@ktholysz do you have an Instant Pot? We got one for Christmas and are pretty obsessed. We still love crock pot recipes though, I am definitely trying the tortellini one.
How do you guys meal plan? Do you pick recipes? Go off of ingredients you have or always get? I feel like every time I go to the store to make a dinner it ends up being pretty expansive. I want to start planning more meals but I’m clueless as to where to start when I’m on a tight budget.
Also H got us an instant pot and both of us are nervous to use it and apparently he can’t figure out how to set it up lol so it’s just been sitting on my counter 😭😭
@greyl I started my meal planning after I was tying to lose weight after our oldest. So we find recipes. Once we find ones we really like we just rotate them. Pinterest is great for finding healthy meals on a budget.
@greyl We meal plan out a week or two at a time on our dry erase calendar. We start by filling in any days that have evening plans that include food. We then fill in standing weekly meals like pizza (usually Wednesday) and leftovers (often Saturday). For the remainder we see what we have on hand already and plan as many meals from that as possible before filling in the rest with items we need to purchase all or the majority of. Our biggest thing is being realistic with our available time and effort on a given day. I will only attempt one new recipe a week and often it is more like once a month. My real life for us is just not conducive to spending a large amount of time discovering new recipes right now. Making a comprehensive list of meals you feel comfortable making and enjoy (or at least get the job done) can really jump start menu planning. Meals also do not have to all be fancy recipes and in our case include things like grilled cheese and canned tomato soup or oven night where we make a smattering of freezer items in the oven. Not needing to make decisions at the store about what we will be having saves us a good deal of money and having a plan for every evening saves us a good deal of bickering.
I don't meal plan since food is still so hit and miss right now, but I want to eventually someday. https://www.budgetbytes.com/ This is a pretty good source for cheaper meals if you can plan things from there, I've found a few recipes from here that I absolutely adore! (The beef and mushroom stroganoff is a must)
@greyl I second what @Louise_Belcher says, it really doesn't have to be fancy - for us it's mostly about being prepared so we don't look in the cupboards and find nothing and NEED to go out for dinner, which is obviously much more expensive. (although, we used to plan a night-ish out per week, before this whole quarantine thing). Here's another good place for recipes with affordable ingredients: https://www.spendwithpennies.com/
Thank you everyone! That helps a lot. It’s tricky with our schedules because they usually change weekly so I find myself just making food for myself but I want to start making dinners that I can save leftovers for H when he is home or when I need something for lunch. I just wish my manager would post the schedule earlier than Sunday night (the night before the week starts) it’s i m p o s s I b l e to plan anything and is so so frustrating.
So I can’t meal plan two weeks at time but usually have about a weeks worth of ideas or plans in my head.
Wed: Taco Salad Thur: Baked Potatoes with bacon, broccoli, and all the fixings Fri: Fish Tacos Sat: Zuppa Toscano Sun: Tiki Marsala (simmer sauce in a jar) served over rice Mon: Spaghetti Tues: Grilled chicken with veggies
When things are more busy and we have school and sports, we do pizza quite often on Friday nights.
Ivy: July 2010 | Stella: Dec 2012 | BFP#3: MMC at 11Wk's, July 2017 | Wyatt: April 2019 | BFP#5: Twin Girls due Sept 2020
I cook with potatoes a lot, a big bag is less than $5 usually and with only two of us it lasts for almost a month. So much you can do with them- baked potatoes, mashed, cut into fries, roasted in butter and seasoned salt.... And a new favorite a friend just told me about: you can use a big potato cut into chunks or little potatoes. Toss in olive oil, lots of grated Parmesan cheese, lemon zest and salt/pepper. Lay a couple pieces of bacon over top and cook at 425F uncovered. When they're done, sprinkle with garlic powder, chili flakes and more salt to taste. Cut up the bacon and mix altogether. Can't get enough of them!
Do any of you use any kind of meal planning app? I'm trying to find something simple that's just an editable monthly calendar where you just put in the name of whatever you're going to cook, but so far any apps I've found are either too complicated or they just do week by week which doesn't work for me because I need to be able to see the entire month ahead so I can quickly and easily ensure I'm not repeating meals too much. I can't print out a monthly calendar either, so that's a bust.
@raesky1111 I don’t use an app I use a white board calendar and it’s magnetized to the refrigerator. We write down what will be each day. If I move them around I just keep them in the same week. I only meal plan dinners
Re: Meal planning week of 3/28
Two of my rotating meals are
zucchini skillet: https://confessionsofafitfoodie.com/21-day-fix-lazy-zucchini-enchilada-skillet/
lasagna skillet: https://www.thegarlicdiaries.com/brown-rice-lasagna-skillet/
Breakfasts:
Bagel egg sandwiches
PB toast w/ bananas
Cereal
Lunch:
Leftovers or same as breakfast
Dinners:
- Instant Pot Enchiladas (https://www.number-2-pencil.com/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-chicken-enchiladas-6/)
- Tomato soup & grilled cheese
(https://peasandcrayons.com/2017/02/instant-pot-creamy-tomato-soup.html#wprm-recipe-container-15378)
- Homemade pizza
- Maybe tortellini soup? 😉
Sun: Pizza
Mon: Curry Chicken
Tue: Order out
Wed: BFD (breakfast for dinner)
Thu: Penne and meat sauce
Fri: BBQ Shredded chicken sliders
Sat: Leftovers
DS2 5/17
#3 Due 9/20
DS2 5/17
#3 Due 9/20
https://www.spendwithpennies.com/
Wed: Taco Salad
Thur: Baked Potatoes with bacon, broccoli, and all the fixings
Fri: Fish Tacos
Sat: Zuppa Toscano
Sun: Tiki Marsala (simmer sauce in a jar) served over rice
Mon: Spaghetti
Tues: Grilled chicken with veggies
When things are more busy and we have school and sports, we do pizza quite often on Friday nights.
@ktholysz I made the tortellini soup last night and it was so simple and tasty! Idk who thought to put cream cheese into soup, but they're a genius 😂