Help me learn how to meal plan

[MamaMaui24]

A friend of a friend has her own little "Fresh 20" with more family friendly meals and standard ingredients:

dinnerdecided.net/

[Ashley&Scott]

I don't have any advice, I can commiserate though. We've been wasting a ton of food & eating like crap because we have no meal plan.

ETA:
Dinners in our rotation:
BBQ chicken quesadillas
Chicken & noodles over mashed potatoes
Cheesy meatloaf, mashed potatoes & green beans
Spaghetti & meatballs
Cheese ravioli
Scrambled eggs & hashbrowns
Orange chicken & fried rice

[Deleted]

This is my method, which has been working really well for us. I use Google Calendar for EVERYTHING, but if you use another electronic calendar, do it there.

Set up a calendar called "meal planning". Give access to both you and DH.
Plan one week of meals that you actually like. Start with easy stuff that are definitely winners. My meal plan this week is:
Marmelade Salmon, Chicken strip salads, thai basil chicken, black bean salsa soup, sloppy joes. Make each meal an "event" in the calendar. When you lay out a week, make the shopping list at the same time and add all the stuff you don't have.

As you eat a meal you like, move the event to a future day. If you don't want to eat the same 5-7 meals every week, add in a new one when you do the meal plan. Eventually, you've got a solid list of things you know how to make, like to eat, and can easily get/have the stuff for. As you get sick of something, or it goes out of season, just don't move it forward. If you're feeling really ambitious, try to get 10-15 meals on the calendar right away.

ETA: My problem with premade plans is that DH is fussy. He doesn't like onions. WTF? Anyway, it works better for us to use my own plan as I know it's stuff we both like.
ETA more: I find it way easier to look at a calendar with a bunch of meals in little blocks and just move them around. Plus, if I change my mind or we have extra leftovers, it's really easy to rejig it and move the meals I bought ingredients for to later in the week. I'm always at a total loss if you just ask me "what should we make for dinner tonight?"

[glitzy07]

I'm trying to be better about this too, and it's slowly working!

To start, write down a list of all the meals that you can think of that your family eats regularly. Even things like boxed macaroni and cheese or whatever. This gives you a list to start pulling from without having to be a ton of new recipes.

I usually pepper in new recipes among old favorites and stuff like frozen pizza, because it makes it more realistic. I've also found that it's good to have easy stuff like frozen meals as a back up in the event that your plan changes or you really just don't feel like cooking.

After making a list of meals (based on our schedule and when we'll be home in the evenings or not) I made a shopping list for all ingredients we don't have on hand. Then I also have to make sure to pull frozen meat items from the freezer a day or two ahead of time to thaw for future meals.

We also plan on using leftovers when possible to last through two meals, so that it can save us from a night of cooking or buying lunches. Last night I made a meal that was enough for lunch for both H and I today.

[hilwithonelary]

I use an iPad/iPhone app called Mealboard. You can input your own recipes or import from quite a few websites. You have to invest some time up front, but then it's easy to throw together a quick weekly meal plan. My favorite part is that it then automatically generates a grocery list.

ETA: to help me remember the grocery items that I buy on a regular basis, but don't really belong to a particular meal, I just made a recipe called "weekly items" and added stuff like milk, bread, bananas, etc. You can also add any individual item to your list as well for that random stuff you need once in awhile. 

Also, I think it can be overwhelming to think about making a bunch of new recipes. Start off by planning out simple things you already know how to make. It might not even be complicated recipes. A common dinner at our house is boneless pork chops cooked in a pan, a steamed veggie like broccoli, and a simple pasta salad. I never make more than 1-2 new recipes in a week. 

[savan]

This is what I do:

Every Sunday morning I sit down and pick 5 meals to make for that week. I have amassed a collection of recipes we like through food blogs and books. I do a cursory look to see what I feel like eating and pick that meal. I choose 5 meals because we inevitably have a couple of days every week that we don't have time to cook and just eat leftovers. I make a list of ingredients for those meals and other things we need and go to the store that morning.

