I cannot belive folk dont menu plan

[FluffyMummy123]

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Yes Mercy. I am afraid so. We were eating FAAARRRR too much red meat before I did this plan, and no vegetarian meals at all . We all like our meat though esp dh who does alot of exercise and maintains he needs his protein. Do you think it is too much?

Meant to say loads of other good ideas on that thread too!!!

I often wonder what tea would be like if I lived in someone else's house. Do you all live on elaborately cooked meals? Preparing our evening meal takes time but is SO SiMPLE.

This is how I plan our meals.
We always have staple carbs in the house (pasta, potatoes, rice).
If I have something I particularly want to use (veg or meat), or if I have a particular craving, I plan the meal around that.
Otherwise, every day, I cut up a lot of vegies, put them into the steamer. Then decide if it's spuds (usually), rice or pasta.
Simply cook any meat we might be having with those boiled carbs (can be mashed or fried after boiling, and maybe mixed with jar sauce/powdered gravy, as needed).

Peeling potatoes is dull, but otherwise it's low stress because it's non-thinking cooking. I think we eat very healthy because it's high in veg & low in salt.

i ask the kids what they want to eat, then make that. since what they want to eat is usually simple, its not worth the time planning out elaborate stuff for them.
i would be bored rigid with the sort of menu planning some people on mn do.

Leftovers are my lunch next day, or go into rissoles/lasagne. Rarely waste any food.

i couldnt eat meat potatoes and veg everyday

i would think i was a grandma

VP, it would be too much meat for us tbh (plus dh is a fish eating vegetarian, iyswim). I aim for at least one fish based meal and one totally vegetarian meal per week (a combination of health and money really)

lljkk, aren't powdered gravy mixes and jars of sauce notoriously high in salt?

I have one fish and one veggie meal a week now and a max of two red meat meals. We were having no veggie meals and four! beef based meals before. Far too much minced beef (it was lean steak mince though . DH is anything but a vegetarian, but I have hopes for him as he gets older...

VP - thanks for the link to the 6 week menu, really useful. I have enforced 1 veggie and 1 fish night per week, but tbh, we all hate it, despite me trying all sorts of different ideas.

I need to agree menu plans up front with everyone, so we can all get food we like. And I want to spend the mininum of time on thinking/planning/buying food, and a plan helps me achieve this.

I go through long phases of meal planning broken up by a couple of weeks of opening the fridge and wondering 'what can we eat tonight'.

I wouldn't like the same foods on the same days every single week but we definitely eat more healthily and waste less when I decide before shopping most of the main meals for the forthcoming week before I shop.

I love having a time to look through recipe books and do my planner, but I have to be in the mood to enjoy it. Knowing it is done means I don't have to think about it when I am not in the mood and we still all get fed reasonably well.

Does planning which ready meal DH should put in the microwave each night count as menu planning?

Cod: re OP.. believe it! Some of us don't even cook! ever!

I menu plan some of the time, but not every week. I generally try and menu plan and then do my online food shop based on that.

I only ever menu plan for week days, never for weekends unless we are having people round for a meal.

I have to say that it is easier during the week, esp after work, on the days that I have menu planed.

But some weeks I just don't get round to it - laziness I think sometimes.

For next week DD has done the menu plan She got a new cookery book for kids type book for her birthday a couple of weeks ago and has chosen 5 recipes from that to make with me.

Do you finish work reasonably then hula (I know you start very early)? Because I finish at 4.30 but it is 5.10 to pick up DS. 5.20 to pick up DD and 5.30 home, so cannot be cooking anything too elaborate. Hence I usually do menu plan at least one day of the weekend just so I can bulk cook.

We get a veg box, and if you don't start the week with some idea of how you are going to get through it, you just end the week with a box of wilting vegetables.

Kohlrabi on toast or Salsify with baked beans aren't particularly appetizing choices.

Also, I have to feed people three/four times a day (pre-schooler and toddler and me and DH), and pasta and pesto gets boring - not saying this doesn't make a regular appearance some weeks, but going into the kitchen 2 or 3 times a day and coming up with a meal on the spot just isn't so thrilling after a while.

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bozza - most days i can collect dd from school on time but on a tues i cant until 5.30. Sometimes that is twice a week but not often now. We ago to eat at 6.30 for when dh gets in from work to eat together. Often on late days my menu plan is to cool something from the freezer that i have made previously. when i cook i do try to bulk cook a bit too as that helps use next week or too.

I used to be really organised about menu planning, but lately I can't be arsed. I quite like deciding what I'm going to eat on the day and shopping for it. I've never been one for batch cooking and freezing. It's just not me.

my fave new activity to spice up ocado night is to pick a new recipe (from extensive dusty collection of glamorous cook books) and buy the ingredients online.
then becomes strangely exciting to receive order and make the new thing.
only problem is slovenly re-ordering bad habits which means I often accidently order random elements in following weeks so suddenly there's dismembered blackberries fresh coconut another jar of preserved lemons etc

Bored of same old, so attempted to menu planinternet shop this week to inject variety, but it is not very well.

Salmon teriyaki in our house now known as Salmon teriyucky

not going very well

I often just select one cookbook or card set per week, and cook things from that. I try to include at least new one recipe per week, although sometimes that doesn't work out, or i miught just be a variation on something we normally have. Luckily DD enjoys trying something new.

This week as DD got her new cook book for her birthday the meals are all from that, at her choice.