Meal planning ARGH

[nutcracker]

I am just not meant to be this type of person, you know the ones that meal plan, have folders for bills and are generally organised, I'm jutst not OK.

Ok feel slightly better after that rant, but honestly, isn't meal planning borrrrrrrrrring ??

actually I don't even open them most of the time as they are all direct debits

I rarely open my bank statements either

everything dd here too

NeVER keep bills

everythign online chez Enid

See my accounts background just makes me physicall unable not to check bills and then keep them even though ethings on dd and accessiable online!!!! So stuck in the past!!!

I do try and plan as i'm going around the supermarket but if i have the kids with me I get stressed and forget what i'm doing after about erm 2 seconds.

I am also crap at getting stuff out of the freezer.

Bill generally get opened but then get moved around the living room until I know it's been paid and then it goes in the bin. I do have a file thing for bills but it's full of crap.

oh yes my fil is an accountant by training too!

Started mealplanning after becoming time starved since having dd.

Yes, it is a bit boring and lacks spontaneonity, but I am so proud to be able to prepare meals from scratch every day (even if it means de-frosting food I bulk cooked weeks ago). Dh does some cooking over WEs as well. We watch cookery programmes and take note of simple recipes. I cut up recipes from newspapers and stick them in a folder. Have the usual cookbooks.

Plan meals a week in advance based on what is left in the fridge/freezer (so minimise wastage), how many meals we need, how much time we have that weekend to pre-cook, which days in the week we will be busy/late (Dh and I work).

Shopping lists, one shop per week. It's a well-oiled machine.

See for fear of getting shouted at her [ducking as we speak] my ds is an angel when we go out food shopping, he loves it. He excitedly gets into his trolley and chatters to people as we go round. We sing songs he eats fruit and points things out to me and then at the end he gets to stretch his legs and help push the trolley - i actually enjoy it sometimes. That said I only have the one and he's only 23mths so there's plenty of time for all that to change

[touching every wooden item in sight that it won't!!!]

mine are all quite good

but there are so MANY of them now

lazycow - thanks for the tip re Tesco recipes / ingredients. I hadn't noticed that before and I just tried it. It's really easy!

Mine are all direct debits too, but I have to open & file them. I would feel as though I had ants under my skin if I did anything as reckless as not open my bills!

Mine are all direct debits but I keep a copy of the last one, then bin when the next one comes.

Bank statements kept

and all stuff on insurance, mortgage etc

all in a pretty concertina file from Paperchase with flowers on [saddo emoticon]

someone gave me a print out of a meal planner from this web site