How many of you guys meal plan?

RandiDeeAnn

I'd really like to start doing this, for sanity and for streamlining grocery shopping. But I am horrible at it! Plus I'm just terrible in general at cooking. I used to be a pretty good cook, but now, everything I touch in the kitchen fails (or burns). Seriously last night, I screwed up hamburger helper!

monkeyqueen

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.

Meal planning makes grocery shopping way easier, though.  I also find that we don't spend as much on groceries when I meal plan. 

Brytany09

I've tried it a couple times. I now just think about things that we eat a lot, and try to keep those in the house. Then if I want to make something different, I run to the store. It works for us.

DTNZ4Ever

I do I don't know how people don't meal plan. I grocery shop every two weeks because I hate it. I sit down for about a half hour go through my reciepes and figure out how many dinners we will eat at home and make sure I have enough recipes for the 2 weeks. Then I have a list of recipes for the two weeks and mark off the ones I've made as I go. It's nice because DH or I come home from work look at the list and know we have everything we need for the meal.

amy5162

I meal plan weekly.  I just list out about 4 planned dinners and that will last us the week and the weekend, with leftovers too.  Sometimes I make two of something and freeze the second for a later date.  I prep lunches for DH as well, like grilling chicken for sandwiches, etc.

KYmama9286

I meal plan one week at a time. I actually used to do 1 month at a time and grocery shop every 2 weeks but I have a really hard time only going every 2 weeks b/c we cant get produce to last that long and stay fresh. I usually plan about 5 meals w/ 2 nights of leftovers, re-stock up on lunch items for DH, breakfast items and baby stuff for DS and any essentials we might be running low on. Like pp said, I dont know how people grocery shop without meal planning. I even make my grocery list in order of how I will walk through the store and I can get in and out pretty quickly and I never forget anything that way.

The trick to meal planning is to make things that use similar ingredients so you dont waste things. For example, if I make tacos or something that need sour cream 1 night I will make beef stroganoff to use the rest of the sour cream up. I also keep lots of frozen veggies on hand so that we can just pick what veggie to eat that night as a side. There are a few meal planning websites out there that do it for you and include the recipes if you are interested. I would just google and see what comes up. HTH!