Using the Our Groceries app has helped a lot - it syncs between DH and my phones, and if you categorize your stuff as you add it, it groups things together (so produce, dairy, meat, pharmacy, "middle aisles", whatever makes sense to you). It remembers the category next time you add the same thing. We keep a regular grocery list, a Costco list, and an "other" list for random stuff at other places.
Some of you could save a lot of time if you put down the pencils and picked up your phone.
I do use Pinterest to keep new recipes, but realistically, I don't make more than 2-3 new recipes in a usual month, and those are on the weekend. Weeknights I have about 1 hour between getting home and eating, and there are other things that have to happen in that hour.
Post by redheadbaker on Jan 6, 2015 16:53:53 GMT -5
I tend to get overwhelmed by choices when meal planning, so here's what I do:
I have five "categories": meat, poultry, seafood, pasta and vegetarian. At the beginning of each month, I choose six recipes in each category and import them to Pepperplate.
Each Sunday, I pick recipes from the list and build a shopping list in Pepperplate. I try to pick recipes that use up what we already have, and/or use ingredients on sale at the grocery store.
I assign a meal to a day of the week, but I'm flexible with moving them around if I'm not in the mood for fish, or if we have a ton of leftovers that need to be eaten.
If there are any recipes from the month that we didn't eat, they get bumped to the next month.
Post by Stingyshark on Jan 6, 2015 16:59:08 GMT -5
I print out calendars each month (bc I like to write shit down) and put them on the fridge, so it's right in my face what we are having for dinner.
I usually meal plan saturday/sunday morning, then grocery shop when I'm done meal planning.
I have a meal planning board on pinterest where I put meals that I want to try & so I can keep track of recipes.
Tonight we are having turkey meatloaf. We eat this pretty regularly, a few times a month. Tortellini soup - my grocery store sells frozen tortellini Orzo soup Pork chops Salmon w/ asparagus fries - target sells salmon filets in a bag for a pretty reasonable price Another thing we eat a lot, for which I don't have a recipe is jerk pork tenderloin over rice w/ peppers/onions. Our grocery store premakes the pork and sells it in a kit with the peppers/onions, but we've also made it ourselves Sausage/peppers/onions/potatoes red beans & rice w/ andoullie sausage (zatarains rice of course, ain't no body got time for home made)
Last week I roasted a chicken and it was so easy it was stupid. I was intimidated bc A WHOLE CHICKEN?! But, it turned out to be so, so, so easy. In case you don't even want to look at the link bc you think it's hard.. This is what you do, buy a roaster chicken, ours was 3.5lbs, put it on a cast iron skillet (or whatever) rub some seasoning on it, put it in the oven. done. then of course you have to carve it, that was the most labor intensive part - MH did that.
Ok. We have some frozen pizza and ravioli to tide us over for the rest of the week, but we're going to do this!! I'm excited! I'm hopeful!
Both of those would be totally legit meals in our meal plan. I think some people read meal plan as gourmet but I just see it as a plan. I don't WANT to make my own breadcrumbs on a weeknight (fresh 20) and I'm a lot more likely to follow through if I am realistic.
Yeah, meals don't have to be fancy. Some nights, we have a cheese and salami plate with bread, and maybe a salad (like, baby-spinach-out-of-a-bag with tomatoes thrown on top kind of salad).
I agree, and realistically, stuff like this (and grilled cheese, etc) is going to need to be part of our meal planning. My hope is that with a little planning we won't eat stuff like this every night, and when we do, I at least make a little salad or veggie or something to go w/ it.
We got really into roasted veggies in our house. Cut up, toss in vegetable oil, add salt and pepper or premixed vegetable seasoning, bake until done (usually 400 for 30 min). Works for sweet potato, regular potato, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, etc. And if you're using the oven for something else, I find most veggies are fine with lower temp for longer or higher temp for a shorter time.
We roast lots of veggies too. They're pretty forgiving if you need to throw them in with something else, and I like roasted vegetables better than steamed.
There are lots of really good ideas here. I especially liked glitzy07's method ... maybe I will just start putting recipes on index cards, lol. I've been trying to get mom to go from the Cooking Light meal planning, which is more or less online index cards.
I am amazed at @mrswindycity's clever use of labels in an RSS reader to have themes for recipes. (you can do this in Feedly, BTW)
Some of you could save a lot of time if you put down the pencils and picked up your phone.
