April 2017 Moms

Meal Plan Monday

Since most everyone here is probably spending more time hunched over the toilet rather than the stove, I thought this week it would be cool to share some meal planning tips rather than recipes or dinner ideas.  

How do you plan your meals?  Do you have an organized system?  Do you just wing it?  Do you buy what's on sale and make it work? Are you a daily, weekly, or monthly shopper? Do you prefer traditional or experimental recipes?  Do you enjoy the process or loathe it? Do you or your partner do most of the cooking, or is it 50/50?  Does just thinking about all this give you hives?  Let's hear it...


Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
DS: 10-9-14
MC: 9-4-16

Re: Meal Plan Monday

  • Love the prompt, because I am not spending much time over the stove these days. Poor DH--he's usually responsible for the dishes and I do the cooking, but now he has to do both. 

    Before I go to the store on the weekend, I think about what we have in the freezer (usually we have some sort of frozen raw protein) and ask DH what he wants to eat. My grocery store has pretty low prices and not a lot of sales so I just stick with my plan. I usually make at least 1 crockpot meal per week and we eat a lot of leftovers. Luckily DH really doesn't care about leftovers. I'm not a very experimental cook because I don't like to spend a lot of time or money cooking. I do have a $40 off Blue Apron coupon that I think I'll use soon. I mostly prefer to bake, so I keep the cooking fairly simple.

    Favorite recipe around here is Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili from Skinnytaste (a great blog for good lightened up recipes). 
    DD #1: April 2017
    DD #2: May 2020
    Baby #3: EDD May 2023; MC October 2022

  • I've still been cooking, but DH is super-nervous because I don't think he's cooked a meal for me since my knee surgery 3 years ago! (By my choice- I LOVE to cook!). I meal plan and shop accordingly most weeks, although I've been slacking on actually cooking what I plan this past week.

    I try to hit sale items if they work, but I'm much more concerned about the quality of my food, and organic/non-GMO options are rarely on sale. So, I do a farmers market run for my fruits and veg, and get everything else at super target (take advantage of their 5% Red Card and Cartwheel App).

    If it gets bad and I can't cook, we are going to do Sun Basket (they're like Blue Apron, but all organic and you can do vegan/paleo/GF. 
    Me: 34 | DH: 33
    Married: 09.14.13
    BFP 7-26-17, EDD 4-10-17

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  • bwobwo member
    @catem07 That is nice of your DH to handle both...and good practice for when baby is here. ;)  Your post reminds me I need to get a crock pot!  I know, I know...kinda ridiculous but I got rid of mine a long time ago.  Now with less time to cook after having a kid, it would definitely come in handy!  Have you used Blue Apron before? I'm curious as what what you thought.

    @missbriarbee I love hitting up the farmer's market too when I can, but that is limited to the summer months here.  Do you have a winter's farmers market where you live?  
    Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
    DS: 10-9-14
    MC: 9-4-16

  • @bwo Crock pots are a MUST in my life. I plan on getting a freezer before baby and putting together a bunch of crock pot meals to freeze, defrost, and throw in the crock. 

    I haven't used blue apron, but I used something similar. It doesn't make financial sense for us to use it regularly but if you give them your email address and don't sign up they'll start sending you coupons. The similar service made pretty good food, but the portions were too small for DH (who is normal sized but eats about twice as much as I do). 
    DD #1: April 2017
    DD #2: May 2020
    Baby #3: EDD May 2023; MC October 2022

  • We weekly meal plan and use a weekly sheet that lets me list the meals for each day, and then the groceries we need.  We belong to a CSA and pick up on Tuesdays so we have bee mostly planning our proteins on the weekends, and then we ad lib in the sides once we know what's in the box.  When not CSA season, we plan a protein, 2 veggies and a starch for dinners.  Then we don't always feel like what's on the menu for that day, but can swap whatever we feel like from other days in the week.
  • I organize the meals to use as much stuff as I can that is fresh, healthy and already in the pantry/fridge/freezer.  I also plan one night off - we call it "fend for yourself night" and we usually end up having a leftovers at some point during the week too.  I generally plan meals to minimize waste, so if I use half a pack of mushrooms for something, I plan another meal that week to use the rest.  We also move around our planned meals for the sake of convenience or cravings.  It was way easier before we had DS, now we work to balance time with him and time in the kitchen along with sitting down together as a family in the evenings.
    **TW kids and loss mentioned**

    -- DS 3.8.14
    -- MC 9.22.16 at 8 wks




  • bwobwo member
    @cateanchor07. That's a great tip about the Blue Apron coupons...I've always been hesitant too bc it seemed mode expensive than just buying your own groceries. I'm also with you on the preparing meals for post partum.  I'm thinking I'll do a bunch of hearty soups that will be easy to thaw and reheat. 

