Menu planning

[mummytummy]

I'm trying to get myself organised, especially since weaning (its taking me forever to feed our family), and I am thinking of planning the week's meals in advance. Whenever I've tried doing this, it ends up going to pot and I have to throw away tonnes of food that has gone off in the fridge because I've cooked something that is easier from the freezer. I dream of being Annabel Karmel! Does anybody do menu planning successfully, and any tips on how I can become a domestic goddess?

I'm just starting to try menu planning - this week we are having:
Monday - wraps made from chappatis, bhajis, salad and minty yog
Tues - soz casserole
weds - egg and lentil curry and rice
thurs - baked potatoes and sald
Fri - going out!
It removes the hassle of having to think about what to cook after a busy day at work and dh is helping so I'm quietly confident about it - will let you know how it goes!

Hi, i plan my shopping now, in an attempt to save money in the shops and like you prevent wastage. ( i used to buy a big variety and not know what to do with it!)

Also it has encouraged me to use the thousands of recipe books i have and to become a bit more adventurous in the kitchen.

Before i go shopping i pick five meals and a couple of deserts to cook from a recipe book and write a list of all the necessary ingredients in them. As well as buying the list, i also buy some "easy" things to chuck in the freezer.

Every evening before i go to bed, i decide what i will cook the next night, going by what needs using up first, then i can get anything out to defrost if necesary. That way if i notice i have abundance of veg, or something leftover i make sure i plan something to cook with that.

But i don't write a strict list of what to eat on which day, that way if i can't be bothered one night, i can just chuck fishfingers in the oven instead!

My food shops tend to last 5-10 days and i rarely ever waste anything anymore.

A good habit to get into, is to do some preparating if poss earlier in the day. E.g peeled veg's can sit and wait in water in saucepan. And casseroles can be thrown together and use an oventimer so you don't have to rush home to prepare dinner.

HTH - let me know if you discover any other useful tips!!

yes, couldn't function without it. Keeps our shopping costs low too. I also have a w/e every now and then where I cook a batch of "basics", e.g. lasagne, quiche, shepherd's pie, chilli, soup and freeze. Then there's always something that just needs veg/salad with it around.

I have just started dieting this week and did menu planning for Mon to Fri for me and DH. DD normally eats same as DH. I did it Sunday morning, and only really bought the food that we needed for that.

This week:

Monday - tuna steaks, with rice and salad
Tuesday - pasta with roasted vegetables (DH and DD has some beef mince added)
Wednesday - trout fillet (DH and DD had pork fillet), roasted potatoes and vegetables
Thursday - fishfingers, low fat oven chips, mushy peas and bread
Friday - have planned sausages, mash and veg

Actually I have just picked up a full chicken for 10p (!!!) and some chicken drumsticks for 10p for 4 in local shop. So I am currently cooking the whole chicken (drumsticks in freezer) and will use it to do something for DH and DD tomorrow now.

I do much the same as you Fran1. When I do my list I write down the date of every day, ie. Mon 15th, Tue 16th, it helps when Im looking at useby dates. by the side of each date I write a rough guide of what we might eat that night along with things that are happening in our week, ie out at a friends, not here for lunch, its sounds very dull but it does help me. I alsways have the emergency dinners put aside for days when Im lazy, or indeed not well. I too have less waste. Once you get into it you actually have lots more menu ideas and it gets easier. My ds has lovely food at his school and I often check whats on their menu and copy what they have done, saves me thinking.

I keep meaning to do this and I'm getting better! Just for DH and I - trouble is, quite often, DH has a note saying GYO (get your own)

I do my list but don't assign a day to a meal particularly - just choose 7 meals and then decide on the day what I fancy cooking. I always try and make sure that 2 or 3 of them are really easy cooking ones (a salad, or a pizza or a cook-in-sauce jar) to avoid the problem of chucking stuff away. I also try and have 1 that I cook double amounts and freeze half (chilli con carne or pasta sauce are great for that - another quick meal for the following week).

OOO! I do this and although my dh laughed at me at first for being so anal... it has worked brilliantly and has put an end to the boring meat and 2 veg we were ending up having every evening! - you know the usual scenario... get in from work, look in freezer, get sausages, cook up veg... voila!

i plan a whole weeks, starting on monday... i, like Fran1, have a 101 recipe books, so one evening (boring night on telly) i sat down with some post it notes and went through most of my books, marking all the recipes which i liked and would consider cooking...

then i plan the whole weeks menu starting on monday, for mondays and tuesdays i usually plan something which i can partially cook on sunday (e,g, a stew / casserole / soup / pie) so on monday when we get in i can just heat up...

thursdays are always fish day (the beauty of menu planning is that you can attempt to eat a little healthier - we eat too much meat so i try to ensure 2 veggies, 1 fish, 2 meat, 1 soup etc throughout the week) because the bin men come on friday so i know that fish bones aren't stinking out my bin for days on end... also i work part time so one of the thurdays activities is going to the fish market in birmingham city entre! dd regularly shouts "Look! there's Nemo!!!" as we peruse the fish!

I love cooking as well so this has really let me have a go at a few different things, also once the menus done, i then go through the menu, picking out all the ingredients i need, thus cutting out the excess buying i tended to do at the supermarket, also you zip around a lot quicker when you know what you're doing!

LAst weeks menu was

Mon - Spag Bol
Tues - Chicken Stir Fry with Rice
Weds - Steak and Veg
Thurs - Monkfish in breadcrumbs with sweet and garlic potatoes
Fri - Lentil Soup & Bread
Sat - Pizza & Garlic Bread
Sun - Chicken and Mushroom Pie & veg

One very very useful thing i do is make a HUGE batch of tomato sauce (Delia had a terrific Roast and Tom Sauce with Garlic - but fiddley to make!, Nigella has a lovely one which is lovely with Annabel KArmels meatballs and the one we use the most is JAmie Olivers!) and freeze it as then it can be used as a base for everything! Pizza, pasta dishes etc etc (we've run out and dh is making a big batch now!!!! for tonights pizza!)

i think i've waffled enough now!!! but i think it's great and nothing goes to waste and so many friends have come round and perused the menu and then gone off and started planning themselves! so give it a go! Good Luck!

Thanks. I can't believe how organised some of you are. The next thing I was going to ask is do you have any basic recipes for the freezer that can be turned into lots of other things? I remember seeing a whole load of them in a magazine once, but I can't find the magazine again.

I cant believ anyone doesnt menu plan

There's always loads of recipes on the bbc website and 'sainsburys'. You can search for particular recipes or ones that take a particular amount of time.

every sunday night i sit in front of the telly and plan meals for the week, asking dh what he wants to cook on his days and checking out what we alreay have in the freezer. Then I use the plan to add to the standard shopping list (we shop on Mondays). It's been working really well in terms of being organised, but I can't say I've noticed saving any money.