Help me be a better meal planner?

[Graphista]

This past year has been a big turnaround for me food wise, I've gone from living on toast and pot noodles to batch cooking from scratch and returning to baking.

But I'm still struggling with planning and using and keeping food waste to a minimum.

I find it tricky mainly as I live alone and my appetite can tend to do a disappearing act for long periods of time and then at others I'm eating loads!

I'm trying to be healthier/more normal in my approach.

I also tend to order pretty much the same every week, partly laziness but partly as I struggle with the motivation to plan (mental health issues)

I'm currently sat with notepad and pencil in hand. I use the nest egg app to keep track of what I have in and expiry dates...when I remember to use it!

I just did an inventory the other day.

I also can go through periods of wanting to eat the same thing repeatedly and then going completely off it but having the ingredients still there and needing used.

Am I alone in having these issues? I actually hope not as I'm hoping someone or a few really can sympathise and perhaps say how they got out of these bad habits.

I currently have in my "alerts" that need using in the next few days up to a week the following:

Squeezy guacamole
Pickled peppers
Boursin
Milk
Olives
Eggs
Stir fry veg

I know the veg and eggs I can take a fairly relaxed approach to and don't need to worry too much about the best before dates, the rest I'm a bit wary of.

The peppers I opened by accident thinking they were sundried tomatoes which is annoying. They're leftover from when I wasn't cooking/eating properly and would have cheese and crackers as a meal and this was my compromise on having SOME kind of veg but I'm not really fancying that kind of meal/snack at the moment and I don't know how else to use them.

I am vegetarian and I do eat quorn.

Would love some tips and ideas on how to meal plan and keep my appetite tempted and keep food waste to a minimum.

I tend as I said to get same stuff every week and make the same few meals on rotation. I posted a meal rut thread and got some good ideas there so I'm trying to mix it up but need help with the planning aspects.

TLDR: help me plan easily for one person with an erratic appetite and motivation for cooking

TIA

Bumping this for you OP!

Not many ideas but this is one of my current favourites. Reduce quantities/ play with ingredients ( use those peppers)

Ingredients
▢ 2 tbsp olive oil
▢ 1 small red onion , peeled, halved and sliced
▢ 1 garlic clove , minced
▢ 1 small red capsicum (bell pepper) , halved lengthways and sliced into 0.5cm/1/4” strips
▢ 1 tomato , diced
▢ 400 g / 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
▢ 1 tbsp tomato paste
▢ 1/2 cup / 125 ml chicken or vegetable broth (or water)
▢ 1 tsp EACH paprika and cumin
▢ 1/4 tsp EACH black pepper and cayenne pepper (or other hot spice, adjust to taste)
▢ 1/2 tsp salt
▢ 4 eggs eggs (up to 6 eggs ok)
▢ 2 tbsp fresh parsley or coriander / cilantro , roughly chopped
▢ Pita or crusty bread, to serve
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180C/350F (if intending to bake them).
Heat oil in a medium size cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes until onion is translucent.
Add capsicum, cook for 1 minute. Add diced tomato, cook for 2 minutes until broken down and it becomes a bit pasty (see video).
Add canned tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix to combine well.
Lower stove to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes until just thickened enough to make indentations (don't want dry sludge, needs to still be saucy).
Make indentations in the mixture and carefully crack the eggs in. Leave to cook for 1 minute until edges of whites are set (Note 1).
Transfer to oven and bake for 7 to 12 minutes until whites are just set but yolks are still runny (or to your taste). OR cover with lid and steam on stove for 3 minutes (runny yolks), or just simmer them without a lid.
Remove from oven/stove and serve immediately, scattered with the coriander or parsley. Serve with crusty bread, or pita bread.

I always do it on the hob

Thing that really helped me with food waste was to only plan 6 meals out of 7. It just gave me some leeway, there was always something, popping up to interfere with my plan. You get invited out (ok not in a pandemic, you get a takeaway, you can’t be bother and eat cheese and crackers, you cook more of a dish than you expect and have extra leftovers to eat etc etc. If none of those things happened I always had something in the freezer to use up or ingredients in the store cupboard to make a pasta dish or something.
For fresh items that need using up I try and plan two different meals e.g if I buy a pack of three peppers, I would plan to use one for stuffed peppers one night, then use one for salads at lunch and another in fajitas later in the week. Obviously somethings can just be chucked in the freezer but that isn’t always an option.
When stuck for ideas I start by giving each day a broad heading and go from there. Monday a pasta Dish. Tuesday a fish dish. Wednesday a curry. Thursday a veggie dish. Friday a chicken dish. Sat no plan! Sun a roast.
Easy to chop and change titles etc but gives you somewhere to start.

Watching waste Is hard for single household especially if jumping from one cuisine to another each day, you may wish to look at having something on a similar theme for 2-3 days perhaps

I would say keep it simple with the basics, think about options rather than what to specifically have on each day and see if you can roll one days meal into the next once or twice a week

The pickled peppers are they hot? Could do a riff on spicy Mexican style eggs or nachos with the guacamole if you have wraps or tortilla chips. It's ok to throw the odd thing away if it's not what you fancy, has gone off etc

Thanks for the bump @bearlyactive

Flexibility is a good idea I think unfortunately at the moment I'm too flexible!

I need more structure

Watching waste Is hard for single household definitely! Mainly as it's nigh on impossible to buy things in small quantities. Especially since the changes to retail due to covid. Eg not been able to get milk in 1 pint containers for months!

I don't mind having similar 2-3 days in a row I'm just not good at planning that

I'm currently having wraps (thanks for the idea...my brain is drawing a blank on ideas at the moment I should've thought of this), using the guacamole, cheese and peppers (that are spicy yes - which annoys me as they shouldn't be. Supposedly "antipasti" ones which should be piquant but not spicy I can't do much spicy food)

Rather tasty but the peppers according to the instructions on the jar need used in the next 3 days according to when opened which I'm sceptical about as they're jarred, in oil and spiced! So should keep pretty well?

I have that need using this week:

Loads of mushrooms which I'm planning to make a stroganoff with, and the aforementioned list.

this website is helpful for food expiry etc and gives ideas. I think I was much better when I was I single , so if I bought broccoli head I would use half one day and blanch and freeze ( in my teeny freezer) for another day. I would buy 2 pork chops and freeze one. But tbh I was mainly vegetarian when I was single ( until I got pregnant in fact) so I lived in rice veg and quorn!

I meal plan each week, like this. I sit down with my diary, looking at the week ahead so I know if I need a quick tea in a busy evening, or the children have hobbies to cook around, etc.

I then write a 7 night meal plan, only dinners, with what kind of veg/sides. I aim for a mixture of meals: pasta, rice, stew, pie, stir fry, quick oven food, soup, jackets, etc etc. I write down any extra things to order at the bottom of the page, for particular recipes.

I check what I'm running low on in the fridge and cupboards, and thro the week I also make sure i list these things also I'm ready to do my online order.

Then I do my online order using the plan and order standard lunch things, store cupboard fillers etc and additional things needed for dinners too.

Works for us! Sometimes I order a couple of extras ie sausages in case of plans changing, to stock up the freezer just in case.

Hope that helps