tomatoes, coconut milk, beans, veg

1. Freezer stocked with various frozen veg and meats and fish.

Weekly grocery then arrives with chicken thigh packs, fish and other fresh stuff.

Then surely it’s a question of whatever you fancy that evening?

3 packs of chicken thighs led to Thai green curry, Hyderabadi biriyani and a simple casserole for us over the last week. We didn’t plan all this ahead of time. On Tuesday I took a pack and thought - hmmmmm fancy Thai - raided larder - off we went. On Thursday I took a pack of thighs and thought - hmm really miss home, so biriyani and that was that!

In case wasn’t clear - fancying Thai one night randomly then just means -

1. Take one of a few chicken packs from fridge
2. Get coconut milk + green curry paste from well stocked and highly international (!) larder
3. Frozen green beans from freezer
4. Few leaves of lime from houseplant
5. Green chillies from fridge

Voila!

@onatree That must be quite some larder! Sounds amazing, I'm jealous! As we don't have much space it's hard for me to store lots of bits and bobs I may or may not need for recipes. And I'm bad at improvising meals obviously... hopefully in time I learn!

It can be as easy or as difficult as you make it.

It's easy making food for a 12 month old but they'll soon be needing more and it'll become easier for you to cook for all of you than making separate meals, this is next weeks meal plan for us, I tend to rotate about 15 meals with the occasional new one thrown in. I have a 3 year old and a 10 month old, I try to make enough of some meals like spag bol for the freezer stash for the kids so on takeout nights I know theyre getting a nice meal as well.

Monday - Egg noodles stir fry (buy stir fry sauce, pack of mixed veg and some ready cooked chicken)
Tuesday - Pie and Chips or Veggie Mash (frozen or homemade)
Wednesday - Spag Bol (you can use jarred sauce or home made)
Thursday - Pizza Night with veggie sticks and dip
Friday - Korma (jarred or homemade sauce, frozen diced Chicken, this can even be popped in the slow cooker)
Saturday - Burger with Fries and mixed veggies
Sunday - Roast dinner with veggies

@Freecuthbert we also use Gousto for 4 meals a week and I have started just pulling out old recipe cards for the other days. I've notice that there are certain things that they use a lot so I try to keep those things in the cupboard (stock, red & white wine vinegar, sesame oil, spices etc). I tend to pull out a meal card for something I think I fancy and then see if I can find 2 more that have some overlap in ingredients. Once you have a fairly good stock of the kinds of spices/oils etc that they use, you usually then only have to buy some meat/fish/veg or whatever so it works well! Bonus points for the fact that they have the prepped in 5 and 10 minute meals sections for busy days! We also often make twice the amount on the days we are buying our own ingredients so we build up a freezer stash. We have been doing Gousto for about 2 years though so we have about 3 folders of recipe cards.

@girlinglasses
Fantastic idea! I kept all my recipe cards so can start having a sort through them and see what the common ingredients are and keep them in. Really enjoyed most of the recipes so it's a starting point really!

@c24680
Sorry, she generally does eat the same meals as us. She always eats what we have from gousto, and any other meals I cook. But I meant if we're having something rummaged from the freezer, steak or takeaway etc then I'll make her something else that's simple like scrambled egg and ham.

Meal planning would not work for me. I naver know whether I will be feeding one person or six- with very little notice.
I have no young children, an OH with very sporadic hours.
I keep stock cupboards well stocked, freezer is always full of bulk cooked food, fish fillets, prawns frozen chicken fillets, frozen pitta breads- I could rustle up a meal for 10 people at the drop of a hat, but if just one of us having dinner at home then nothing is wasted.
I always have fresh staples in the fridge- salad, cheese, onions, garlic, ginger, peppers, plus a stack of things in the freezer.
Just how things work with us.

We meal plan for about a week or two at a push.
I don't specify which day though and generally we decide from the choices available and use by dates so they red still flexibility.

We still use old Gousto/Hello Fresh recipes now we've stopped the boxes. I've also got a recipes folder in my phone favourites.

We eat a mix of favourites and new recipes.

Stuff that can be batch cooked and frozen, we always cook enough for two meals. If it doesn't freeze well we might have extras for lunch if we're WFH.

Fresh herbs and spices we'll chop and freeze if we have leftovers.
We always have a bag of onion, some garlic and stuff like coriander and chillies in the freezer. For soups etc you really don't need fresh, frozen onion etc is fine.

When we were really skint we would meal plan a month at a time. We'd work out how much pasta, rice, tins of tomatoes etc we needed. So we'd have all the dry/frozen ingredients we needed and just shopped weekly for fresh fruit and veg. It really worked to keep to a tight budget and reduce waste/takeaways.