How do you meal plan?

[BabCNesbitt]

Ex DH used to do most of the cooking, but since we split up I’ve been finding it really hard to plan and make healthy meals. I work full time and have 50-50 custody, and on the nights the kids are with my ex, I wind up eating toast and Flora with Marmite (which is my go-to WFH snack, too). By the weekend I’m often knackered and resort to takeout. But planning and preparing healthy dinners just takes a level of executive function that I don’t seem to have - by 6pm the idea of even chopping a vegetable is enough to make me reach for the veggie sausages, because at least that’s quick and easy.

I definitely can’t afford dinner boxes à la Gousto, but I do have a (mostly unused) Instant Pot and air fryer. I also have a fussy 8 year old who won’t touch couscous (my former go-to) and would prefer all her dinners to be entirely beige.

I don’t really need recipe suggestions, just general “how do you work out how to get dinner on the table when you’re exhausted” advice? I know I should be prepping at the weekend etc but I’m often too wiped to do much at all by then!

(I’ve also put on a stone and a half in the last year and would like to shift that!)

Do you have a slow cooker? These are life savers when you’re tired or like me.. Sick to the back teeth of being the only cook 🤣
You can make a ton of things. Throw it all in when you wake up & just serve it up in the evening. Also if you really wanna save time do a prep night & get some giant zip locks fill with all ingredients for meals that you wanna put in the slow cooker & throw in the freezer. You can then either take out the night before to defrost then put in the slow cooker in the morning or put in the slow cooker frozen.

I do things like stews/casseroles, curries, soup & then I’ll thicken it up for the kids & chuck in some pasta as my eldest & middle DC would turn their noses up at soup for dinner! I even do my meat in there if I fancy a roast, will throw in a chicken or leg of lamb in the morning then just have to worry about veg & potatoes in the evening. Sometimes I’ll just slow cook a chicken & cut up & use for sandwiches, pasta ect.

I always try to make double of everything. We either eat the same for two nights or I freeze the other half for a lazy night. So I usually only cook every other day. It got me through those times! Also use my instant pot as a slow cooker.

I had a slow cooker but got rid of it as I didn’t have time to set it up in the morning and it didn’t make very interesting vegan meals (as this is on the vegan board). @Errolwasahero what did you cook that worked well as a batch meal? I can think of curries but DD refuses them unless it’s the blandest dhal!

Oh gosh sorry OP I didn’t even see it was on the vegan board! Ignore me then 🤣

Buy pre chopped veg, batch cook and freeze portions is what I used to do. But tbh now with a fussy 3yo we mostly have:

Mac N cheese (made with hidden butternut squash)
Veggie Mince mash n peas (I peel potatoes whilst watching tv)
Veggie Sausages sweet potato chips and corn on the cob
Tofu scramble on toast and tomatoes
Lentil soup and buttered bread
Baked potato and beans
Pizza
Tofu, noodles and corn (and I have tofu veg stir fry made with jar sauce)
Veggie dippers, popadoms, rice and peas (when I have curry made with jar sauce)

On rotation. Used to have tomato pasta in there but she went off it. Give her lots of fruit to make up for the somewhat limited veg. Still put a bit of pepper or green bean or carrot on her plate when I’m having them but she’ll take them off.

Frozen pre-chopped veg (onions, sweet potato , squash etc) and batch cooking are my saviours. I pretty much just assemble my meals, no prep.
I'm an omnivore but we eat vegan a couple of times a week.
The batch lady's Miso medley
Lots in Rukmini Iyers Green roasting tin book
Buddy Oliver's smoky beans with a baked potato
Would all be good for you to try.
Speedy bosh are tasty, but it's 30 minutes of speed cooking, and an equal time dealing with the recovery after!

I do a stir fry almost every week. I use straight to wok noodles, pre-made sauces and prepared packets of stir fry veg. To stop us getting bored, I get different veg mixes each week, use different sauces, different proteins (tofu/Quorn chicken or Quorn steak) and alternate between rice noodles and wheat noodles.
I also always do jacket potatoes each week but just rotate the different toppings - baked beans, vegan cheese, reheated veggie chilli etc…