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!

It’s a fun game, what do you need to use up that day and how can you make it into a tasty meal? I rarely use recipes anyway as I’m confident with flavours and improvisation (exDP was a chef).

I don't get why people don't get that someone plans and someone doesn't.
It is that fucking simple, no one is superior and any of the two can cook nice meals. Same with people who follow recipes and people who like to generally improvise.
🙄

"BuT Do YoU hAvE tHe RiGhT PotAtO" i have a potato, that is quite enough🤷🏻

I think you're thinking of most people as being more exact in recipes than they are!

I don't remember the last time I bought fresh herbs - they're incredibly expensive and don't last so I only do it when they're reduced. I have a few growing in the garden that I'll wander out to pick and otherwise it's dry/jarred/make do without. Chilli is jarred or there's chilli powder. I've only got fresh tomatoes in if they're reduced/in my veg box/the kids asked for them but I always have tinned tomatoes in. Sour cream and guac come in bottles - yes not as good but cheaper and they keep. If I don't have a red onion in I'll use an onion - maybe not as good but I always have onions.

I'm not badly off but frankly I cannot afford to buy exact fresh ingredients for every recipe. So we have a good store-cupboard in of basics and those are used as my building blocks to fill in the fresh ingredients I do have. There's a few fall-backs that I use constantly so those I do always try to keep in, either fresh or in the freezer - dried pasta, cream, grated cheese (mozzarella and cheddar), fresh mozzarella, bacon, bread, onions, broccoli or cauli, milk, bananas, eggs, potatoes, chicken thighs - those are our necessities that I will use over and over again. Everything else I use if I have it, make do if I don't.

I do wonder if that difference in here is as well about stocking up. Like some people don't have herbs, spices and basics generally at home it seems so it's a different style of shopping to someone who has lots of basics.
Again, no one is wrong, just different styles of shopping and stocking up.
I could get the mlst ridiculous Chopped (fun show) basket and still manage to make meals out of it, because I have so strong base stock levels, anything can find flavour and texture friends.

I think so. I've always had a stock of herbs and spices at home, because obviously you buy quite a big jar or bag compared to how much you use at a time. Then in the pandemic, when you couldn't go shopping much, I started, not bulk-buying exactly, but buying several 4-packs of tomatoes or lots of chickpeas, or jars of anchovies, where I'd previously buy one. I realised it worked really well and I've kept it up. It has made cooking easier and more relaxed.

I think it helps to have a few base things that your family will always eat as well that use up ingredients.

If my oven is on I usually use the bottom shelf for a rice pudding. I always always have pudding rice in and it's great for using up extra milk. My kids love it.

Or if I have bread on the turn and eggs to use up I make a bread and jam pudding (like bread and butter but my kids dislike dried fruit).

If I'm kneedeep in eggs (my friends have chickens) then I usually have a few baking mixes I pick up cheap and allow the kids to use them with minimal supervision to make cake.

I think I've only ever known one family ever plan to the degree you've suggested.

And yes, i do just buy some fresh ingredients each week and then decide what to do with it, minced beef can become burgers, spaghetti bolognese, beef tacos, cottage pie etc. Chicken may end up as fajitas, chicken goujons, curry, stir fry, tagine. Most of these things require the same sort of fresh ingredients, e.g. onion/pepper and other things would either be from the pantry (i.e. tinned tomatoes), from the garden depending on time of year, or from the freezer.

Admittedly, i do end up sometimes googling "alternatives for...." but normally works out ok, e.g. most recently was using some miso paste with water instead of worcestershire sauce in a cottage pie. That sort of thing definitely saves me money over buying exactly what i need for a recipe.

It does, doesn't it! I am often undecided until just before meal so having basics is a must. Improptu "shakshuka" (and now I fancy it!) for example is basically just house staples.
Tinned tomato, eggs, bread, onion, garlic, chili. Spice to your heart desire. But it's a lovely throw together without needing shopping for it dish since it's just general cupboard staples.

One thing I have done in the past but must do more regularly is chop and freeze onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass etc in bulk. Makes such a difference if you don't have to go and buy new, or skin and chop them all, before you start cooking proper.

