Meal Planning

[Mumukx]

First time posting and hoping for some advice on meal planning.

After reading lots about different ways to meal planning (batch cooking, dump bags etc) I wondered if anybody has any advice on what has worked best and if you do this weekly or monthly?
TIA

Just sit down once a week, the day before the online shop is due, write days of the week down the side, with a note of who’s around and what you’re doing (therefore how much time you have), have a quick check in fridge or freezer as to anything you need/want to use up and then write a list of meals. Think about how much of a pack you need and if you can use the rest later in week (eg bacon sandwiches for Sunday tea, bacon risotto for Tuesday tea).

When I was working long weeks I cooked a triple batch of one meal every Sunday afternoon and froze it. First week, a chilli. Second week, a curry. Third week, a casserole or pasta sauce.

That meant I had 3 types of meal to grab from the freezer in stock every week, so only 2 other weeknights to worry about. That definitely made life easier.

Thank you both. I think the batch cooking would be could for us at the moment as we work different shifts at the moment so it would be convenient to have other meals in the freezer too x

I love batch cooking.

Winter and autumn are the best times for me as stews, casseroles scouse all freeze well. As does chilli and curry. Perfect for the cold dark nights

I do as I outlined above and on the days (weekends or days I’m not working) I have free afternoons I do big stews or lasagne or something in quadruple quantities and eat it for that day, then freeze the rest in different size portions (for one, two or all of us so it’s flexible how we use it in future). I don’t really see it as batch cooking - works well for us though. My meal plan often just says ‘freezer’ for a busy day, and I pull out whatever I/we fancy the night before so it’s defrosted in time to microwave at the end of said busy day.

I make a list throughout the week (after watching tv, reading, browsing here) of what we might fancy. Then, the day before the shop I make a list and refine my plan. So, on a Wednesday we're both in late so that day will be something super quick, something I've been able to prepare in advance.

I do a regular inventory of the fridge and freezer and always make sure I've exhausted meals already available before buying more stuff.

Our meals are a combination of those I can cook quickly, meals that take a while but need little cooking and meals that I cook for pleasure.

The first category is stuff like stir fries or frozen convenience food. This is stuff that I can ask my teens to cook or pop in the oven

The second category is stuff like slow cooker meals or casseroles. I have to remember to start early enough but they can be left alone. The pros of this is when people might eat at different times.

The third category is for weekends or bank holidays only. Eg a roast

During term time we eat quite a lot of quick meals during the week eg salmon with a teriyaki sauce with chow mein is a favourite here where as I'm more likely to cook something more complex from scratch at the weekend if I'm at home

That's a good point about looking at what's left. I have quite a lot of eggs going out of date on Monday so will do pancakes this weekend to use them up.

I'm home most evening so don't do an awful lot of batch cooking, plus your freezer is tiny. If I make anything time consuming though like a lasagne I always make 2.

I tend to do a curry each week, a fish dish, a burger (because the kids will eat anything that has burger in the name), a vegetarian dish and probably a roast. That usually takes up usually 5 days although there may be cross over sometimes like a fish curry

I do monthly planning, but biweekly execution.
Basically, I put in a spreadsheet what I am intending to cook every day of the week, every week of the month (on rotation: red meat one day, chicken another day, fish etc).
Then I buy the ingredients to cook for the first two weeks. After two weeks I buy what I need for the rest of the month, but normally there are some adjustments due to frozen leftover, days we haven't been eating at home, etc).
My shopping is mostly for ingredients to cook from scratch, but I also include one or two 'easy' meals that are normally low effort and to be eaten fresh (like a ready made moussaka or a bag of stir fry veg). Most of what I cook from scratch I do it in batches to put one or more portions in the freezer immediately. It gets eaten towards the end of the month, with the double benefit of being ready (only reheating) and we don't eat the same thing for few days in a row.

Hope my logic is not too confusing!
Ah, also I note down recipes I want to cook for the following month, or new things I want to try, or food I haven't cooked in a while. This way there is some variety.