In thinking that meal planning can’t be out of the ordinary?

[Fono]

I’ve always operated a system within my household where I will sit down every Sunday morning and plan all of our meals (lunch and dinner) for the following week and then formulate my shopping list based on everything we need specifically for those meals. This means we have minimal wastage at the end of any given week, prevents over-buying and everyone knows exactly what we are eating and when.

I have a board in our kitchen where I’ll write up the meals for the week and recently every time I’ve had a visitor to the house I’m met with the same shocked reaction about meal planning, like it’s a completely foreign concept.

I’d never previously thought that I did anything out of the ordinary and I’d assumed most households did this? If not, I’m genuinely interested to know what other families do? Imo given the cost of living crisis, meal planning is more important than ever!

I said YABU as I think it isn't the norm. I do the same but I don't know anyone else in real life who does the same.

I meal plan, I know a few others do but also quite a few that don't. I don't understand how the non-planners cope, to be honest. How do you know what to buy?? How do you budget?

I don't even plan particularly rigidly - I buy in enough food for all the meals in the week, some quick options and some longer options, based on what's going on, but it's not like Monday MUST be pasta.

Doesn't mot people on MN meal plan?

I don't, because I am perennially disorganised, but I really should!

I know quite a lot of people who have a general/rough meal plan, just the dinners that will be eaten that week, not necessarily in a specific order. I don't think I know anyone who plans both lunch and dinner down to the specific day they'll be eaten.

That was a terrible sentence 🤦

Don't most people on MN meal plan?

I meal plan dinners, and roughly week day lunches because I usually have the same lunch Monday to Friday and change it each week.

I know some people that meal plan. Alot more who don't but I can't imagine anyone I know being shocked by it.

I plan but with flexibility, so meal days can be swapped or same ingredients used for something else. I had chicken stir-fry on our list for this week, DS ended up eating at Grandma's, we didn't fancy stir-fry so I did butterflied griddled jerk chicken breast, vegetable rice and salad. Pretty much the same ingredients, noodles stayed in the cupboard and I used different spices etc. I don't have a list on the fridge. Also I batch cook so if we have an unexpected hectic day I might bring out some frozen portions of Bolognese and cook dinner spaghetti and put the pork chops in the freezer for next week

I don’t write it up, but me and DH usually plan who's cooking on what nights during the week and what to have (ie. Kids at sports until 7pm let’s have pasta or something quick). Then we shop accordingly. Whoever’s doing the shopping will find out what people need for packed lunches (teens usually request particular sandwich fillings, yogurts or whatever).

We don’t have the time or the mental capacity during the week to think of things to cook, so it helps to have it planned and then one of us just cooks it.

Surely not that unusual?

I meal plan - not meticulously, but just so I have the right number of dinners available to us, because I have a delivery once a week and need to be sure we have enough.

I can’t imagine being able to do my shopping without a rough plan of what I need. I can’t believe it’s that uncommon. Perhaps your rigid plan of x on y day, and planned lunches, is a bit unusual. But not the bit where you plan main meals and buy accordingly.

I didn’t and the result was we spent a fortune on the weekly shop and had a lot of waste. I now meal plan and I’ve halved our shopping bill with the bonus that hardly any food goes to waste.

I do this too OP and I have absolutely no idea how people who don’t managed to function! Of course meals can be swapped for a different day, and we have different meals every week (I look up new ideas every few weeks), but I know what we are having every day and buy the ingredients for it.

Lunches I just get a variation of bagels, wraps, bread, ham, cheese, tuna, chicken, salad items, yoghurt, fruit, usually tins of soup/beans and eggs in the cupboard and periodically home made soup in the freezer. People can choose what they want

As an aside, my friends who don’t meal plan seem to eat far more rubbish, as things are needed last minute, so takeaways and ready meals are more attractive (or can be bought as the ingredients aren’t there for something else)

I don't meal plan though.
I biy what's available and looks nice and then cook with it.
No wastage here.
I also have bunch of meals in a freezer so we never actually run out of food.

I think it's the norm for families.

Pre-DC I never planned meals- I worked very long hours and never knew whether I would still be at my desk at midnight. On the days I wasn't, I'd either eat out after work or buy ingredients from the supermarket on my way home. Planning a week's worth of meals would have ended up wasteful as I could never have been sure of being there to eat them. But of course DC change all that.

I have a little spiral-bound notebook that is my combined meal plan and shopping list.
I meal plan to ensure that we don't have the same thing (eg the carbohydrate or the meat) threes days in a row! It is, however, only a plan and can be flexed.

I have a board in our kitchen where I’ll write up the meals for the week and recently every time I’ve had a visitor to the house I’m met with the same shocked reaction about meal planning, like it’s a completely foreign concept.

It used to be the norm (necessity) & ideally should still be the norm.
But we now have convenience stores, fast food, & an instant gratification culture.
It's easy to be lazy, & live day by day, just snatching ready meals off the shelves on the way home from a long day.

I can be guilty of that too, but always feel much better when I menu plan.
More in control, feeling good to have a plan, better nutrition choices, less waste, less cost.

I hope "shocked reaction" visitors button their beaks after their initial surprise. If they don't, & bang on about your choice to plan, just shove The Awkward right back where it belongs - with them! - & innocently ask them how on earth they cope, without making time for such a basic & necessary task. Do they find themselves stuck, & reaching for junk, how do they manage to budget, are they not interested in balancing healthy meals etc.
Two can play at the "oh your choices are Bad & Wrong" game ...

We do. Otherwise it's a long drive to the shops.

Sometimes children do have school lunches and sometimes they don't- so I also need to know whether to get supplies in for that.

There's also one night when one of the kids doesn't get back in after hobby until late- so we always choose something that is easy to re-heat for that night.

Yanbu

Surely anyone who does a weekly shop or orders online meal plans because you need a list of ingredients ?

Ime I only see the menu boards on SM but it's not massively different to me having a meal plan in my head

I just buy a bunch of veg we like and some meat, then we have staples in like bread, milk, peanut butter, pasta, eggs, tinned tomatoes, rice etc. And then herbs and spices and sauces for different flavours.
when it gets to lunch I can make pb on toast or an omelette for example
at dinner I can look at the ingredients and say I fancy pasta, great I can make a sauce with those things, or i have a load of veg that needs using i could do a tray bake and so on as suits.
i find we waste more meal planning because on Sunday I may think I’m going to be really healthy but by Friday night I want a big bowl of pasta with garlic bread. Or we may suddenly have to work late and that dinner that takes a bit longer to make i suddenly haven’t got time to do, or something else. Whereas this way, each day I’m on top of the ingredients, if things need to go in the freezer, or be used up because they’re wilting a bit faster than I expected or whatever
obviously whatever works for each family is good for them too so if meal prepping works for you that’s great.

I don't. I roughly know what I'll cook over the week and but accordingly but won't stick to a plan as I might not feel like a certain meal on that day. I stand at the fridge an hour before and decide ,that's the extent of my planning 🤣

It is the norm on here, on the Irish chatsite I lurk on and in my family and with most friends too so yes to me it seems to be the norm.

But @BosaNova - batching & freezing food to have available when you know you will need it / can't be arsed to scratch cook IS meal planning!

Sounds like you have a good balance 😁

I think most people do some degree of meal planning but not necessarily looking like that. Because you're also combining it with a desire to buy anything else, which is a different thing. I plan meals ahead but also value having spares and backup.