    @gardenmama17  Ooh, I love the idea of a CSA.  I'm hoping to join one next summer or at least do a small veggie garden. 

    @Breesy14. Leftover nights are my favorite.  And you're right, dinner time became a lot more of a juggling act after a little one. ;) 
    Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
    DS: 10-9-14
    MC: 9-4-16

  • bwobwo member
    So usually I just buy whatever protein is on sale and whatever veggies sound good while I'm at the store, but the past few weeks we've starting a new system to help make grocery shopping and meal planning a bit easier and quicker.  I wrote down all the different meals we love on index cards. We can choose or randomly pull out a few cards from the deck on grocery day, and those are the dinners for the week.  I'll be adding the ingredients for each dish on the backs of the cards as I make them which will make writing a grocery list even easier. My husband suggested taking the cards we've just made out of rotation until we've made everything in the deck and then start over.  So far it's working great...I love anything that lets me make fewer decisions on a daily basis.  
    Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
    DS: 10-9-14
    MC: 9-4-16

  • The subject of this thread literally made me snicker. Yeah right to the meal planning. This whole summer is basically been horrible and stressful to the max. I am proud of myself when I get out of bed and keep my 2 year old alive. Meal planning is so far down on my list of priorities. I hope in a few months things will be more conducive to healthy, creative meals. For now we are not starving so.... hooray! 

    Me: 28 year old SAHM/Birth Doula
    DH: 30 year old pneumatic electrical engineer 
    Married: October 8, 2011
    DD1: September 24, 2013
    BFP: June 25, 2016 and MC: July 3, 2016
    DD2: April 16, 2017
    BFP: November 30, 2018 EDD: August 14, 2019
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • Okayyyyyy......  
  • @gardenmama17 I don't think @mrsstuessy meant any shade. She's had a rough summer and is proud of managing it how she can, not criticizing anyone else for meal planning. (I think, but I may be wrong, as one always might be when interpreting someone else's words and actions). 
    DD #1: April 2017
    DD #2: May 2020
    Baby #3: EDD May 2023; MC October 2022

  • bwobwo member
    @mrsstuessy. Sorry you are having such a stressful summer.  I think meal planning/cooking, at least for me, is definitely something that comes in waves...sometimes I have the energy and motivation to deal with it and other times I don't even want to think about it.  Cooking 3 meals a day every day can get so mundane, no matter how much you love cooking, so I'm always looking for tips or new recipes to make it less so.  
    Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
    DS: 10-9-14
    MC: 9-4-16

  • We have a little chalkboard in our kitchen that we write our weekly menu on.  Usually we only plan Monday through Friday and wing it on the weekends.  I usually look and see what meat we already have in our freezer and go from there.  We like to go to our local farmers market on Saturdays and stock up on veggies and fruit for the week.  I hate wasting food so meal planning is a must.  We also both get home from work around 6:30 and our toddler needs to be in bed by 7:45ish so we cook together to get things done faster.

    Right now, I can't stand the smell of anything cooking so DH has been grilling outside.  My last pregnancy we didn't have a grill and lived in a condo without a balcony so we ate a lot of sandwiches.  This time around, I'm imagining DH will be outside in a winter coat grilling in the snow because the smell of cooking food makes me vom.
  • bwobwo member
    @clover28  Ha ha!  Now I'm just thinking about how fun it will be to send my DH to grill out in the snow. I like the way you think. 
    Me & DH: 34 - Married 2011
    DS: 10-9-14
    MC: 9-4-16

  • @bwo If he wants meat, he better be the only one who has to smell it cooking.  I even made him take the grill into the yard because I swore the smell was coming through the closed windows.  Our neighbors asked him what he was doing yesterday with the grill clear out in our backyard and he just kind of shrugged and said "Grilling some chicken, you guys want some?"
  • @cateanchor07 is totally right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was criticizing. When my life is going better I also like to meal plan. I guess I just feel free to share my struggles on the internet more than I do in real life sometimes. In real life I feel like I need to pretend to have it all together. And I was just sharing that this summer I really don't have it all together at all. I will be coming back to get idea from you ladies once I can think about planning meals again. Sorry if I offended. 

