Meal Planning

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nightshade

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
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Who does a meal plan, and what does your typical week look like?

I need to get back into it, I think I'll only have to do a small shop next month instead of the usual delivery. So after work I'm going to go through the freezer and cupboards and start the 1st week of January meal plan.
 
I live with my daughter and son-in-law and since he is a chef, he takes care of most of the grocery list. He hardly ever does anything elaborate because he works a full day before he comes home to do any cooking. My daughter usually amends the list because she is vegan and adds a few things for her own interest.
 
I try to meal plan every week as when I don't it's a disaster. I sometimes mix up the days once I've done it but yeah it's needed.
I'm doing that today actually! My plans are much more boring now we think Abbs ls lactose intolerant but might get even more boring next year when we have some doctors answers!
 
I've been researching this for a while. Haven't implemented yet.

First, account for any fast days you may or may not observe. Sounds strange, but large Trad Catholic and Orthodox families love these things.

Then, collect the simple recipes you know how to make.

Then, devise a weekly plan, like M: Chicken, T: Mexican, W: Leftovers, TH: Pasta; F: Out. S: New and S: Takeout or production.

Then, using the weekly schedule, produce a seasonal monthly schedule, which you will rotate through during the three months of the season in question. And that's pretty much sums dinner.

Breakfast is simple, you eat the same thing every day, right? Toast, cereal hot or cold, banana, glass of juice. Weekend, something more filling.

Lunch: Probably last night's leftovers is the simple plan.

Think calorie budgeting over calorie counting.


Every thrift store has a collection of homeless cookbooks.
 
I definitely want to start doing some more new recipes.

I tend to do a rough monthly plan as I do one big shop a month, so like to have at least half the meals planned.

I don't really plan lunches, as I usually but things like, veg spring rolls, mini pasties, soups etc that I can either cook and eat cold or warm up at work. I'll probably make a batch of soup in the slow cooker next month.

Breakfast is usually toast or cereal.
 
I find it too much pressure for me. I cant even eat on a schedule let alone stick to one for a week in advance!

NotASlayer said:
I don't tend to plan meals, but I do batch cook/prep. Cook/prep four meals' worth, eat one, freeze the rest.
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This is more like what I do too. Find what is on special at the shops and work with what I have got. Its less restrictive than advanced planning. Some days all I want is a cuppa tea, other days I want two cooked meals in a row. Extravagance!

Lots of these things that work for big families do not work for singles. Like buying bulk and growing food. Yeah its easier to live like that, but only of you have the hands to help and mouths to feed.

Food for one is sometimes even cheaper just to eat out, they have those food courts in the city with full meals you couldn't cook at home as cheap. The oldies here are all on aged care meal plans now, that way they can get away with having a town without a real shop and keep the homeless from sticking around.

I duno if its my location or what, but fresh food just doesn't keep. Making a salad up in advance doesnt work because its all off within a day, and salad is ALL I want in summer! Even my neighbours fresh tomatoes almost straight off the vine were done within 3 days and had to be cooked up into pasta sauce. Now we pray that the power doesn't go out again and take all my freezer food away! Haha. Thats another thing ya gotta consider, the potential loss if planned too far in advance.
 
Got my rough meal plan for the month, not an everyday plan.
So I know I'm doing salmon wellington for new years day and that'll do me for 3 days. Going to do chicken curry, that'll be 2 days, plus freezing some, sausage and mash will be 3 days.
I'll still have more sausages, but haven't yet decided on what I'll use them for. Maybe a stew or pasta bake type of thing.
I'll do mushroom stroganoff as well, which will be 2 days.
There's always things like pies in the freezer, or and chips type of meals.
My tesco order is booked for the 9th, so I'll refine it by then. However I'll do an aldi shop next week for the cheaper basics.

I might make some hummus as well for work lunches.
 
November said:
Lots of these things that work for big families do not work for singles. Like buying bulk and growing food. Yeah its easier to live like that, but only of you have the hands to help and mouths to feed.
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Yes, bulk buying can just mean stuff going off.
November said:
Now we pray that the power doesn't go out again and take all my freezer food away! Haha. Thats another thing ya gotta consider, the potential loss if planned too far in advance.
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One weekend I was away and there was a power surge that tripped my mains breaker. When I got back, freezer power had been off for 2 days. Which meant everything needed throwing.
 
When I was a chef at a 4-Star Hotel I used to do the evening meals for the live in staff (about 23 people) of all the stews, homemade potato pies for four, curries, et cetera. The favourite meal was chips and fish in breadcrumbs with yummy baked beans.
The trick is to make them as you would want to eat them yourself. I am proud to say there was never any leftovers.
Everything was bought in bulk.
 
nightshade said:
I'll still have more sausages, but haven't yet decided on what I'll use them for. Maybe a stew or pasta bake type of thing.
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Found this recipe: Upside-down Sausage and Onion Tart
that doesnt have loads of ingredients that I wouldn't regularly use! I want to try new recipes but I don't want to buy ingredients that I can't use elsewhere, but this looks simple to do. It'll easily do me for 3 days as well.
 
@nightshade,
about this Upside down Sausage and Onion Tart.
Concerning the Sausages,
which way up were they before you started to make the upside down tart?
 
It is good that you have not bought them yet, be careful when you do to make sure the items are not the right way up. Getting them to be upside down when they are not bought upside down has been known to cause one to be discombobulated.
 
nightshade said:
Found this recipe: Upside-down Sausage and Onion Tart
that doesnt have loads of ingredients that I wouldn't regularly use! I want to try new recipes but I don't want to buy ingredients that I can't use elsewhere, but this looks simple to do. It'll easily do me for 3 days as well.
Click to expand...

I go the other way, find whats on special, then find recipes to fit what I got.

Im useless at following recipes so more so I just google for ideas if i am stuck and then make up my own with what I have. Like, I got these very cheap sweet potato noodles. The recipe on the back of the pack suggested beef strips. I only had beef mince and a weird sauce I picked up somewhere along the way. Worked out beautifully! Just added bacon and onions and a few other bits I already had, the meal was planned around the thing I got on special rather than buying to a plan. Not sure if that makes sense hah.

I hate cooking, but I loooove eating, so mostly I like what I cook, even though its a mish mash of scraps.
 
November said:
I go the other way, find whats on special, then find recipes to fit what I got.
Click to expand...
Sausages are nearly always on offer! It's why I have them so often, but I found if I didn't plan and just bought on offer I ended up spending more buying the stuff to turn them into meals.

I need to batch cook better, I'm good at making meals stretch, I'm not good at freezing it instead of eating the same thing for days in a row!

I'll update my shopping order this evening, and go to aldi after work tomorrow.
 
I want to get into meal planning to help cut down on my spending! I also wanna learn some good recipes for the air fryer my siblings and I got our parents for Christmas. Anything to help me figure out how to actually eat like an adult lol
 
nightshade said:
I need to batch cook better, I'm good at making meals stretch, I'm not good at freezing it instead of eating the same thing for days in a row!
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When I batch cook I do about 4 to 6 big portions so I have to freeze some of it. I can eat the same thing for a couple of days but there is no way I could eat the same thing every day for almost a week !

I do need to find some new recipes for batch cooking though
 
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