How do people meal plan??

[papie]

I don't understand the question, lol. I just make a list of meals for the week, a list of missing ingredients and I go.

[balletofangels]

I pin recipes I like. I check the fliers to see what is on sale that week. I figure out easy recipes and plan for the mood I'm in.

[snipsnsnails]

Ha, I usually start by looking at whatever protein and what produce is on sale, then plan 6-7 (dinner) meals from there. I divide my list into: Produce, Meat, Packaged, Frozen - because that's how my store is laid out. Then, I do like Papie and just put the ingredients down in their category. Walla!

[peekay]

I'm actually pretty pleased with our meal planning. Every week we plan a full weeks menu (just dinners, we're on our own for lunches) and then just do one big grocery shop. Sometimes we have to do a mid week fruit or milk top up but since we started the weekly plan our grocery budget has gone down by hundreds of dollars and we are eating so much healthier.

I keep the list on the side of the fridge and it also keeps us from getting take out so much. The goal is to get the fridge down to empty by the end of the week.

Some tips:

- I didn't realize our local paper has grocery flyers every week but when I figured that out we started basing our menu off what the deals are

- I do things like buy a big tub of spinach and then figure out how to use it all up through the week. Like throw a bunch in the meatloaf and hope no one notices.

- once in awhile I throw in a "planned" junk meal to keep us honest


I'm LOLing at myself that I'm so passionate sounding about meal planning. Mostly because I'm so happy we're spending less and eating so much better. I can't believe I didn't start this ages ago!

[speckledfrog]

We get out the circular and see what's on sale. We aim for a variety of proteins and difficulty of cooking and then insert meals or look in cookbooks for ideas. We write the meals on the top of the shopping list (so we don't forget which ones we are doing). It takes maybe 20 minutes each week. If you keep a list of what you've made (we tend to just keep a pile of lists on the fridge) you can look quickly and see what fits the bill. We don't assign a meal a specific day, instead we just look at the list and see which of the meals we are in the mood for that night.

[Deleted]

I tend to make meals that use similar ingredients. For example: this week we're having chili, tacos, quinoa with roasted veggies, veggie burgers and pasta. I would use ground beef or turkey, peppers and onions for the tacos and chili. The rest of the peppers and onions are for the roasted veg with quinoa along with eggplant and zucchini. Leftover veg quinoa will go for a side with the veg burgers and we'll have chili twice. Also, I prep as much in advance as possible. Produce gets washed before I put it away and peppers and onions for the roasted veg will get chopped up and stored for a day or two..

[eb777888]

I pick a couple of proteins for the week and build meals around them. This last week is chicken tacos, chicken fajitas and chicken and veggies. My other protein was lean turkey breast and I made two nights of turkey meatballs out of it. I get our meat at the Farmer's Market and that right there is five nights of protein for $16. Not bad!

Dinners are the only thing I have to plan. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are pretty standard.

[ElizabethBennet]

I ask DH if there is anything that sounds good for the week.

I look at blogs and various recipe websites to get ideas.

I always try to make sure that I try at least one new recipe a week.

Some people plan certain nights for certain things (i.e Meatless Mondays, pasta on Tuesday, chicken on Wednesday, etc)

If I am making a brand new recipe I do try to find ones that uses spices or condiments that we will be able to use again.

ETA: I don't typically plan breakfast or lunch. Breakfast is usually oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, or toast with pb and fruit. Lunch is typically leftovers from the night before. If there are no leftovers then I keep sandwich stuff on hand or even a couple of Kashi frozen meals but those aren't my favorites.

[Deleted]

I go online and get my local flyer and see what is on sale. Then I go to some of my favorite receipe sites and see what I can do w what is on sale. I just did our grocery shop today and spent $68 for our food for the week. I will go to TJ'S tomorrow and get some salads for lunches and a couple other items, spend about $30 and be done. Lately I have been doing alot of the skinny taste receipes.

[amberlyrose]

At lunch time at work, usually Mondays, I get on pinterest or skinny taste and print out a few recipes. I write down my ingredients that I need and go to the grocery store after work. I mix in easy go-to meals like veggie burgers with sweet potato fries or spaghetti with a few new time consuming ones.

[aMrsin09]

Use a big calendar if you have to.

I try to make meals that will cover several meals. So a crustless quiche for breakfast covers 4 days.

Lunches are leftovers from the night before. Tuna for the days there are no leftovers.

Dinners I decide on the protein and go from there. I try to NOT make anything that has one use ingredients. Like Marjoram. There have only been three recipes I've seen that need Marjoram...

[speckledfrog]

I now feel the need to share this week's menu with you.

Shrimp quesadillas with corn and black beans
Eggs in Purgatory with snap peas
Salmon cakes
Beef satay with coconut mango rice
Fruity quinoa salad
Baked macaroni and cheese with snap peas

[emsumm]

Cozi. Use Cozi. It syncs to your phone/laptop/etc., and syncs between family members. I really like it. There is a calender, a meal planner, a grocery list thing (and any other list you want to make, as well), and to-do lists. The grocery list is huge for us...my H does the shopping and this way if we run out of something it goes straight on the list, and we can add it from whatever device is convenient. I meal plan with it, and then I use the recipes to add what we need to the list. Check it out
www.cozi.com/live-simply?redir=home

[emsumm]

Oh, and I cook from Skinnytaste probably 90% of the time. Her database is huge and the recipes are good, and it's easy for me to pick breakfasts and dinners (we eat leftovers or sandwiches for lunch from there. Oh, and desserts, too.