    Me: 28 year old SAHM/Birth Doula
    DH: 30 year old pneumatic electrical engineer 
    Married: October 8, 2011
    DD1: September 24, 2013
    BFP: June 25, 2016 and MC: July 3, 2016
    DD2: April 16, 2017
    BFP: November 30, 2018 EDD: August 14, 2019
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • When I'm organized enough to plan, I'll plan 4 dinners for the week & make sure to buy all the necessary ingredients during our weekly trip to the grocery on Sunday or Monday.  Usually we eat out and/or visit family 1-2 nights/week and have leftovers 1-2 nights, so 4 "planned" meals seems like our magic number.  Ideally I'll write the "Here's what we can make for dinner this week" list on the fridge.

    When I'm not organized...we toss together a couple random meals, my husband complains there's *nothing* in the house, and we order a lot of pizza.

  • @mrsstuessy I see the intent of your post now.  I'm sorry to hear you have been so stressed.  Hope things are looking up.
  • leslieknopeleslieknope member
    edited August 2016
    We do exactly what Clover does. Here's what we came up with for this week (hope it doesn't make anyone gag, I know how that can go).

    Yesterday: pork chops with apples, mashed potatoes
    Tonight: tomatoes three ways (tomato pie, salsa, and caprese salad), caesar salad, corn on the cob (our garden is going crazy)
    Tomorrow: lemon chicken, corn on the cob
    Thursday: Swedish meatballs and egg noodles
    Friday: Fish tacos

    My husband does most of the cooking. These were the things that sounded good on Sunday when we planned the week, and so far they're all still sounding good. But we have several boxes of kraft mac n cheese in case things go south. 
  • @leslieknope kraft mac and cheese is THE BEST right now. 
    DD #1: April 2017
    DD #2: May 2020
    Baby #3: EDD May 2023; MC October 2022

  • @catem07 Seriously, it's basically the one consistently good sounding thing right now. 
  • I meal plan exactly like ivy_leaf: about 3-4 meals. I usually go to the farmers market and then fill in at the grocery store. I try to cook with mostly vegetables and use meat as an accent. My husband and I both like cooking so it's something we do together. We always eat pizza on Friday. I just never want anything else. I've been missing my wine with the pizza though. 
    Pregnancy Ticker
  • I totally meal plan. And I do it a month at a time. Things change throughout the month depending on what's on sale. But meal planning saves my grocery bill, and it saves us from eating frozen pizza 4x a week. 

    However, since becoming pregnant I feel like crap and can barely cook. I think I've cooked twice. We've been eating a lot of grilled cheese, soup, pizza, and ordering in. It's bad. My meal plan has gone out the window the last 2 weeks. 
  • @leslieknope we seriously ate almost the same meals this week!  Swedish meatballs+egg noodles on Sun, Pork chops on Mon, and we planned a garden fest for tonight, but our CSA delivery was stuck in a freeway closure.  (sorry...this is not helpful to anyone looking for ideas...)

    @STM2017 I try to suck it up and keep dinners going (even though I don't feel it...) for the rest of the family.  I just eat smaller portions and definitely have a snack of what sounds better once the toddler is in bed (brownies, chips..eek).  I've officially given up on trying to pack my lunch though.  Whatever sounded good in the morning definitely doesn't by lunchtime.  
  • @bwo ours are closed November-April, so I go to whole foods... I KNOW they are more expensive, but I justify it because (1) all non-gmo and (2) it seriously lasts longer than the regular grocery, so I throw out less.

    @Omie_Wise I'm with you- all I want is a glass of wine. 
    Me: 34 | DH: 33
    Married: 09.14.13
    BFP 7-26-17, EDD 4-10-17

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