I do not pick a specific meal for a specific day in advance. Sometimes I'll take a look at our calendar and realize that we have an activity and that day would be best suited for a crockpot meal. Otherwise I usually pick from my list of 5 meals the night before when I have a feel for how the next day will go and how much time I have to cook. If the week passes and I haven't had a chance to make a meal from my list, I just push it into the next week's meals.

Rinse and repeat every Sunday. I've gotten it to where it takes maybe 30 minutes every Sunday to put together a plan.

[ladygrey]

A few things that have helped me:
- the AnyList app for grocery shopping
- putting meals on our shared Google calendar
- if planning for the entire week seems overwhelming, split it in half (3-4 meals at a time, and do a second grocery trip halfway through the week)

[electricmayhem]

One of the trickiest things (IMO) about meal planning is trying to fit in new things, only to find that they don't work, or take too long, or we don't like them. I made a list, separated by category (beef / chicken / turkey / pork / pasta / etc) and then wrote down meals under each heading that 1) can be easily (and relatively quickly) made on a work night and 2) everyone will eat. Here are some of the things I do:

Here are some examples:
Sun: Meatloaf (made in one loaf, same cooking time. And if we get home early enough and I start right away, this works on weeknights too)
www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/individual-meat-loaves-recipe.html

Mon: Turkey tacos
I can't find this recipe online right now, but can link it later. Very easy, and fast.

Tues: Pasta with meatballs
Buy a 2 pound package of ground beef. Use half for the meatloaf on Sunday. Use the other half to make fresh meatballs on Tuesday night--I use my mom's recipe and can write it out if you want it. takes about 30 minutes including cook time. I make marinara too.

Wed: Pork loin with starch and vegetable
The Hormal marinated pork loins are excellent--we like teriyaki the best. Cooks for 35-40 minutes. Usually make with white rice and a bag of frozen green veggies (broccoli, string beans, spinach).

Thurs: leftover night, because garbage goes out!

Friday: Lemon Garlic Tilapia
allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-garlic-tilapia/
Target sells tilapia filets in a bulk bag; they work great with this recipe. Add a starch (baked potato in the microwave, mashed potatos, etc.) and vegetable

Saturday I try to make something bigger so we can have leftovers during the week if needed. Go-tos are beef stew with carrots and potatoes, Indian pot roast, whole chicken, london broil, etc.

[juliette21]

I am kind of crazy, so you might want to only do a modified version of what I do. 

I meal plan for the week on Saturday during my DS2's nap time. I put a movie on for DS1, and go into our study for about an hour and just plan out meals, snacks, etc. and make a shopping list (organized by aisles, to maximize time in the store).

We do one big grocery shopping trip every Saturday. All in all, meal planning and shopping probably eats up 3 hours of our weekend. It sucks, but we don't waste time running out to the store during the week for little things, and it's much more cost-efficient.

I have a system for each night mostly, this is after much trial and error. We need easy, simple things right now because we have 2 young kids and work FT:

Saturday - Takeout or dinner out since we go to the grocery store on the later side (4 p.m.)
Sunday - Something more labor-intensive that makes leftovers (lasagna, chili, spaghetti and meatballs, roasted pork tenderloin with potatoes and veggie) 
Monday - Tacos/Fajitas/some Southwestern thing with rice and beans (we switch up varieties)
Tuesday - Leftovers of Sunday's/Monday's dinner
Wednesday - Some type of crockpot meal
Thursday - Homemade pizza (with store-bought crust and sauce of course LOL)
Friday - Leftover of the Weds crockpot meal

Hope this helps, and I'll try to think of recipes to share!

[rubyturpin]

We didn't meal plan the first 6 months of marriage, and we were spending $700+/month on groceries for just the 2 of us! We meal plan now and life is so much easier. We now spend $450-500/month with 2 kids thrown in, and there is so much less stress just knowing what we're having for dinner each night.

I go shopping on Thursdays, so Wednesday night we make the meal plan for the week. I keep all our "make again" recipes on a Pinterest board so I can just browse there for ideas and have the recipes on hand. Since I only go shopping once a week we have produce-heavy meals on Thursday-Sunday and then rely more on meals with canned or frozen veggies Monday-Wednesday. So we do more salads early on and then transition to casseroles and stir fries (frys?) as the week progresses.

