I cannot belive folk dont menu plan

[FluffyMummy123]

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We both work but menu planning sounds rather time-consuming. I don't know yet for today who is picking the dds up from school, or whether they will be home for dinner, or whether DP or I will cook dinner. Or whether noone will bother and we might just go out, or eat toast. I like uncertainty.

Well, there we differ, Fennel. I hate uncertainty!

I don't find menu-planning very time-consuming though. I sit down on a Sunday evening usually, plan the meals for the week, and the corresponding shopping list, and it all takes about 10 minutes.

we kind of plan

we go to Tesco's on Saturday morning when they are both at ballet

I scribble down at Sat-Fri list of vague suggestions

on the 3 days I work it is something from the freezer (chilli/curry/bolog/casserole)

on the other days we all eat together (joy ) and I have to think of something that both of them will eat, eg not a lot

we do not have after school stuff yet as dd1 wants to stay at Saturday ballet with dd2, this may change when they are both at school in September

Also my dh never cooks, so I always know who will be cooking and when.

(should that apostrophe be there? am I bovvered)

We do have choreographed out-of-school activities though. Due to working parenthood and liking for not rushing around on Saturday mornings. If one dd wants to join an activity, all 3 dds get to join. Same class, same time. As far as possible. No individual quirks allowed. Nor different rates of progress.

kerrymum: "do all you menu planners also watch "cookery" shows?"

I want to watch cookery shows but generally dcs don't allow me to sit through a recipe. Although if something catches my eye, I will print the recipe off the channel's website. I do cut out interesting recipes from newspapers and print off from mn!

Cooking is one of the few hobbies I have that is compatible-ish with young children.

I menu plan six days out of seven. I can't imagine doing anything else. I have zero wastage of food and it means I balance red meat / fish / chicken and a full range of different vegetables. It also means I go to the shops twice and twice only during the week. It's no drama if something crops up, I just postpone the plan for a day.

I don't even menu plan when I'm cooking - it's more a "what hasn't gone off in the fridge today?" attitude. Atrocious really.

I menu plan. I have a six week rolling plan, but I need to change it now warmer weather is here as it has a few too many casseroles on it .
I have just written the meals for May on the calendar so that I can do my monthly online shop.
We throw NOTHING away. I feel very content knowing I have plans for feeding my family . Mind you I am a SAHM so cook from scratch and have to be organised as no cook from frozen stuff in freezer. All meat / fish to be defrosted.....
Am I a loser then?
I get Olive magazine and watch Great British Menu. I think I might be odd....

VP, wow 6 weeks worth of meals! What's on your menu plan then? [nosey]

I would like to.But Feel I might not always want what I have decided that day.I am going to try to thiugh for financial/organisational reasons.

I work (very) full time, and can may also work in the evenings. DH doesn't cook, so I have to know that there is a meal available for them on the nights that I'm out.

I spend a bit of time at the weekend planning what we're going to eat - we by no means eat the same thing every week and certainly don't eat the same thing each night of the week - couldn't think of anything more boring!

I started menu planning because:

• I no longer had a full time nanny who cooked the boys' meals
• we were eating together as a family as a consequence so different tastes have to be accommodated
• I wanted to make sure that my boys were getting sufficient fruit and veg, so planned this in as well
• I wanted to cut down the amount of money we were paying for food

We throw much less away and I reckon my bills are at least £50 lower per week.

It was my new year's resolution. I managed 5 weeks. It was good actually. Then I got pneumonia, didn't cook at all, or shop, for a month or so, and it's all gone to pot again. Ah well. There's always next January...

So what's on the 6 week rolling plan then?

We do a "what's for dinner tonight" session each morning as I'm fed up with cooking stuff that they don't like so we trade off all the time:"you have to have stir fry veg and chaicken because we all had to eat meatballs again yesterday".

We have some meat/ stock/leftovers in the freezer but I normally spend 10 mins shopping each day (milk/ bread/ fruit and veg). We don't throw much out (occasional half finished tub of creme fraiche or limp carrots) but we seem to spend an inordinate amount on food... but when I didn't shop as we needed to, we threw out much more. Every so often we have a lucky dip from the freezer so kids can have their favourite left overs(I'll have frozen even small amounts of left overs so there'll be chilli/ bolognaise/ risotto)

I'm fed up with same old menu of fancy mince (spag bol/ meatballs/ chilli/ shep pie), risottoes, stirfry, roast beef/pork/chicken, occasional steak. DCs appalling at fish so we normally have good fish when kids have "lucky dip" (& they get fed early so we have a lovely long cocktail hour...)

Your 6 week menu plan please!

It is on this thread here at 21.20 or something.
I have to say I do NOT do polenta. Yuk! And this is def a cold weather meal plan.
Please note the variety of meats and fish each week .
My home version is colour coded .

I don't menu plan, but I don't overbuy food either since I've been buying Count On It. They're a food freshness label, that you stick on your food as soon as you open it, or freeze it, then you have a permanent reminder as to what you need to eat first and how long you've had it.

Since I've been using them, I use everything in my fridge, and throw away hardly anything. I get them from my local deli, but you can get them online at www.count-on-it.co.uk. A box should last you a month.

Thanks... looking at yours I realise we do actually fairly similar stuff to your menu, just not in as regimented a fashion and that we haven't had "fancy mince" for over a week: I was very hungry when I posted earlier so irritable about apparently restrictive menu! I'm now replete after lovely stir fried pork where DCs ate 6 different vegetables with only one complaint so now feeling more upbeat!

Thanks again

. It is nothing exciting. The dd's take it or leave it most days. One thing it has stopped is our expensive once a week take away habit. I have factored in a fish and chips for May as DH is away midweek for two consecutive weeks so me and the girls will have a treat. And we get a veg box so that side of things adds a bit of variety.

I suppose the summer version will have a few less recipes and more bbq type food with salad and potatoes....I think I will use the butcher more and perhaps get meat weekly. We have been on a budget and it has helped buying everything at the start of the month and knowing that even if we run out of money we have enough food .

we shop on sat and buy what we think is the ingrdeients for meals for a week
then we just eat them by sell by date
so prawn pasta on wed if the prawns are eat by wed
somehow by thursday all the food is eaten and we resort to the freezer or a takeaway

i just buy stuff but most of the time tis just me

on sat tho we went i n a delicatessen and bought local honey for my hayfever, bread, herrings in mariande, vignotte and cornish larg or something

so we had those things with tomatoes on sat afternoon

had a pub meal in the eve

had tyhose things when we got back in from ight out

had those things in bed next day

and then went out for an indian at 6pm

job done lol

i eat lots of fruit

Thanks VP, have a few new ideas now.

Not meant as a criticism but you eat a lot of meat.