Give me your best meal planning tips!!

[lurknomore]

DH and I decided to start meal planning. Again. We've never been able to do it for more than a week at a time. Give me your best tips to maybe get this to last more than a week.

[Brit]

Pick dishes that freeze well and make double or even triple batches of them so that you can lessen the stress of planning in future weeks by picking a few things from your freezer.

[spunkarella]

There was a really good thread about this on MMM recently:

pandce.proboards.com/thread/407026/help-me-learn-meal-plan

[mskitkat]

Fresh 20. I don't know if anyone else here is still doing it, but it has absolutely been a game changer for us. Weekly meals are so much easier.

[imojoebunny]

Jan 26, 2015 7:24:55 GMT -5 mskitkat said:

Fresh 20. I don't know if anyone else here is still doing it, but it has absolutely been a game changer for us. Weekly meals are so much easier.

Can you input the foods you do or do not eat for the meal planning?  My family drives me nuts because everyone is so picky.  I am tired of eating the same stuff, but with the limited pallet I am working with, I am in a rut.  

[lurknomore]

Jan 26, 2015 7:10:37 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

There was a really good thread about this on MMM recently:

pandce.proboards.com/thread/407026/help-me-learn-meal-plan

This is perfect!  Thanks!

[lurknomore]

Jan 26, 2015 6:46:30 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

Also, do you have a crockpot? Crockpot freezer meals have been a lifesaver! We'll spend a Saturday making 7+ meals to freeze in a gallon Ziploc bags, move to the fridge the night before, and before work toss it in the crockpot. It's awesome because you come home to your house smelling great, you have a hot meal waiting for you, and there's only one dish to clean!

Can you share some of what you do in the crockpot?  We have one and it get used 2-3x/year.  I would love to use it more but DH isn't a fan of much in there (we do beef stew and chili, that's pretty much it).  His meals, while very good, are complicated, take forever,, and don't make leftovers, so we end up buying lunches too.  He loves to cook but gets resentful that he does 90% of it, even tho I'm a terrible cook.  Maybe I can become a crockpot master....  (hot)

[whitemerlot]

I like the fresh 20. I bought the year plan so I can access the archives. It helps because there are some weeks that don't interest me. Overall, we like it a lot. My h and I aren't picky and my kids whine about everything anyway.

[UnderProtest]

Jan 26, 2015 9:07:10 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

Jan 26, 2015 8:51:28 GMT -5 lurknomore said:

Can you share some of what you do in the crockpot?  We have one and it get used 2-3x/year.  I would love to use it more but DH isn't a fan of much in there (we do beef stew and chili, that's pretty much it).  His meals, while very good, are complicated, take forever,, and don't make leftovers, so we end up buying lunches too.  He loves to cook but gets resentful that he does 90% of it, even tho I'm a terrible cook.  Maybe I can become a crockpot master....  (hot)

Are you allergic to anything or greatly dislike anything? I'll PM you some when I'm at a computer

Don't PM!  Share with the class!

[lurknomore]

Jan 26, 2015 9:07:10 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

Jan 26, 2015 8:51:28 GMT -5 lurknomore said:

Can you share some of what you do in the crockpot?  We have one and it get used 2-3x/year.  I would love to use it more but DH isn't a fan of much in there (we do beef stew and chili, that's pretty much it).  His meals, while very good, are complicated, take forever,, and don't make leftovers, so we end up buying lunches too.  He loves to cook but gets resentful that he does 90% of it, even tho I'm a terrible cook.  Maybe I can become a crockpot master....  (hot)

Are you allergic to anything or greatly dislike anything? I'll PM you some when I'm at a computer

No allergies and not overly picky.  Kids are hit or miss with anything except mac and cheese, so they just have to deal!  THANKS!!!

[Pom]

I can't remember where I saw another list of "dump meals" for the crockpot, but here is one to give ideas:

whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

[mbcdefg]

I start by looking in the fridge/freezer to see what we need to use up - vegetables that are on their way out, frozen meat, etc. - and I'll plan meals around those. Also, it prevents me from buying something that we already have.

I try to keep staples on hand at all times - eggs, milk, butter, olive oil, onions and garlic, flour, sugar, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, Panko bread crumbs, tomato sauce, spaghetti and penne/ziti noodles. I can usually cobble something together with those ingredients plus whatever else we have.

I think about what I'm craving and plan those meals. I look on my Pinterest recipe board for inspiration and I read the WFD threads on this board.

I keep a Notepad list of meals on my phone, whenever I think of something that might be good. It's meals for the upcoming week plus extras. I put a checkmark next to the meal after we eat it, and I leave it on there so that I can repeat a favorite, avoid a crappy meal, or try something new.

I ask MH what he wants, but the answer is always either "I don't care" or "taco cups." And I glance at the supermarket circular but I really don't plan anything around that.

If I don't have ideas, I just grab some basic items and figure it out when I get home - ground beef, chicken breasts, thin-cut pork chops, some sort of beef (usually flank steak or London Broil), Italian sausage. Plus produce - I typically buy broccoli, spinach, zucchini, green beans, and bananas every week, and then I pick up other produce items for specific recipes.

I have some recipes/ingredients on hand for days when I don't want to spend a lot of time cooking, or when my original plan no longer sounds appetizing. Quick recipes for me include stir fries, breaded chicken or pork chops, breakfast for dinner, penne vodka, or pasta with green vegetables and sausage/chicken. I buy the frozen steamer vegetable bags when the supermarket has them for $1 ... spinach can be used in pasta recipes, they have an Asian medley for stir fries, or I just serve them as a regular vegetable side when I don't feel like prepping raw vegetables.

