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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

361 replies

Fono · 21/11/2022 11:30

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!

OP posts:
BosaNova · 21/11/2022 11:50

@KettrickenSmiled thanks. Ok so I meal plan on rare occasion when I batch cook something 😁

KettrickenSmiled · 21/11/2022 11:53

BosaNova · 21/11/2022 11:50

@KettrickenSmiled thanks. Ok so I meal plan on rare occasion when I batch cook something 😁

I meal planned on Friday night @BosaNova

A giant chinese takeaway & bottle of red.
Got 4 meals for me, & 1 breakfast for the dog out of it Wink

Malabarhouse · 21/11/2022 11:53

I do this. It saves such a lot of money. I've tried to show my husband how to do it. It's not hard but he seems incapable. The more you do it the easier it gets.

Probablymagrat · 21/11/2022 11:54

Ive always done it, but don't have it on display in the kitchen, I keep it in a notebook and don't really share it with the family. That way if I change my mind or get something different on offer, then there is no arguments that this is the 'wrong' dinner. Yes its a bit controlling, but I don't care, it suits me, and as I do the cooking and shopping I think its reasonable.

MilkyYay · 21/11/2022 11:55

I meal plan but its less rigid.

There are always 3 or 4 days that are fairly fixed/planned. For the other days there's a degree of flex. I don't like waste though so the flexibility builds in using what we have. Eg it could be sausage & mash with veg, or it could be baked garlic chicken with roast potatoes & veg. The veg would be whatever needed using, the meat would come from the freezer & potatoes we always have in.

There are other meals i can make "ad hoc" because we always have the ingredients in - home made pizza, tomato and veg pasta & sauce etc.

I think it depends to what extent you are store cupboard people - i have a friend who has almost nothing left in the cupboard at the end of each week (by choice) whereas i am a bit of a prepper, when covid started and there were supermarket shortages i worked out what we could probably eat for a month (a fairly limited/repetitive diet) on what we had in cupboards/freezer.

ChristmasCakeAndStilton · 21/11/2022 11:56

I'm not surprised that you meal pla, and would have no shock ar seeing a plan for the weekly food in the kitchen.
Personally, I don't do it.
Shopping list gets topped up over the week if we are running low on a cupboard ingredient. If someone wants something different, they add the unusual ingredients too the list. And then I shop by buying "7 evening meals of protein, 7 evening meals of veg, 5 days of packed lunch for 3 of us, 7 days of breakfast, snacks, including fruit"
DH creates various lunches for himself by whatever is leftovers from the night before or is about to go out of date!!

What happens if you meal plan requiring chicken thighs, and there are non in the shop?

NoNameNowAgain · 21/11/2022 11:56

I guess I vaguely plan three or four main meals and then wing it until I can be bothered/ really need to shop again.

Yesthatismychildsigh · 21/11/2022 11:56

No, never. That said I know, for instance, if I’m off a certain day we’ll have something that takes a while to cook. Don’t know anyone that does it, either in my work or personal life.

SirMingeALot · 21/11/2022 11:57

KettrickenSmiled · 21/11/2022 11:53

I meal planned on Friday night @BosaNova

A giant chinese takeaway & bottle of red.
Got 4 meals for me, & 1 breakfast for the dog out of it Wink

Full on domestic goddess territory!

Alexandernevermind · 21/11/2022 11:58

I wouldn't occur to me to meal plan and I don't know anyone who actually says they do. I keep plenty of basics in the cupboard, meat and alternatives in the freezer etc. We produce most of our own food. I decide when I stick my head in the fridge what we are eating. Its usually a case of making sure nothing is wasted that makes cooking more ad hoc, because its seeing what needs eating first.

Phrenologistsfinger · 21/11/2022 11:58

I only meal plan 20mins before I eat the thing! 😂What’s in the fridge (veg box), freezer, well-stocked pantry of staples and what can I/DP be arsed to cook? We eat pretty healthily and vegan, no bother.

We are also the kind of people who book a holiday the day before we fly. Neurodiverse, not planners.

I have ADHD and can’t think very far ahead anyway… How am I going to know what I will want to eat next wednesday in advance? I don’t even know what I want for lunch today yet!