[ElizabethBennet]

I like simplyrecipes.com and skinnytaste.com

[ElizabethBennet]

Oh, and when we shop other places than the commissary I meal plan based on what is on sale that week. Admittedly that makes it a bit easier and less overwhelming. The commissary doesn't do sales since everything is so cheap there anyway.

[speckledfrog]

It's funny to see how people do it so similarly but so differently.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

I don't really know how to explain what's going on in my head.

I have themed meal nights:

Taco Tuesdays - pretty much anything Mexican/Spanish
Spaghetti Wednesdays - whatever kind of pasta and sauce combo I feel like
Comfort Thursdays - usually something like roast chicken or meatloaf
Take-out Fridays - usually me trying to copy a Chinese food
Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays are usually leftovers, when I try new things (*cough*pinterest*cough*), or eating out.

It makes it easier for me to plan this way and have a variety through the week. I know it's kind of Steford-y, but it helps me so I don't really care.

[Deleted]

I pick five meals for each week from my little box of recipes (I get Everyday Food in the mail and try/adapt new recipes from it). I cook the meals with the most fresh ingredients first. We usually eat out or eat leftovers once or twice a week.

[broc]

I fold a piece of paper in half. On one half of the outside, I write letters for the day, then check the calendar. If, say, H's dad is in town, that's a take-out/eat out night automatically. If we're visiting MIL, I need to make something portable. etc. I flip it over (still on the 'outside') and write down 3-4 things that I'd eat that are relatively painless to make. We have ~20 go-to meals like that... atm we're really into quesadillas and tacos, but we usually get more into Italian in the winter. Brinner is almost always on there, heh. Then, I go and seek out 2 extra meals. I usually use cookbooks or the Pulse app for that. In terms of sales, I'll frequently do something like 'burgers and hot veg', and then I can pick out green beans vs asparagus depending.

The actual grocery list goes on the inside of the paper, so I can flip back & alter the menu while we're there, too. When I put the reusable bags back in the car, I write the menu for the week on a whiteboard by the calendar.

[bonquiqui]

Aug 11, 2012 22:35:07 GMT -5 ste said:

We just started using pepperplate (app and website). LOVE IT. Love. You can plan your week's worth of meals (using online recipes - we do a lot of skinnytaste, too), adjust the recipes for the appropriate number of servings, and then it makes your shopping list for you.

Oh, and it's free.

Oh this is a good idea, thanks! ;D

[starlily]

Aug 11, 2012 21:22:23 GMT -5 Que? said:

Ok, this is good. The reason we spend south is that we can never decide and then end up going out or getting take out. I just have to choose things and go with it.

Food blogs. Which ones aren't totally obnoxious?

I like Elly Says Opa.

I also get quite a few recipes from Annie's Eats (obnoxiousness is debatable), but have to kick up the seasonings a lot to suit our tastes.

[pantsparty]

This is a good thread. I am the worst. Like most of the time I make meals that sound good to me. Tomorrow is proscuitto mushroom lasagna with Gruyere cheese. I had to buy a ton of stuff for that, and our freezer is overflowing with meat. I need to do a better job of using what we have.

I'm also super forgetful and make 3-4 trips to the grocery store a week. It's always one random ingredient. Friday we made pizza, and I realized we had no tomato paste and our mozzarella was molding as I was starting to prep the ingredients. Ugh.

[aMrsin09]

Aug 12, 2012 1:36:15 GMT -5 pantsparty said:

proscuitto mushroom lasagna with Gruyere cheese. I

Any chance of getting a recipe for that? Pretty please ...

[pantsparty]

I have been looking forward to making this since I saw it a few days ago! I love food.

www.crumblycookie.net/2012/08/07/mushroom-prosciutto-lasagna/

[CurlyQ284]

I ask DH what he's in the mood for this week and think about what I'm in the mood for. I make my list of missing ingredients.T's and I shop on Sundays for the whole week. I have a grocery list app called "our groceries" and it separates the items by department. We eat leftovers for lunch every day.

[rex]

First I look at what we already have and I try to come up with as many meals as possible from that.

Then I pick a few other meals
and write down what I'm missing. Then I buy it.

[azurely]

I make a list for the week, figure out what we need, make a list, and go shop on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I keep the list of what we are having each night in the fridge. We love to eat out, so i usually plan 1-2 nights a week to go out.

I get meal plan ideas from Emealz, Pinterest, blogs, etc.

[emsumm]

Oh, I'm gonna add one more thing. I choose my meals based on how much time I will have to cook and prep. Sometimes I know I'll be home in the morning to prep, but not in the afternoon to cook, so I want something that I can prep early but cook quickly. Other times I know I'll be home around 5 and will have plenty of time to cook then. Some nights I go to the gym in the evenings and am out all day with the girls and want something lightening quick because I won't even start until eight. Or, I might plan a meal that H will make that I know he's done before and will confident preparing on his own. So, that is how I choose what to eat on which night.
After I choose based on time, then I choose what's in season. We go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and get a produce box on Thursday, so that is what determines veg/sides. I'm not organized enough to also add in what's on sale after those criteria are met.

[statlerwaldorf]

I usually plan around what is on sale and in season. When I was working, I would do a lot of cook once eat twice type meals. Pot roast one day and pot roast over eggs and hashbrowns the next. Dr. Pepper pulled pork tacos one day and pulled pork sandwiches the next.

I don't plan for specific days very often. I might have a more labor intensive meal on a day we don't have much going on, but I don't like to have to cook something that day if I'm not in the mood for it.