It's ingrained in me b/c of how I was raised. My dad lived and breathed by the grocery list. And heaven forbid you ask for something weird or he didn't have a coupon for it.
Some of you could save a lot of time if you put down the pencils and picked up your phone.
It's ingrained in me b/c of how I was raised. My dad lived and breathed by the grocery list. And heaven forbid you ask for something weird or he didn't have a coupon for it.
You were raised without message boards and look how good you're doing!
I kept a paper list for many many years, but the shared app has meant that DH takes more ownership (both for putting stuff on the list and for shopping) and the list is organized by section without me having to think about it.
Some of you could save a lot of time if you put down the pencils and picked up your phone.
ha! I was thinking of going the other way, at least for picking the meals. Sometimes pen and paper (or in this case index cards) is pretty good technology.
As for Our Groceries, I'm on board, but msniq lives in the late 20th century end emails herself (or me) a list. Mom is in the mid-20th century and uses pen & paper. If you can convince them both to switch I'll buy you a year's subscription to wine/beer/cheese/bacon/chocolate of the month club.
Some of you could save a lot of time if you put down the pencils and picked up your phone.
ha! I was thinking of going the other way, at least for picking the meals. Sometimes pen and paper (or in this case index cards) is pretty good technology.
As for Our Groceries, I'm on board, but msniq lives in the late 20th century end emails herself (or me) a list. Mom is in the mid-20th century and uses pen & paper. If you can convince them both to switch I'll buy you a year's subscription to wine/beer/cheese/bacon/chocolate of the month club.
I preferred paper until I realized that if I used the system of DH's choosing, he participated in it. I think I may have suggested the app as a trial, but what sold me was that he actually used it. And started picking up useful stuff on his way home sometimes. Like "oh hey - we need pullups!" entered his sphere.
Post by undecidedowl on Jan 6, 2015 18:54:17 GMT -5
So I am a bit crazy but I have found what works well for me. I am completely incapable of coming up with 'what sounds good' on the spot so I plan way in advance. It was a big effort the first year but now that I have my system in place it's very little work now.
I started with an excel sheet that lists every meal we like that I make along with categories for the type of dish, cooking method, main protein, and a link to the recipe.
Then, I planned a whole months worth of meals in a notebook keeping in mind cooking method and seasonality. I assign weeks to the meals and we grocery shop once each week. We rely heavily on leftovers, freezer meals, crockpot, etc. I keep each months list in the notebook and after a year I just flipped back to the last January and reuse the lists. I've been doing this for 3 years now and typically I keep about 90% of the old list and replace the less enjoyed meals with new recipes to try. It's nice because I basically have the whole year meal planned already with grilled items in the summer, soup in the winter, etc. I only have to think about it if I want something new or different.
I keep all of my tried and true recipes in a photo album that holds 4x6 recipe cards. If we don't all love a recipe, it doesn't make the book. That way, when I'm flipping through the recipe book, I only see good ideas.
Like others have mentioned, I have categories that I use most weeks (egg, bean, seafood, salad, misc. vegetarian, and homemade sushi rolls). My recipe book is sorted into these categories, so when it's time to plan, we can quickly pick one recipe from each category.
It's ingrained in me b/c of how I was raised. My dad lived and breathed by the grocery list. And heaven forbid you ask for something weird or he didn't have a coupon for it.
You were raised without message boards and look how good you're doing!
I kept a paper list for many many years, but the shared app has meant that DH takes more ownership (both for putting stuff on the list and for shopping) and the list is organized by section without me having to think about it.
I don't want DH to have any ownership of the meal plan! We would eat nothing but meat and potatoes every day lol. Luckily for me, I write all the lists and DH does all the shopping.
When dh and I first started meal planning we literally made a list of every meal we liked. Then he typed it up into categories and we would pick one meal from each category for each day. We shop on Sunday and then eat on order of what veggies go bad first. We still do something like this but I retired the list. Also we are lame and have taco Tuesday every Tuesday. And most times pizza on Friday. This helps fill in the week and makes meal planning less of a chore.
Both of those would be totally legit meals in our meal plan. I think some people read meal plan as gourmet but I just see it as a plan. I don't WANT to make my own breadcrumbs on a weeknight (fresh 20) and I'm a lot more likely to follow through if I am realistic.
