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 go through phases of meal plan, usually when I have bought a new cookbook!
There's not much point in planning in my house though. I am out a couple of evenings a week working so Dh either stays at his workplace or goes out with one of the DS's for something to eat.

I tend to use the app Supercook and that gives me ideas of things to make with what ever I have in so there is no waste. I usually have a lot of long life foods in such as lentils, vital wheat glueten, cous cous, frozen veg etc so can make a meal easily.

I have that problem too, and DS1 is like me in that he can't eat the same meal twice in a row! Luckily our school puts the menu on their parents area which took me at least 4 years before I realised!

Eat from what needs using first
So early on the week I'll be eating the soft fruit, fish, salad leaves etc
End of the week is things like apples, carrots, potatoes, beef
And I batch cook so a lot gets cooked and frozen anyway

All these no plan/think up the recipe on the day people, how do you know if you need waxy potatoes or floury potatoes?, button mushrooms, shitake mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms,? white onions, red onions or green onions? fresh coriander or fresh basil or fresh parsley or fresh dill?, Fresh ginger or fresh chillis? feta cheese or marscapone or pecorino or strong cheddar?, or lime juice/zest or lemon juice/zest or orange juice/zest?

I just can't fathom how, without some plan (be in written on in your head) how someone could happen to come up with exactly the right ingredients without either wastage or having ingredients missing.

I understand that you could think - "I'll do Mexican - I'll make sure I buy a lime and fresh coriander. fresh red chilli, avocado etc" etc - and if you had taco shells, tortillas, spices, black beans, tinned toms etc in the cupboard, a selection of meat in the freezer and a good selection of veg you could finalise the exact dish later - but to me that is planning Mexican and buying certain ingredients accordingly. Albeit that it's a loose plan and in your head.

Just randomly shoving stuff in your trolley with no vague idea of what you are likely to make with it is surely going to lead to either wastage, substandard meals with compromise ingredients or extra shops to pick up top ups once you've decided on the meal. And if you have got an idea of what to make and so shop accordingly and buy the correct ingredients for that, then that's a plan!

We'd never have anything to eat if we didn't meal plan! I just don't have time to be constantly popping to the shops for food. The nearest supermarket is about 20mins drive away and we're usually busy with work, after school club runs etc to be able to do that too often!

So we book supermarket deliveries, hold the slot with wine or something then the night before we plan meals based on what we've still got in to last through till the next delivery. We normally get a delivery about every 5 days as fresh food doesn't really last much longer than that.

Planning also helps us have variety, eat more healthily as we know what's for dinner and not have too much waste!

I'm not sure how people manage without planning unless they waste a lot of food or time. I order a shop to come on Saturday and I cook sat, Mon, weds. Husband shops Sunday and cooks Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. We have a ready meal on Friday. One of my meals is a "quick and easy" usually for weds when we are all in and out at different times. But if I'm knackered on Monday I might swap quick and easy to that day.

I work with someone who goes food shopping every day in the way home according to what she and her husband fancy that day. Supermarket shopping every day! Ain't nobody got time for that!

My mum buys vast amounts of food so she's always got a choice of things to cook. Half of it ends up in the bin which seems terrible. Well she often shoves unused stuff in the freezer and then finds it 2 years later, which amounts to much the same thing.

People need to stop implying that everyone who doesn't plan cooks shite food and wastes a lot...

It shouldn't be that hard to comprehend, people can still shop just enough and cook nice food even if they didn't spend hours planning it before shop. Same like it's not hard to comprehend some people prefer or need to do that planning. 🙄
Some of us are even such magical creatures who shop once a week only as well.

I didn't meal plan, just shopped for a couple of days at a time.

With rising prices & bottomless teens, food bill was through the roof.

I started meal planning a couple of months ago. I've got an app so I can swap about without anyone moaning.

I find it quite hard to keep coming up with ideas but it's a work in progress

I meal plan, always have, and do a single weekly food order. It’s very rare indeed that I go to the shops at all in between - we used to live rurally so it was genuinely difficult to ‘nip to the shops’, and now it’s just habit.

Things that need very fresh ingredients - eg stir fries, salads - are eaten early in the cycle, those using lots of staples or items from the freezer are eaten near the end. I freeze a lot on arrival even if it’s going to be eaten within the week, to maximise freshness.

I make soups etc to use up leftovers and bake my own flapjacks etc for packed lunches. By the end of the week the aim is to have no ‘fresh ingredients’ left - obviously store cupboards and freezer will still have some things in - to minimise wastage, so items in the plan are linked eg to use a pot of cream, or a punnet of mushrooms between then. We have almost zero food waste except rinds and peelings.

As I usually update my basket the night before the order is due, I don’t suffer too much from unexpected out i
of stocks, but in times of poor stock I will plan 8 dinners not 7. If something is missing and can’t be substituted, we still have 7, and if we end up with 8, that’s first on the list for the next week.

We meal plan. My friends meal plan. My parents meal plan and they always have done. Same with my siblings. I think it's normal. Rough meal plans as in what meals we want to make but not in order. How do you know what to buy if you don't know what you're going to cook?

I guess meal planning comes with budgeting as well though. If you don't have much money to go round, you have to plan what it goes on.

I never used to because I lived right beside a Lidl. In the last recession though I got ruthless with meal planning because I was wasting stuff and buying extra random stuff on a whim and I had to teach myself extreme budgeting.

Now I order online so there are no random purchases. We don't really need to be as strict with our meal planning /budgeting now but it's really no harm to have that skill with the way global economies are going.

But I genuinely don't understand how, without a plan, you can possibly buy the right ingredients.