Vavazoom · 21/11/2022 11:58

I’m a recent convert. I plan every lunch and dinner for the week. It’s a total game changer. It’s saved me a fortune and we’re eating much more healthily.

MilkyYay · 21/11/2022 11:58

Oh and i batch cook. Most of the time i have a couple of weeks worth of meals in the freezer.

ILoveShula · 21/11/2022 11:59

I meal plan. It's generally repetitive, but with some variation.
Friday tends to be whatever needs using up, and how creative I can be with it.
Pretty much no food wastage.

JudgementalCentipede · 21/11/2022 11:59

I don't understand people who don't meal plan - do you just buy a load of random 'ingredients' and then try to come.up with recipes that use what you've got? Or do you live mainly off 'convenience' foods that you just throw in the oven eg. pizza? It must be stressful!

gawditswindy · 21/11/2022 11:59

I've done it since I went back to work full time. There's no time for faffing about in my house! (Although DH would claim there's still a lot of faffing done.) I also cook or prep ingredients for most of the week's meals at the weekend. I'd love to be spontaneous but it just doesn't work with a busy family lifestyle.

Goldenbear · 21/11/2022 11:59

No, I don't as I don't have enough time. I shop every night and find it cheaper and less waste but then I drive past a Marks food Hall every night after work. The time that I go often has discounted food so for example organic chicken breasts £4 rather than £9 the other night so I made a Chinese dish. Another night fish very cheap so made fish pie. One night had to be quick due to piano lessons so it was 2 ordinarily expensive burgers for my DC and a very nice reduced wrap in the sandwich area for me.

ILoveShula · 21/11/2022 12:00

@JudgementalCentipede , I think many rely on convenience food and takeaways

Willmafrockfit · 21/11/2022 12:00

i dont
i am terrible though so if i run out of chicken, i think I must buy more for example.

Willmafrockfit · 21/11/2022 12:03

i regularly shop on the way home from work though,
it is a decision about which shop though
lidl, not everything available, but on my way home
asda, 10% off but a diversion for me on my way home, but is close to a tesco if I must, and i like their salad

ComtesseDeSpair · 21/11/2022 12:03

We shop every day (supermarket is on the route home from work so it’s not difficult) and buy the ingredients for what we fancy eating that day. We don’t meal plan because we can’t always guarantee that we’ll always be home in time to cook a dish with e.g. an hour cooking time on the Wednesday it was planned for, or home in time for cooking at all on some other days. We’d waste so much food if we had a rigid meal plan so I presume you can only really meal plan as you do if one of you is a SAHP and / or you have jobs where you can always leave dead on 5pm etc? Or everything has very short cooking times and little prep?

MilkyYay · 21/11/2022 12:04

I know a lot of people who rely heavily on convenience foods. Jarred & sachet sauces, prepped veg, prepared foods that are just baked in oven eg 2 pack portion of ready made salmon en croute or prepared ribs with a packaged sauce, sausage & chips etc.

FormerCarer · 21/11/2022 12:04

I don't understand people who don't meal plan - do you just buy a load of random 'ingredients' and then try to come.up with recipes that use what you've got? Or do you live mainly off 'convenience' foods that you just throw in the oven eg. pizza? It must be stressful!

I don't find it at all stressful. I often prefer making up meals at the last minute as it allows me to choose what I'm in the mood for that day. I sometimes plan 1 or 2 meals for example I'm planning on having creamy pesto chicken pasta on Friday but if I'm not in the mood then I might have it on Saturday instead.

I don't have much in the fridge today and nothing in mind but I have mozzarella and red onions and peppers so I'm probably going to have tuna quesadilla but I might at the last minute decide to have roast vegetable pasta instead.

The internet also makes it so easy to Google What to make with "name of ingredients" that I find it far from stressful.

underneaththeash · 21/11/2022 12:05

I do a monthly meal plan, based on seasonal stuff. Less waste and easier to fit in all dietary nutrients and vitamins.

Goldenbear · 21/11/2022 12:05

It s not fresh enough for me, I wannt fresh veg that day, definitely don't rely upon convenience food all the time, maybe once a week on the piano lesson night. Yes, attend weekend to eat at gastro pub that is near to DD's drama club or takeaway usually South Indian or Thai but they are high quality so not 'bad' for you plus we share.