Advice for meal planning

[Rubyupbeat]

I've been married 40 years so you would thing I was skilled at planning a week's menu...I am not and really need some tips on what you all do.
With me, I randomly buy stuff, twice a week deliveries from 2 supermarkets and then get in a real state what to make with it all.
I tend to fall back on nice heat up stuff from cook or m and s.
I never used to be like this when I had a full house.
I would love to get back to cook from scratch and cooking double, half for the freezer.
There's only the 2 of us.
Organisational tips please.
Tia.

I decide what meals I want to make, then buy the ingredients, rather than the other way round.
I use a notes app on my phone to write down what is planned each day.
I might not always rigidly stick to it but doing it that way does help.

It's an adjustment cooking for two. I'd be taking some time to think on what it is I enjoy eating. I also find cooking and eating more interesting when it's special. Fresh flowers, a tablecloth or some type of dessert. Sometimes planning the table and the dessert gets my ideas flowing around the actual food. Not every day obviously but once or twice a week. With just two people do you actually need to stock the freezer? Maybe prep breakfast bowls instead.

Everyday evening or Saturday morning we meal plan and write a list - me and DH. (We have one of those shopping list pads and fold the bottom half up and write the meals for each day in it- a bit sad but keeps us organised)

Saturday- entertaining/ out / easy eg supermarket pizza
Sunday - cook lasagne/roast/slow cooker / bbq in summer
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - pasta with roast leftover meat
weds - curry from a posh jar with extra veg (make double freeze half)
Thursday - quiche/ deli sandwich/ jacket potatoes
Friday - freezer either leftovers or junk!

I mean these are just examples we don’t always have curry on Wednesday!

we do plan to use fresh ingredient first. More cupboard freezer stuff to the end of the week. We don’t do top up shops

make sure you plan a protein carb and veg for each day. Depends on you appetite too. I’m happy for egg on toast for tea DH not so much!

It’s only the two of us and I plan my meals for the week (not for certain days). I then make a shopping list and mostly batch cook, divide into portions and freeze.
I shop online that way I’m not tempted to buy extras. I may do a veg top up shop.

I sit down every Saturday morning with a brew with the calendar and a pad, come up with a menu that fits the time we have each day (ie if its a night of activities, has to be something quick). Then do the shopping list based on that menu.

We probably have a circa three week rotation on our standard meals - mac & cheese, kievs, fajitas, curries, stir fry, cottage pie, chilli, burgers, skewers, steak, toad in the hole, thai curry, spag bol, moroccan chicken, fried rice…

Takes 20 minutes to do the menu and list, its (sadly) one of my favourite rituals - quiet time with a cup of tea. It works well, makes shopping easier and reduces stress and waste.

Good food App, work out a menu/build a list from there (we use the slow cooker several times a week) then buy what you need.

I use a recipe app to plan meals. I try to have simpler options in the week where stuff can be thrown in a slow cooker especially on certain nights where I might be doing something or DH is back later because he’s got later clients.

i have the recipes saved in the app then just pick them to add to my meal plan. Then I do an online Tesco shop from it.

Nothing high tech or revolutionary here, just sit down mid week and plan meals for each day of the following week, taking into account how much time we’re likely to have based on what’s in the diary. Then supermarket order based on the plan so there’s little opportunity to go off track. Bit regimented maybe but keeps me organised and gives me less to think about during the week.

I keep a well stocked cupboard of staples - pasta, rice, tinned toms, beans, pulses, herbs, spices and seasonings.

Meals are planned week by week based on the time we have available (2x full time working adults and 1x primary aged child with various activities), check the cupboards/fridge/freezer then do an online shop accordingly.

I only meal plan evening meals, and these are often things that I can double/treble quantities of and freeze. They are frozen in single or double portions with singles being used for quick lunches and doubles for evening meals (child has ARFID so eats separate foods). On those evenings where it's a freezer dive, it takes 10-15 mins tops to cook rice/pasta/veg etc to accompany. On days we have more time, I will cook something more elaborate!