[humpforfree]

I grocery shop on Mondays, so Sundays I just sit down with a notepad and make my menu. I go through the grocery sales/coupons and also take into consideration what we got in our farm basket (meat & produce). I browse Pinterest for the ingredients I have and then just list something for each day and do my grocery list at the same time.

[aspentosh]

Signing in that this is a problem for us, too.

What has worked in the past (and is working now for the past two weeks) is having a list of easy and fast(ish) meals. For us it's about 20 (tacos, lasagna, ziti, meatball sandwiches, etc) and we'll grab 2-3 from there each week plus one new meal and go grocery shopping.

Our big thing is to pick a variety because if we do ziti, chili and tacos, I am tired of beef the next week which is no good. And to not make 5 meals, because we like and will eat leftovers.

[arebee]

When I started meal planning I made a master list of all the things we eat/all of our recipes broken down by type. So chicken, beef, vegetable, side, etc. all grouped together. Then on the weekend I use that list to make a list of 5 or 6 things that I feel like making that week and then I build my grocery list off of that. I only do 5 or 6 because we'll end up getting take out or I'll make something random one night. I also don't assign days because who knows which of the 6 things I'll actually feel like eating on Wednesday.

I also plan one thing for lunches that week. So I'll get enough stuff for sandwiches or I'll make a big pot of soup on the weekend.

I keep everything in a notebook so that I can flip back and see previous weeks meal plans to get ideas if I am stuck on what to make that week.

[aspentosh]

Jan 6, 2015 15:48:49 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

I sit down on the weekends and make a plan. Sometimes it's specific (pasta on Tuesday) sometimes it's general - the meals we want to have, but not the specific days. This only works if I'm not using a lot of perishables - no fresh veggies or whatever.

I usually have two favorites, two more complicated meals for a weekend, one or two crock pot meals and one or two new meals I want to try. We also factor in leftovers, going out etc. We plan for two weeks at a time.

I always write down where a recipe is (the cookbook, pinterest etc) so that I know where to look it up.

Then I make my grocery list off of that meal plan, add any other randoms that we need and try to stick to the list when shopping.

This is a great idea because since I tasked H with cooking dinners he always asks where the recipe is. 

[magpie]

Every Sunday, we grocery shop. Before we hit the store, we make a list. I use paper because it's just simpler that way. I write down the days Sun-Thursday at the top of the list and I'll say, "What do you want for dinner this week?" and fill it in. Some nights are associated with certain things (Tuesday is almost alway Mexican/Taco Tuesday, Sunday is for more complicated or casserole-type meals, Thursday is almost always veggie burger night because I've had it by then, etc.). It's kind of embarrassing, but we actually made a "menu" of all the meals we regularly make (there are 30-40 in all) and stuck it on the fridge, so we go to that if we're feeling uninspired. Anyway, once the meals for the week are chosen, I write a list of all the things we need for the meals. We also choose what we want to eat for breakfasts that week (toast, oatmeal, etc.) and add those to the list as well as things like milk, coffee, etc. Off to the store and we're done. It sounds kind of complicated written out like that, but it's very simple. I cook extra for dinner so that almost all of our meals make leftovers for lunch. Been doing it this way for years.

Oh yeah and Friday night is always takeout/eating out for us.  Saturdays are a wing it day (we'll either go to the store to make something fun/special, eat leftovers or go out).

[savan]

Jan 6, 2015 15:46:50 GMT -5 @pnkybrwstr said:

Guys, please keep this conning. This is super helpful. I love the idea of using Google calendar and an app to make my grocery list. I'd love to hear more about what you're actually eating too.

I subscribe to a lot of food blogs.  When a recipe comes along that sounds good I bookmark it in my browser.  I have my recipe bookmarks cataloged in my browser.  So all chicken recipes go in the same place.  Same with beef, pork, crockpot, soup, dessert, etc.  I've been doing this for several years so I probably have a 100 or more recipes at this point.  If I make something and we don't like it I delete the bookmark.  

