Does anyone meal plan?

JackoftheBox · January 2014

I would like to do a weekly menu. Does anyone meal plan? I need help!

JackoftheBox · January 2014

OhBenji said:

I do meal plans.
I usually plan my meals at work when I have free time. I do the shopping on Sunday and buy all the ingredients that I already don't have.
Most of them are crockpot meals since I can put all the ingredients in the morning and it will be done by the time I get home.

I am starting my menu today. I can only think of tonight's dinner LOL. What all do you have planned?

kristennd · January 2014

I have a handful of crockpot cookbooks. It's still easier for me to flip through books then get on a computer or even my phone while LO is around.

I use the weekly grocery ads for inspiration. Which meats are on sale etc. I also try to make things that turn into leftovers so there are multiple meals taken care of at once.

We have one of those magnetic shopping list pads on the fridge, with a meal plan column down the side, and I just add things to future weeks as I come across them or realize we haven't eaten something in a while.

One popular technique we haven't quite gotten organized on yet is putting favorite meals on index cards. Then you and/or DH can flip through them for ideas.

JackoftheBox · January 2014

OhBenji said:

JackoftheBox said:

OhBenji said:

I do meal plans.
I usually plan my meals at work when I have free time. I do the shopping on Sunday and buy all the ingredients that I already don't have.
Most of them are crockpot meals since I can put all the ingredients in the morning and it will be done by the time I get home.

I am starting my menu today. I can only think of tonight's dinner LOL. What all do you have planned?

I'm trying to get rid of some items from my pantry so here's my meal plan for this week;
Mac and cheese tonight with steamed broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
I am off tomorrow so I am making Eggplant lasagna and chili for Wednesday.
Thursday ; Cabbage rolls
Friday; Hungarian Goulash with rice.
Both H & I take any leftovers to work.
I love planning meals because its easier than having to struggle each night what to have for dinner.
There's so many good crock pot recipes online.

Your so fancy LOL mine is like:

Tonight: chicken alfredo

tuesday: pork chops with mashed potatoes and carrots

wednesday: Hamburger helper and peas

Thursday: ???

JackoftheBox · January 2014

OhBenji said:

JackoftheBox said:

Your so fancy LOL mine is like:

Tonight: chicken alfredo
tuesday: pork chops with mashed potatoes and carrots
wednesday: Hamburger helper and peas
Thursday: ???

I love chicken alfredo!
Not fancy at all. I went through our pantry and freezer/fridge yesterday and realized I need to use some of that food. So I came up with the list above. Most are crockpot meals.
Do you do crockpot meals? You can put the ingredients overnight and it will be done in the morning.
What do you have sitting in your fridge/freezer/pantry that you want to use?

Yes to the crockpot but normally only for like soup or roast beef. We have a shit ton of beef b/c we buy a beef in the spring. Other than that a lot of pasta. I wouldn't say that our pantry is overly stocked with unused items right now.

bloverde · January 2014

I do. I have to with my call schedule and LO's allergies or else we're a hot mess in the food department.

Mon: Bleu cheese and pear pork chops with sweet potatoes
Tues: Kielbasa kale lentil soup
Wed: Pasta puttanesca
Thurs: Stuffed squash with broccoli
Fri: Salad nicoise

We eat leftovers for lunches. I keep a list of favorites to flip through for ideas. And I stalk food p0rn sites for ideas.

JackoftheBox · January 2014

We do leftover for lunches as well.

bloverde · January 2014

It's not as much a recipe as me throwing stuff together. LOL

Kombocha squash halved length wise and baked until tender but not mushy. Mix 1/2lb lean ground meat (whichever you want), 1 egg, salt/pepper, 1/2c cheddar and *veggie blend. Heap into squash and bake until meat is 165.