I agree, and realistically, stuff like this (and grilled cheese, etc) is going to need to be part of our meal planning. My hope is that with a little planning we won't eat stuff like this every night, and when we do, I at least make a little salad or veggie or something to go w/ it.
Salmon is your answer. I keep salmon in my freezer all the time and we have "salmon Thursday." I put it in the fridge to thaw in the morning and it literally takes 4-6 minutes to cook. It's so fast, easy, and good for you. Better than frozen pizza when you don't feel like cooking - though nothing wrong with pizza. We always have a salad with it or you could do frozen veggies.
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
Do you thaw the tilapia? I have a bunch of frozen tilapia from Costco. We love it in the summer grilled.
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.
This is almost exactly what I do, except I usually don't get two nights out of meals. H eats like a teenage boy. If I'm lucky I'll have enough leftover for over lunch the next day, unless it's a soup, stew, or roast.
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.
This is pretty much what I do.
I also really like pinterest for finding new recipes. In down time I would just troll the site for recipes that looked good. Then when I would meal plan on the weekend I would choose one recipe I pinned to make. So I had four for-sure dinners and one new one. It also kept me excited about cooking b/c I get bored making the same thing all the time.
My biggest tip is to shop your kitchen when meal planning. It can be intimidating to come up with 5-7 meals/week, so let what you have guide you. For example, if I have chicken in the freezer and tortillas in the pantry, chicken fajitas go on the menu.
I would also stock up on nonperishables that you use regularly when they are on sale. Good money-saving measure, and it gives inspiration when choosing meals.
There's a website out there where you can select an ingredient and it spits out a bunch of recipes. It might be the Real Simple site. Even if it's not, RS is my top resource for meal ideas since so many are 30 minutes and under and/or don't require a bunch of specialty ingredients. My H has even tailored a few to meet our needs (Chicken Curry in a Hurry is in heavy rotation, but he uses chicken breast instead of rotisserie chicken and adds in more veggies).
I like having some go-to recipes from websites/Pinterest because if one of us does swing by the store on the way home, it's easy to pull up the ingredient list from a phone.
I'm not great at meal planning, but I try to have at least 2-3 meals somewhat thought out in advance. I usually have ground meat, chicken pieces, shrimp, individual salmon filets, sausage, meatballs from our favorite butcher shop, and pork tenderloin in the freezer, in addition to a bunch of frozen veggies. And then I usually have yams and potatoes, rice (I'm not afraid of 90-second microwave rice!) and pasta in the pantry. I buy specific veggies fresh as I decide I need them.
Often meal planning is as simple as pulling some kind of protein out to thaw the night before and then grabbing my sides when I get home from work that night.
Some meals we do often: Salmon roasted (either with soyaki marinade, maple/dijon, BBQ sauce), roasted veggie, rice or potato
Chicken, sausage or meatballs in sauce with pasta (dried or frozen ravioli, stuffed shells, etc). I use trader joes basic marinara and doctor it up if I make this during the week. On a Sunday I will make my own gravy and freeze extra.
Kielbasa cut up and baked in BBQ sauce, boxed white cheddar Mac and cheese, and a veg. This is a favorite meal of ours. The BBQ sauce mixed with the Mac and cheese is awesome. And so fast to make. Kielbasa has a long shelf life so I usually have it ready to go in the fridge. This works as a great "I didn't plan anything in advance" weeknight meal.
I also just started doing breakfast for dinner.
Pacific brand tomato soup in the box and grilled ham/cheese sandwiches.
Before DD was born, I didn't do a ton of freezer meals. But I did marinate meats and then freeze in ziplocs. This was awesome and I will do it again before #2 is born.
Here's how I do it (learned from my mom growing up):
I start a grocery list and on the back I write the days of the week. I fill in events and such to remember if I don't need a meal for that night or if I need a really quick meal because of whatever or whatever. Then I spread out my cookbooks, look in the freezer/fridge/pantry and look at the ads to get ideas. I write down my main and all sides for a day then turn the list over and write down all the stuff I need to buy for that meal and repeat for every meal. I don't necessarily eat whatever I put down on Monday on Monday, but I pick the night before off of my list whatever sounds good for the next night and prep if needed.
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
Do you thaw the tilapia? I have a bunch of frozen tilapia from Costco. We love it in the summer grilled.
Yes, very quickly in the microwave, for like a minute or two. If you don't, when you put the melted butter on, the butter congeals like a gross mess.