Maybe you have used up your capacity for meal planning shopping and cooking. Now my children are adults I am so over the whole concept tbh. It’s BORING and endless.

So I guess my tip is just not to bother 😂

I do occasionally get Chat GPT to plan for me though.

This is what I'd do Rubyupbeat, 1 go through the freezer & list all of your meats/fish etc in portions. so you may have 3x chicken fillets for example, 2 x cod & so on.
2 list as many days as per portions
3 match up days & portions, then decide on meals (curry, pie, stew etc)
4 shop for ingredients to make said meals
5 whilst shopping for ingredients take advantage of yellow sticker/ bargains for the next week/fortnight
I find this method works well for me as I look at the meal plans coming up and know that I need to be buying/prepping
My budget goes to pot if I deviate & and I like having the extra cash in my pocket!

There’s only 2 of us as well. I’ll do a top up shop of veg/milk/bread in the week or DH will.

I usually make a lentil or bean soup in the winter at the weekend that’ll last in the week and a couple of portions in the freezer. We have salmon and prawns in the freezer and will usually have a stir fry with that in the week. Often do a big family roast or bbq on a Sunday so will have leftovers on Monday.

one night will be pasta of some kind. A curry another night. Freezer lucky dip in a wrap with salad another night. I don’t batch cook but will freeze a leftover portion, e.g meatballs we had last night will probably be with couscous and salad next week. Posh ready meal or bought fishcakes one night.

It’s in my head rather than formally written down and always includes the dishes that I know DH will happily make if I can’t be arsed.

This. We’ve recently been through a tricky time as a family (lots of upheaval and difficulties) and one of the things I found I no longer had the mental/emotional capacity to do was meal-plan. This was its own problem because a) I’ve always planned, even when I lived alone in my 20s and b) I find it really expensive to feed a family without a plan. So I went on a very short cookery course. I’m a good cook, it wasn’t that. I just felt I needed inspiration, a bit of a jolt. And it worked. I learnt a couple of things, remembered some others, and now feel back on track a little bit.

so, not a direct answer to your question, but something to consider maybe.

ChatGPT, write a meal plan for 2 adults for 6 nights. One needs gluten-free, one is a vegan. We'd like a range of different protein sources and enjoy spicy foods from cuisines like Moroccan, Thai and Punjabi. At least 3 meals need to be ready in 10 minutes or less, the others can take up to 30 minutes. All measurements in metric and make a shopping list at the end please. Oh, and please include lots of seasonal veg (we live in Utah). And we have 6 turnips in the fridge that need eating. Make sure there's something crunchy in every dish.

Or whatever details are relevant to you.

Get your husband to do half of it? Why is it all on you?

Then you’re only sorting 3-4 days. There are 2 of you, so if you have leftovers every 2nd night then that’s two meals you need to plan for and cook a week max.

Get your husband to do half, this isn’t all on you.

I would first of all make a list of everything in the fridge, freezer and cupboards. Go through apps like BBC Good Food to Google meals that you both like (using what you have to start with) and make your list based on those. I'd shop for 5 meals so you can still have flexibility on takeaways, going out or whatever. I always keep a list on the fridge to replace items that have run out but I never just browse in the shops.

I pick out 7 meals for the week I want to cook

hypertheticly

chilli con carne
tarragon chicken
curry and rice
fake nandos
tuscan bean soup
beans on toast
steak and chips

then list all the ingredients I don't already have, cook the chilli and put 2 portions in the freezer along with two portions of rice, same with tarragon chicken, and free the mash, again with the curry and the tuscan bean soup. The fake Nando's and steak is the two meals I don't freeze

Now I keep the 4 meals from each week for 4 weeks and have the first 2 weeks of meals for the next month

label the meals and date them

It reduces the shopping bill enormously

Rice is better frozen flat in a zip. lock bag