*I use a SteamFresh multigrain blend that has onion, tomato and spinach

JackoftheBox · January 2014

bloverde said:

It's not as much a recipe as me throwing stuff together. LOL Kombocha squash halved length wise and baked until tender but not mushy. Mix 1/2lb lean ground meat (whichever you want), 1 egg, salt/pepper, 1/2c cheddar and *veggie blend. Heap into squash and bake until meat is 165. *I use a SteamFresh multigrain blend that has onion, tomato and spinach

Yumm!! As a side I do baked squash with garlic, sea salt, and cheese. Apparently I can add a few things and make a meal!

brooke82308 · January 2014

I am pretty spolied. My husband does 99.9% of the cooking at my house. He is a fitness professional so we tend to eat somewhat healthy during the week and use the weekends to splurge.

He always makes sure that we have fish one night each week, chicken 2 times, and ground beef or steak 1 night. The other nights we either order food or go out or do pot luck.

JackoftheBox · January 2014

brooke82308 said:

I am pretty spolied. My husband does 99.9% of the cooking at my house. He is a fitness professional so we tend to eat somewhat healthy during the week and use the weekends to splurge.

He always makes sure that we have fish one night each week, chicken 2 times, and ground beef or steak 1 night. The other nights we either order food or go out or do pot luck.

Brat! My DH can barely boil water.

kristennd · January 2014

OhBenji said:

You can make goulash and have pasta as a side. I do this meal 2-3 times a month. H loves pasta and we also buy a lot of beef.

I love goulash but DH dislikes paprika.

We're doing crockpot beef stroganoff tomorrow. And tonight is leftover crockpot cranberry pork.

Last night was mac & cheese with ham and butternut squash. Not crockpot.

One thing I love about most crockpot meals is that they make enough for us to eat three times -- dinner, leftovers, and one in the freezer for later. Unless it wouldn't freeze well and then I get something besides Hot Pockets for lunch.

Tink112011 · January 2014

I meal plan, but definitely not for every night of the week. That's too much cooking for my likes and too many leftovers for the 3 of us.

I normally cook 3 dinners a week, and yes, I plan them. The other nights are leftovers or something easy like omelets, grilled sandwiches, mac n cheese, etc. And we usually order pizza or eat out 1 night a week.

KatieB19 · January 2014

Yes, I meal plan. I don't have enough recipes in my head to just buy food at the store and have it work. I will inevitably end up needing something, and/or things will go bad.

At one point, I went through all of my cookbooks and picked out 30 recipes that we either liked or wanted to try, and I put them in a six week rotation. Every week was 5 unique meals with corresponding grocery lists. It actually worked really well because I could even buy stuff ahead of time to freeze. It was also nice because for the several months that I used it, I only had to figure out sides and I never stressed on grocery day with what to buy.

But now I'm trying something new. There are a lot more recipes that I want to make, so instead I'm writing them all down and I'm going to meal plan weekly -- ideally planning meals that use the same ingredients so I don't have too much produce hanging out in my fridge going bad. And when I say "write down" I mean have a card with the name, what book/page I can find it, and a list of the ingredients so my grocery list will come together smoothly.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend making up a pantry list. A master list of everything you want to keep in stock in your kitchen: flour, sugar, spices (list them all), bread, butter, oil... Put the list in a plastic sheet cover, and whenever you are running low or run out of something, circle it with a wet erase marker (won't wipe off easily). Then when making your grocery list, refer to it instead of realizing too late that you are out of paprika.

eyenigh · January 2014

Tink112011 said:

I meal plan, but definitely not for every night of the week. That's too much cooking for my likes and too many leftovers for the 3 of us.
I normally cook 3 dinners a week, and yes, I plan them. The other nights are leftovers or something easy like omelets, grilled sandwiches, mac n cheese, etc. And we usually order pizza or eat out 1 night a week.

This is pretty much exactly us, too. I usually do at least one in the crockpot (usually two). I steal a lot of my ideas and recipes from the meal plan Monday suggestions on the Working Moms board. One of my biggest challenges is living with two very picky eaters-- my husband is not much better than my son. My son almost NEVER will eat what we eat despite our best efforts. Usually I end up making a common side dish (like sweet potatoes) that we all like and my husband and I will eat the main dish and I'll make something else quick for my son. It would be nice if we all ate the same thing but, honestly, it isn't that big of a deal. I only have one kid so playing a little bit of a short order cook is not a lot of work. I just continue to offer and, once in awhile, he takes some bites and I declare it a success. Last week he decided to begin boycotting veggie pizza, though so that was kind of annoying because pizza night was the one night we all ate together!