Bit tricky to know which way to vote, as clearly you aren't unreasonable to plan that tightly if it suits you and your family, but equally clearly YABVU to think that most other people are that anal rigid in planning their eating.

I've asked a few people, after hearing of meal planning on MN, and I've never met anyone that does it to that extent.
I think many people - with families particularly - will plan to some extent ("Oh, the Grandparents are coming over on Sunday so we'll have a roast then, and there isn't much time on Tue because of that activity starting so early so that will be a beans on toast night, then I haven't got much time on Friday so I'll double the bolognaise I make on Wed and people can use that as a base with some wraps or pasta or something when we get in). However, recording every single meal for the week without any flexibility sounds a bit more than most people need to do, or find helpful.

Improptu "shakshuka" (and now I fancy it!) for example is basically just house staples.

Me too, alas the egg shortage has reached these parts and not a single egg to be had in the supermarket at the weekend

Absolutely! Highly recommended. I have special box in a freezer designated for these bits (another for herbs). Grill some of the chillies as well. Really great to add flavour. I also have squares of roasted garlic in there. When I have something in the iven, I put few cloves in a small tray to roast, squish it out and freeze. Again, great flavour within seconds then😁

Noooo way. Lucky we have some. Saw some in lidl yesterday and world supermarket.
Gotta get my stock in from costco before they go!

Hadn't thought about roasting and freezing garlic! That's genius.
On a similar subject, is it possible to freeze fresh herbs and for them to come out nice enough to use as fresh? They're probably the major wasted item in my house; the corner shops near me sell them in such big bunches I don't have a hope of using them all before they go off, and I've failed miserably at growing my own.
Sorry, derail I know.

@Suprima , but you have in some way planned to have the ingredients.
I meal plan in that I make a huge batch of food at the weekend, then freeze portions, and shop so that the basics are there for a variety of quick nourishing meals can be cooked if necessary.
Each day, there is some choice, and I'm ok with making substitutions if necessary if I cook. I don't really bother with recipes.

@BosaNova, I grow veg and herbs too, so there will usually be something I can nip out into the garden to add to whatever I'm cooking

Thank you kindly😁

Chives and rosemary hold up well, but parsley basil etc will go soft. I just finely chop them so it's not an issue. Thyme did ok!
You can also dry them on radiators if dried work better for you.

I do - it helps with buying ingredients for creating multiple meals which helps me save money and cut down on waste - but then we are a small family plus we like to cook. If you were eating mainly ready meals etc then this may be less useful. The lunch plan on the fridge also helps people grab their lunches and leave the things needed for evening meals.

I do meal plan but I tend to write them in a note on my phone rather than a board. I would have thought that was normal for most people but I might be wrong!

We are both full time workers and all of our meals are made from scratch, but we are home based predominantly. We will usually have a mix of quicker and lengthier meals to cook, meaning we can always swap a meal for a different day if work overruns or evening plans come up.

I probably use soft herbs more. I tend to chop them roughly but my DP is a fine-chopping sort of person; maybe I can get him to chop them all and then freeze them. I might miss the rougher-chopped thing though.

We don't meal plan but we also don't have children to worry about.

Most people I know meal plan - and I am envious of them!

I don't due to DH. He is very fussy (will only eat the same few foods and then complain he is bored with them) and even if he does agree to a plan he will change his mind on the day. Neither me nor DS (now 18) wants to eat what DH wants to eat all the time. DH also either works from home or is away overnight/back late and this can change with very little notice - same was DS. I've given up trying. Sometimes I have the same meal as DS, sometimes the same as DH, occasionally we all have the same meal, often we have three separate meals at three different times. It isn't good and I don't recommend it.

I'm the opposite, I find doing it it all at once is exhausting and far more manageable to decide on the day.
The stress of what happens if the plan needs to change is gone.
We eat a much more varied diet when I don't plan, I stick to a handful of meals when I plan as I struggle to think beyond family favourites.

If he's going to be fussy I would suggest to him that he makes his own dinner.

I meal plan for an entire year at a time.
I write down a months worth of different meals and then work down the list each month for a year.
That way we only ever eat the same meal 12 times a year a month apart and then I switch it up for the following year. I've done this for years and it's written on the fridge so everyone knows what we're having and my weekly shop is that weeks meals.