Some of my favorite blogs are:

www.skinnytaste.com
www.ellysaysopa.com
www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/
www.annies-eats.com/
sotastysoyummy.blogspot.com/
cooklikeachampion.com

[glitzy07]

@pnkybrwstr Here are some meals that are in our rotation pretty often:

Tacos
Enchiladas (these are our favorite)
Scrambled eggs & smoked sausage
Fried egg sandwiches
Grilled cheese & tomato basil Soup (I use frozen soup)
Buitoni Spinach & Cheese Tortellini with alfredo sauce and mixed veg
Pot roast w/carrots and potatoes
Baked chicken with boxed cheesy/au gratin potatoes
Crockpot chili
Tator tot hotdish (how MN of me...)
Spaghetti w/meat sauce (ground beef in doctored up jarred sauce)

[ladygrey]

Also, I keep our favorite recipes bookmarked in my browser, so I can easily pull them up for reference. Here are a few recent favorites:

www.skinnytaste.com/2011/01/chicken-shiitake-and-wild-rice-soup.html
www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/02/crock-pot-chicken-taco-chili.html
www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/11/asian-turkey-meatballs-with-lime.html
www.gimmesomeoven.com/crispy-slow-cooker-carnitas/

[savan]

Jan 6, 2015 15:58:54 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

I wrote a post about this a while back and it's a little outdated (since Google Reader no longer exists, tear) but maybe still helpful?


ellysaysopa.com/2012/05/10/meal-planning-and-quick-dinners/

Wait, are you ellysaysopa?

[ladygrey]

Jan 6, 2015 15:59:59 GMT -5 savan said:

Jan 6, 2015 15:46:50 GMT -5 @pnkybrwstr said:

Guys, please keep this conning. This is super helpful. I love the idea of using Google calendar and an app to make my grocery list. I'd love to hear more about what you're actually eating too.

I subscribe to a lot of food blogs.  When a recipe comes along that sounds good I bookmark it in my browser.  I have my recipe bookmarks cataloged in my browser.  So all chicken recipes go in the same place.  Same with beef, pork, crockpot, soup, dessert, etc.  I've been doing this for several years so I probably have a 100 or more recipes at this point.  If I make something and we don't like it I delete the bookmark.  

Some of my favorite blogs are:

www.skinnytaste.com
www.ellysaysopa.com
www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/
www.annies-eats.com/
sotastysoyummy.blogspot.com/
cooklikeachampion.com

I seriously love all these blogs, especially @mrswindycity's  

[sjh722]

Jan 6, 2015 15:29:13 GMT -5 glitzy07 said:

I'm trying to be better about this too, and it's slowly working!

To start, write down a list of all the meals that you can think of that your family eats regularly. Even things like boxed macaroni and cheese or whatever. This gives you a list to start pulling from without having to be a ton of new recipes.

I usually pepper in new recipes among old favorites and stuff like frozen pizza, because it makes it more realistic. I've also found that it's good to have easy stuff like frozen meals as a back up in the event that your plan changes or you really just don't feel like cooking.

After making a list of meals (based on our schedule and when we'll be home in the evenings or not) I made a shopping list for all ingredients we don't have on hand. Then I also have to make sure to pull frozen meat items from the freezer a day or two ahead of time to thaw for future meals.

We also plan on using leftovers when possible to last through two meals, so that it can save us from a night of cooking or buying lunches. Last night I made a meal that was enough for lunch for both H and I today.

I do something similar. I'll glance at the sales flyer and see if there's anything on sale I want to plan around, or look in the freezer and think "Hmm, we have ground beef to use. Spaghetti? Chili? Meatloaf? Hamburgers?" etc etc. 

I've learned, after like 8.5 years of being a married "adult", that it's okay to have backups around that you'll eat that are pretty brainless to make - boxed mac and cheese, frozen pizza, hot dogs, grilled cheese and soup, breakfast for dinner, spaghetti whatever. I've also usually got homemade pizza dough in the freezer and sauce and cheese.

Despite my best intentions, sometimes we just don't get dinner made. One of us is sick, someone works late, we have plans come up at the last minute, we don't feel like cooking - it happens. It's a lot cheaper to make grilled cheese sandwiches and just shift your planned meals around a little than to order takeout. When I try to plan out a schedule of different complicated recipes for 6-7 days, we don't stick with the whole thing, then by the time I get to produce it's not the best, we waste meat, etc. 