Chapter79 · January 2014

I have literally planned meals for 9 years, and have never ever skipped a week. Ok, I stand corrected. I skip weeks when we vacation in the summer. Otherwise, I have never skipped. I don't even know how people shop and plan dinner without doing so! I sit down every Friday evening (because I shop Saturday) and do this:

Saturday-
Sunday-
Monday-

etc. And I pick the meal, and below the days of the week I start to write the ingredients. Then I put down what I need every week (milk, butter, etc).

It makes it SO much less stressful.

scrappingcat · January 2014

We cannot function without our meal plan! I make a meal plan on Wednesday for the following week and try to shop on Thursday or Friday after work before I pick up DS. After making a list I do my couponing online and go through my paper coupons so everything is ready to go. I typically pre-prep things over the weekend (though have been bad about this lately) so everything is ready for the crock-pot or ready to go when I get home from work. Often I get off well before needing to pick up DS from daycare so I run home and start dinner so it can cook while I go get him. Soups, casseroles and rice cook well in an enameled cast-iron in the oven while I run!

Here's this weeks plan:

Mon-Cheeseburger Salad (turkey mini cheeseburgers)

Tues-Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Wed-Chicken Cordon Bleu

Thurs-Stuffed Pepper Soup

Fri-Leftovers or Breakfast for dinner (depending on leftovers available!)

I try to plan breakfast for dinner once during the week and we often end up with leftover night. Typically when I make soups or casseroles (hot dish where I come from!) I make enough to freeze extra for grab and go lunches. My husband and I take leftovers for lunch or make a salad with leftover meat. If it is something that DS doesn't like he gets leftovers from a previous meal or I slightly modify if it is something spicy. One of my favorite websites for healthy and fairly easy recipes is skinnytaste.com!

eyenigh · January 2014

scrappingcat said:

We cannot function without our meal plan! I make a meal plan on Wednesday for the following week and try to shop on Thursday or Friday after work before I pick up DS. After making a list I do my couponing online and go through my paper coupons so everything is ready to go. I typically pre-prep things over the weekend (though have been bad about this lately) so everything is ready for the crock-pot or ready to go when I get home from work. Often I get off well before needing to pick up DS from daycare so I run home and start dinner so it can cook while I go get him. Soups, casseroles and rice cook well in an enameled cast-iron in the oven while I run!

Here's this weeks plan:
Mon-Cheeseburger Salad (turkey mini cheeseburgers)
Tues-Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Wed-Chicken Cordon Bleu
Thurs-Stuffed Pepper Soup
Fri-Leftovers or Breakfast for dinner (depending on leftovers available!)

I try to plan breakfast for dinner once during the week and we often end up with leftover night. Typically when I make soups or casseroles (hot dish where I come from!) I make enough to freeze extra for grab and go lunches. My husband and I take leftovers for lunch or make a salad with leftover meat. If it is something that DS doesn't like he gets leftovers from a previous meal or I slightly modify if it is something spicy. One of my favorite websites for healthy and fairly easy recipes is skinnytaste.com!

Talk to me about this chicken pot pie soup...

Chapter79 · January 2014

I make this chicken pot pie soup..

https://www.shugarysweets.com/2013/04/chicken-pot-pie-soup

and this!

https://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/chicken-pot-pie-soup/

EMarieMe · January 2014

Mostly...as long as I stick to TraderJoe's. You let me loose in a Safeway and I come home with HoneyHam, microwave fries and some stupid ideas about trying to make Poutine. TraderJoe's keeps me grounded and healthy! OhBenji, how long about are you leaving your dishes in the crockpot? I'm pretty sure I'm out too long and food would burn. Maybe it's time to invest in one that can be timed to turn to 'warm' at a certain point?

kristennd · January 2014

My crockpot has a warm setting. It still runs pretty high on Warm so I knock an hour off the original cook time as well.

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