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!

the internet is great for ideas
i have for example an aubergine and some halloumi
many recipes

This post could have been written by me! I do the same thing, and am met with the same reaction 😂

I do plan weekly menu but am finding shops out of stock on lots of things - this week it was cornflour/cashews so extemporise - and I bet there won’t be a single poussin available 🤓❤️☘️👍🏿🕊🙏🏽❤️

Dh just reminded me that we plan one day a week. The planning usually goes with "i fancy italian this Sunday" and then end up getting distracted in a shop by nice piece of beef for slow cooking so end up with with that😂
So special occasions and one meal a week (attempted, success about 1 in 4 attempts).

I know! It's infuriating. Especially veg is getting hit in quite a few shops around me. So it's impossible to really plan plan.
I mean they are even out of salad basics usually 🙄
Aubergines we abysmal in local asdas for month, brocolli was basically dead, cauli brown, green beans.... Well... I like basic veggies and it's pita lately.
Bless the foreign shops

We don’t meal plan, can’t be bothered. How are we supposed to know on Monday what we want to eat on Friday? I’ve seen some people on here do it a month in advance 😮 Nah, screw that. We just buy what we fancy in the supermarket and cook it. If there’s some left over we freeze it for homemade ready meals. We always have things like scampi and chips in so easy to cook. Sometimes we’ll just pop to the deli counter at Sainsbury’s for one of their fresh pizzas 😋

I always meal plan each week- lunches and dinner- even the kids breakfasts! Helps so much with shopping and means no
food waste

Just because yours is last btw, other people have said similar.

Not meal planning does not mean there’s food waste, I doubt there’s many people buying loads of fresh food on the off chance they might fancy something and then letting it go off and throwing it out if they don’t.

I always have storecupboard stuff in - that could be used in loads of different stuff, the fresh stuff I buy as I need it and then use it in something else if it’s in danger of going off... I just don’t know what till then.

Sometimes I might have a rough idea of what I’m thinking of making for most of the week, sometimes I don’t. But if I’ve only red onions in, I’ll just use them instead of normal ones or I’ll swap the veg in something for what needs used instead of buying things specifically for it.

I don’t eat meat though, so lots of things have the same base ingredients and you’re just swapping out one or two and spices or flavours for different meals.

DSS is a very fussy eater. He literally only eats like 4 or 5 different things so meal planning would be pointless. Just bulk buy frozen bits like nuggets fish fingers waffles chips etc. He will eat bolognese so we always buy mince every week.

I meal plan in great detail (breakfast, lunch and dinner). We live rurally so can’t just grab stuff. I also follow recipes rather than improvise, am a very good cook but like to follow a recipe. I also love finding and trying new recipes. I know that if I didn’t meal plan our diet would be pretty repetitive and bland. I have no doubt that people who can improvise meals and are more creative than me could produce varied meals but I couldn’t.

I do this. I got an A3 whiteboard and stuck magnet backs on the back of it and it hangs on the fridge with our weekly meal plan.

I do it because I need to budget. I cant just buy whatever. So, I plan the meals to make sure everything is used. If I'm buying a packet of celery for jambalaya then I'll make another dish with celery to use it all up etc.

I get comments from people when they're in the house, but it's usually more "you're so organised" rather than "that's an odd thing to do."

Been doing it for years, we have a Mon to. Sun chalkboard in kitchen with the meals and appts for that week.

I actually don't know how I'd shop if I didn't have a meal planner as I'd be constantly be between aisles to get xyz that will go with the chicken breasts, meat etc. Even that makes my anxiety churn.

I think if I cooked, I would have a rough idea of what we would eat that week, with a few batch-cooked meals in the freezer and some extra bits like grains and veg on hand. As it is, my DH cooks all the evening meals (his choice, and I'm not a fan of cooking) and i think he used to do the above, but now we live literally next door to a supermarket, he often cooks different things spontaneously as he can use the shop as an extra pantry almost. But it's a pretty expensive one and I think I might try and encourage more meal planning to a point to try and keep our costs down a bit.

I don't think it's weird to meal plan, although nowadays I only know one person who actually writes it all down in advance (my sister).

My mum just buys stuff. Like each week same without checked what she has in or if they are going out! It stresses me out when I go to there’s and I’m like what are you eating tonight and she laughs! She constantly takes the piss that I have a meal plan for the week, she’s actually quite rude about it tbh.

I plan the meals not the nights. After I get home with the shopping just have a mental check about what’s going out of date first- normally the fish/prawns and if I’m planning on something sausages or a veggie meal that can be later in the week . Always pick up a frozen pizza for the night when you just can’t be arsed!

I think it just makes life easier with work and kids knowing that you have x amount of meals in the fridge ready to be cooked.

I go to the supermarket every day and spend a fortune. I often get takeaways too because I find myself too tired to cook. I am going to research how this works. I need to follow someone else’s meal plan to be honest. But I can’t afford how I live at the moment. Really going to try harder.

Don’t meal plan. Buy fresh food at the weekend. Cook and eat it during the week. Top up staples when they get low. Have less choice of what to cook and eat by Friday so maybe have to be more inventive.

Couldn’t start thinking about what I might want for tea in three or four days time!

I haven't voted as I think it's a personality thing. I have never done meal planning as I wait until I'm on my way home at 5.30 then have a dither in Tesco about what to have for supper. However, there's never any wastage, as I just buy fresh stuff on the day, and use it. I don't follow recipes as they are tiresome - I make it up as I go along.

Don’t you have a fridge? If I buy a fresh chilli, it’s good for a couple of weeks. Fresh herbs in pots grow on the windowsill. Floury potatoes? Keep for weeks. Parmesan? What do think is going to happen to it if you don’t use it?

I am the other way round, I dont get the "you need to meal plan to avoid waste or to have all the ingrediences".

The system in our family is that you buy stuff and than cook with what you've got. Most ingrediences are simply always in the cupboards or fridge.

We meal plan but it’s mainly how many nights in or out and number of lunches
then choose say 5 meals but they can be on any night so not planned rigidly
plan is also round what needs eating up or gas been in freezer longest

I've never done meal planning. I did try once and gave up after two days. How do you know what you'll fancy for dinner next Thursday? I don't understand it..

I so meal plan and have done since my son was little. It's makes the week a lot easier when I'm working and it probably saves money as well as saving waste. My MIL doesn't meal plan and is so indecisive it's painful. I suggested she meal plans as she works shifts now so it would make things easier. My partner also 'jokingly' sent her a link to a meal planner - apparently she doesn't need it as she isn't 'disorganised'.

It's not always about what you'll fancy. It's about budgeting for all the meals each person needs each week, which means careful selection of ingredients to minimise wasted money on half used items.

Also if you have fresh cut herbs from shop, keep them in a bit of water in a fridge. My parsley is like day 5 (because my garden one is sleeping) and it's like new. Basil outside of fridge is on day 12. It has flowers now

No, I would hardly ever do the thinking while shopping what you describe with the aubergine. I just randomly buy the vegetables and then decide when looking at it at home to do what you describe a mediterranean vegetable dish. Also I wouldnt usually think about buying a specific cheese for a pasta dish. Lemons and tomatoes are considered a staple, basil - if I dont have the whole plant in a pot at home - is also bought and used randomly.
I buy the vegetable at the farmers market which generally leads you a bit as they have what's in season, unlike a supermarket.