Also, if I make a 9x13 of something like lasagna and we don't want leftovers all week, sometimes I split it into two small dishes and freeze one for a different week. (You can line your dish with foil, put the food in it, freeze, then pop the foil out once frozen and wrap again or throw in a ziploc - that way, your pan isn't tied up and if you only have a standard size freezer it doesn't take up much space.)

[glitzy07]

Jan 6, 2015 16:10:07 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

Jan 6, 2015 15:29:13 GMT -5 glitzy07 said:

I'm trying to be better about this too, and it's slowly working!

To start, write down a list of all the meals that you can think of that your family eats regularly. Even things like boxed macaroni and cheese or whatever. This gives you a list to start pulling from without having to be a ton of new recipes.

I usually pepper in new recipes among old favorites and stuff like frozen pizza, because it makes it more realistic. I've also found that it's good to have easy stuff like frozen meals as a back up in the event that your plan changes or you really just don't feel like cooking.

After making a list of meals (based on our schedule and when we'll be home in the evenings or not) I made a shopping list for all ingredients we don't have on hand. Then I also have to make sure to pull frozen meat items from the freezer a day or two ahead of time to thaw for future meals.

We also plan on using leftovers when possible to last through two meals, so that it can save us from a night of cooking or buying lunches. Last night I made a meal that was enough for lunch for both H and I today.

I do something similar. I'll glance at the sales flyer and see if there's anything on sale I want to plan around, or look in the freezer and think "Hmm, we have ground beef to use. Spaghetti? Chili? Meatloaf? Hamburgers?" etc etc. 

I've learned, after like 8.5 years of being a married "adult", that it's okay to have backups around that you'll eat that are pretty brainless to make - boxed mac and cheese, frozen pizza, hot dogs, grilled cheese and soup, breakfast for dinner, spaghetti whatever. I've also usually got homemade pizza dough in the freezer and sauce and cheese.

Despite my best intentions, sometimes we just don't get dinner made. One of us is sick, someone works late, we have plans come up at the last minute, we don't feel like cooking - it happens. It's a lot cheaper to make grilled cheese sandwiches and just shift your planned meals around a little than to order takeout. When I try to plan out a schedule of different complicated recipes for 6-7 days, we don't stick with the whole thing, then by the time I get to produce it's not the best, we waste meat, etc. 

Also, if I make a 9x13 of something like lasagna and we don't want leftovers all week, sometimes I split it into two small dishes and freeze one for a different week. (You can line your dish with foil, put the food in it, freeze, then pop the foil out once frozen and wrap again or throw in a ziploc - that way, your pan isn't tied up and if you only have a standard size freezer it doesn't take up much space.)

All of the bolded is so true.  Whenever I've tried to meal plan in the past, I've always made a plan of several new Pinterest recipes and no old standbys.  I've always failed.  It's definitely easier to keep some back ups and move things around.  Sometimes we waste produce, unfortunately, but at least we didn't spend a ton of money on takeout or going to a restaurant.

[Deleted]

I use Evernote to store my recipes. If you're looking at a recipe on line, there's a "Clip to Evernote" option you can use and then all of your recipes are in one place. I then have notebooks for Crockpot Meals, soups, etc.

Meal planning is loosey goosey for us, if I get three planned - I'm ecstatic. I have a little white board in my cabinet, and I list my freezer stash in there. Then on the right side, I plan out what we'll have.

Quick/heavy in the rotation meals are:
Tacos
Frozen Ravioli/Totellini with frozen spinach for a quick soup
Pork Tenderloin

[savan]

Jan 6, 2015 16:10:36 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Jan 6, 2015 16:00:50 GMT -5 savan said:

Wait, are you ellysaysopa?

yup.

I have so many of your recipes bookmarked!  We just made your chicken gyros the other night. DH loves them.