You wouldn't put fresh coriander in a fish pie, or fresh parsley in a curry, or fresh dill in a taco. So unless you know whether you're cooking curry or fish pie or Mexican, how do you know which fresh herbs to buy? If you buy them all to keep your options open there's wastage, if you buy none, you food will not taste so good. So without a plan how do you know which to buy?

Some dishes work best with waxy potatoes, some with floury potatoes. How do you know which to buy without a plan? If you buy both, then there's likely to be wastage. If you just buy one, you're likely to end up with less good results in many dishes. So which do you buy?

I genuinely don't get how you can get it right without a plan. Not necessarily a formal written plan, but at the very minimum a loose in your head plan of what you're planning to cook with the food you're buying, and making sure you buy the right combinations to make the dishes you're intending to cook.

I've been meal planning since I was a Uni student & we needed to make our budget stretch.
I plan the dinners for the full week based on what activities are happening that day (after school clubs/meetings etc). I try not to have the same protein or carb two days in a row; quick meals for days we don't have much time, etc.
DH usually does the cooking now, & we have two freezers, large fridge & stocked cupboards.
We tend to freeze most meats, bread etc on day of purchase as this reduces waste.
We have flexibility in the menu; if we don't fancy x we change it to y; if we decide to eat out/takeaway etc we move the meal to the next day, or usually as the meat is frozen it can shift to the following week. Veg doesn't go off quickly, & gets used in pasta sauce etc, fruit gets used in cakes/jam/smoothies if past it's best.
I don't rigidly plan breakfast/lunch, but make sure we have our regular options in.
It's certainly less stressful for us to have a plan - which is in the back of my shopping list & is pinned on the fridge.

@BosaNova , but if you don't meal plan, don't you end up eating whatever you can put together, or end up going shopping again or ordering a takeaway?
Nipping to the corner shop or supermarket usually means you spend more than intended, and takeaways tend to be expensive and unhealthy.

People on this thread who keep posting I just can't understand how people manage without meal planning, there have been loads of us explaining how we manage. What's so hard to understand? Or are you just not reading our posts?

but if you don't meal plan, don't you end up eating whatever you can put together,

What's wrong with just putting something together?

@mrsm43s Maybe they use more dried herbs? Not everyone uses fresh herbs. Maybe they are a bit more creative and thrown together combinations that are a bit unusual.

I don't think it's impossible, my friend does it and she is an amazing cook. But it would be too much stress for me - I prefer to meal plan.

You wouldn't put fresh coriander in a fish pie, or fresh parsley in a curry, or fresh dill in a taco. So unless you know whether you're cooking curry or fish pie or Mexican, how do you know which fresh herbs to buy?

I chop up all my fresh herbs and freeze them, and then I always have coriander to hand if I fancy a curry. Same for parsley, dill, basil, mint, chillies, garlic, ginger, etc. It can all be frozen.

We plan, and keep a list of the meals on the fridge. On the weeks we end up not planning for whatever reason, our meals get really unhealthy, or we end up ordering takeaway.

I also find it really helpful for making sure I don't have too much food accumulating in the freezer or cupboards, as we base the majority of our meals on what's already in the house. I don't care how other people manage their lives but I'm definitely stressed out at the thought of how some of my friends approach meals, e.g. literally deciding what's for the dinner as they walk into the kitchen go make something, or going to the shops every day of the week.

I rarely use fresh herbs, I use dried because I don't have capability to grow fresh beyond a pot of basil on the kitchen windowsill.

Surely that's not unusual?

I think it's obvious that meal planning is going to be more efficient, in terms of less waste and less time spent thinking about food.

Doesn't mean it's the right thing for everyone. Some people don't like to plan everything in such detail, some like to be more creative on the spur of the moment, it might involve nipping out to the shop on the day for something you don't have in, but some people prefer that as and when approach.

Basically everyone's different and it's all fine 😅

if you don't meal plan, don't you end up eating whatever you can put together

Well yes, and it's always delicious and nourishing. I don't understand what's wrong with that? What's the difference between my made-from-scratch curry that I didn't plan and your made-from-scratch curry that you did plan?

We meal plan but not to the same extent as you do, that sounds a bit extreme. How do you cope when something unexpected happens e.g someone is home from school I'll and needs lunch or you have a medical appt and don't have time to cook?

We just make sure we have enough meals for 7 days (veg/sides are interchangeable) and a selection of lunch type things /snacks that everyone likes. Then we decide which meal to cook based on use by dates/ energy levels/ time/ what we feel like that day.

We still wind up by takeaways and wasting food tho 😬

My parents didn't need to meal an growing up because they had plenty of storage space for food - we have a tiny freezer and lack of cupboard space.

Well mine has crisp, fresh coriander on the top rather than soggy frozen coriander for a start!

As people have posted- having a good selection of meat in, veggies, a well packed store cupboard and things like fresh chillis and lemon means you can throw infinite things together.

I don’t meal plan. I know I can make at least 10 different things at dinner time. I’m a good cook.

I’ve seen pasta spoken about a lot on here. I don’t need to purposely buy meatballs, pasta sauce and a sachet of hard cheese. Based on what’s in my cupboards I could make:

spaghetti with lemon zest, capers, olive oil
spaghetti with a tomato sauce and meatballs with defrosted mince
spaghetti with sardines and chilli
Use defrosted mince to make normal spag bol
carbonara
cacio e pepe
puttanesca from cupboard stuff

I don’t know why so many people on this thread are acting like we are stirring fresh coriander, prawns and mango together and shoving it in a weird fish pie because that’s what we’ve got in…