MH works late one night a week (or two, depending on the semester), so I plan more intricate recipes for those nights - braised short ribs, roasts, etc. If there's a night where we'll both be home early, or when we have something to do in the evening, I'll plan a quick meal or I'll pick up a Costco rotisserie chicken and then make potatoes and vegetables at home. Or I'll plan a crockpot meal ... this website has a bunch of crockpot ideas: crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Know what you like to eat and how much time you want to spend in the kitchen. Some people suggest planning freezer meals, or cooking big batches that'll last for a few days ... great plan, but I'm personally not a fan of freezer meals or leftovers, so I don't plan for that. I like cooking every night, I have a 9-5 job, and I don't have kids. However, when I make pasta sauce I'll make enough so that I can freeze a portion, and I make double batches of pizza dough too.

The only time I really plan to stretch one meal is when we have a roast/rotisserie chicken. Day 1 is sliced chicken with potatoes and vegetables, Day 2 is chicken pot pie or shepherd's pie, and Day 3 might be pizza, pasta, or stir fry. Or at that point I just freeze the meat and use it for something later.

[SJ]

I would try Fresh 20. I have the cookbook and really enjoyed it.

Even one of the delivery services like HelloFresh, Blue Apron, might be helpful to get in the habit of cooking & eating at home.

[5thofjuly]

I've had good luck using Cooking Light's Sunday Strategist free menus. I'd also recommend having your DH just double whatever he's making, even if it's a very involved recipe. It's not much harder and will provide lunches.

[Deleted]

I use pinterest a lot. I browse through my menu boards, then when I decide what to eat for the week I move the pin over to a new folder for This Week.

[mskitkat]

Jan 26, 2015 8:45:26 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

Jan 26, 2015 7:24:55 GMT -5 mskitkat said:

Fresh 20. I don't know if anyone else here is still doing it, but it has absolutely been a game changer for us. Weekly meals are so much easier.

Can you input the foods you do or do not eat for the meal planning?  My family drives me nuts because everyone is so picky.  I am tired of eating the same stuff, but with the limited pallet I am working with, I am in a rut.  

They don't have a way to tailor an individual menu, no. They do have different meal plans for kosher, vegetarian, paleo, etc. We have the classic plan and just omit what we don't eat. It hasn't been a problem for us, but we aren't particularly picky.

[krisim]

One thing that I do is always keep cooked chicken and hamburger on hand. I buy 3-4lbs of extra lean ground beef on the weekend and cook it with some basic seasonings and then freeze (in individual containers), so that I can always make a quick meal at night, even if I'm not sure what I'm making! I do the same with chicken breasts, I buy the large frozen bags of chicken breasts and throw the entire bag into the crockpot on a weekend morning with some seasonings. After they've cooked, I shred and freeze approximately 2 breasts per bag.

Each weekend before I go to the grocery store I come up with 3-4 meals that I'm going to make that week and just write it on the calendar. I usually assume that we'll have leftovers for a meal or two and/or I'll improvise for the rest of the week.

[starlily]

Take inventory of your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. See what you hand on hand and start building meals based on those items by searching Pinterest, Food Network, and blogs.

Some of my favorite cooking blogs: Elly Says Opa, Damn Delicious, Skinnytaste, Annie's Eats, and Oh She Glows (for veg cooking).

Check out the weekly flyers for your grocery store, see what's on sale, and build your plan from those ingredients.

For me, it works best if I don't assign a meal to a particular day. Instead I have a running list of meals I could make on the side of the fridge, with an asterisk next to ones that should probably be mage sooner rather than later due to the type of produce used in it.

In general I try to do one favorite standby, one casserole or soup/stew, a couple "lean and a green", a vegetarian meal, and one new recipe each week. I never cook a new recipe on a weeknight though! And I always keep a frozen heat n' serve type meal on hand in case I really don't feel like cooking on any given night.

[mich1]

My best meal planning tricks is to have a fully stocked freezer, pantry and fridge. There are staples that I have that I keep on hand at all times, and because of this there are a dozen meals that I can make using just those ingredients.

For instance, in the pantry I keep canned tomatoes, chicken stock and beans. I always have pasta (various shapes), rice and noodles, flour, sugar and yeast. For staple veggies, I am always stocked with celery, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, lemon and fresh thyme. In the fridge, there is milk, half and half, heavy cream, sour cream, butter and eggs. I usually have aged cheddar, gouda/Jarlsburg, parmesean/romano at all times.

The freezer contains chicken, pork, lamb, bacon and beef (ground, some sort of stewing beef and steaks). I buy most of the time at Costco and break down the large packages of meat into 2 servings.

With most of these staples, there is enough to make probably a dozen meals. But during the week when I shop, I use whatever fresh produce is available and looks nice to drive my menu. For instance, when leeks are in and cheap, I have a couple dishes where I can use leeks. Last week, it was stuffed green peppers.

One of the things that I have discovered is that if I try to make a menu and THEN grocery shop, I find I spend more money. The one time I tried to menu plan, I had put stuffed peppers on the menu for the week and they were $2.50 each! I don't think so. It was then that I realized that it really is best to buy whatever the store has, that looks best and then try to manipulate your menu from that. For instance, this week I have a load of asparagus. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but am thinking about trying an asparagus soup sometime this week. From most of the recipes that I've looked at, I've got everything in house already.

[niq]

We are Fresh 20 dropouts. There just want enough variation of ingredients during the week.

The Cooking Light meal planning website is the best one I've found. But I think we're going to just print out recipes and put them on index cards.

I don't know if Fresh 20 etc saved us money. It didn't really save us that much time either. I guess it prevented us from accidentally picking a result that took more than an hour.

[CrazyLucky]

We have a freezer cookbook that is great. We also have a crockpot recipe book. I try to make big meals on the weekends so that we have leftovers for the first couple of days of the week. If you don't have kids, it's a little easier, because who cares if you eat at 8?