[jr009j]

I have a cookbook recommendation- America's Test Kitchen Make Ahead Meals www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NMZ3840/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420578725&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70 It has a bunch of different strategies for cooking ahead including some set menus, making a big roast on Sunday and repurposing the leftovers. I've been using the freezer meal chapter the most. Each casserole makes 2 casseroles-one to cook and one to freeze. So when I have a little more time, I'll make the casseroles and we freeze one for a busier week.

Also I try to be realistic with our meals. We like to eat out and we like takeout, so we usually cook a maximum of 4 dinners a week. But I also like meals with leftovers for my lunch and DH's midnight snacks. So I try to plan meals that are easy to reheat early in the week. We end up with less waste that way

[charlotteandwilbur]

My loose strategy is to switch up proteins, so I do one pork night, one beef, one poultry, one seafood, and a couple of vegetarian meals.

And then I also switch up cuisines, so we'll do Mexican one night, Italian, Asian, American, etc.

For example, this week is

Meatloaf & mashed potatoes
Chicken and broccoli stirfry
Taco salads (made with ground turkey)
Chicken parm burgers and green beans
Grilled cheese & tomato soup

[ssmjlm]

I've been trying to do a mix of tried and true recipes with Pinterest finds.

Right now it's all on paper, but I need to check into some of the apps mentioned. I write down recipes that I'm thinking of, make a grocery list for the week, and go from there. Usually I have more recipes than we need, so I just cross off ones as we eat them.

[6fsn]

My meal planning goes like this:

1. What are we doing this week? travel plans, practices, working late, etc.

2. What sounds good to me and DH?  What does DS1 feel like?

3. What recipes include some of those ingredients?

4. Do I need any back up meals?

5. What's on sale?  Can I work it into existing meals or can I stock up on anything?

I like to always have 2-3 back ups in the freezer- meatballs, black bean burgers, soup, cooked chicken, crock pot meal. This way if the plans for the week get side tracked for whatever reason I can still pull something out.

ETA: I cook enough that each meal gets two nights.  So I usually cook 2 nights, leftovers 2 nights. 

[rubyturpin]

Jan 6, 2015 15:46:50 GMT -5 @pnkybrwstr said:

Guys, please keep this conning. This is super helpful. I love the idea of using Google calendar and an app to make my grocery list. I'd love to hear more about what you're actually eating too.

Here's our meal plan for this week. I hope it's readable.

Thurs: Taco salad. No recipe, DH makes it. Romaine with taco beef, bell peppers, corn, tortilla strips and cilantro-lime dressing

Fri: Penne w/ roasted veggies & ricotta (http://www.thebootblog.net/search/label/pasta?m=1 scroll down for recipe. We subbed in-season veggies for zucchini)

Sat: Carnitas tacos with rice & beans. Pork shoulder in the crock pot, served with cilantro and red onions. We had guests so no leftovers. Otherwise we would have made pulled pork sandwiches later in the week.

Sun: Frozen pizza. DH volunteers on Sundays so I plan something easy.

Mon: Green chili chicken and rice (http://ourbestbites.com/2014/09/green-chile-chicken-rice/)

Tues: Chorizo and kale pasta bowl (http://www.fullmeasureofhappiness.com/2012/05/18/chorizo-and-kale-pasta-bowl/)

Wed: Chicken fried rice (http://rachelschultz.com/2012/07/14/better-than-takeout-chicken-fried-rice/)

DH and I like spicy food, so we usually set aside some of the protein and season it with just salt and pepper for the boys. Or we separate the ingredients (protein, veggie, grain) because they're more likely to eat it that way. They usually eat what we eat, but modified slightly.

[Deleted]

Here's my basic meal plan. I pick one from each category and rotate them. These are all easy quick meals that for the most part require no recipe. For example, we had chicken fajitas last week, so we're having Indian chicken this week.

1 chicken meal (fajitas, stir-fry, Indian, enchiladas)

1 sausage meal (jambalaya, sausage-kale penne, sausage & sauerkraut skillet, bangers & mash)

1 egg meal (frittata & bread, Huevos Rancheros, breakfast for dinner)

1 vegetarian meal (Channa Masala, paneer, soup & bread)

1 ground beef meal (spaghetti & meat sauce, tacos, meatloaf).