Meal Planning - Hints & Tips?

sheahughes
sheahughes Posts: 133 Member
edited November 10 in Food and Nutrition
Hello all,

I'm trying to get my budget and myself a lot more organised and under control this year.

Generally, I don't decide what I'm going to prepare for dinner until that day. For instance, this morning I had a hankering for beef casserole so that's what is in the slow cooker.

I've been investigating meal planning as a method to both reduce our fortnightly food budget and prevent food wastage. I'm a little concerned that I wouldn't stick to it though because I might not feel like "cooking that meal on that day"...

Do any of you have any hints, tips or recommendations for a newbie to meal planning?

Some more information about my family and I
  • We live in a really rural area - 136kms from the nearest shopping centre/fast food place
  • I love cooking and can cook just about anything with a recipe
  • My family consists of my 10 year old son and myself
  • We don't have any food limitations - no allergies or anything that prevents us from eating something unless we don't like it
  • He has to take lunch to school
  • The only vegetables we have growing at the moment are cucumbers and cherry tomatoes so we need to buy all of our fresh produce and this can be a bit tricky keeping things 'fresh' until the end of the fortnight
-

Replies

  • strawberryshake00
    strawberryshake00 Posts: 12 Member
    I always make my meal plans when I am hungry , and go to allrecepies.com for so many low cal recipe ,you need to select your ingredients and found very interesting recipes with nutritional info.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    We meal plan for the whole week. My wife, myself and our 10 yo. We cook enough so that we both have enough leftovers for lunch the next day. It's not hard. It does take a little discipline to stick to it. Our rule is we can move days around, but have to use all the meals for the week. Makes shopping easy, we only buy food for the meal plan.
  • sheahughes
    sheahughes Posts: 133 Member
    strawberryshake00 wrote: »
    I always make my meal plans when I am hungry , and go to allrecepies.com for so many low cal recipe ,you need to select your ingredients and found very interesting recipes with nutritional info.
    prattiger65 wrote: »
    We meal plan for the whole week. My wife, myself and our 10 yo. We cook enough so that we both have enough leftovers for lunch the next day. It's not hard. It does take a little discipline to stick to it. Our rule is we can move days around, but have to use all the meals for the week. Makes shopping easy, we only buy food for the meal plan.

    My response to the bolded comment
    I can re-heat leftovers the next day if I'm home or at work but the school has a strict no microwave re-heat policy however they do have a pie-warmer that students can use to heat or cook their first lunch in so I've sent leftover chicken legs or mini pizzas etc to school but if it has to be kept in a container instead of aluminum foil it can't go in the pie-warmer.

    I'm aiming to only shop once every two weeks because I can't guarantee that I'm in town each week due to casual work hours. Plus, the less I go to the shop, the less I'll spend!

    Also food wastage is a big problem with us and I think that is exacerbated by only meal planning for the day or making up my mind come mid-afternoon, I cook what I feel like and not what I should to be using the food in the fridge - I'm hoping that having a meal plan will mean that the food isn't bought in the first place to then be wasted.

  • RadiantChange
    RadiantChange Posts: 57 Member
    Hi, I only buy veggies and fruits that last a while longer between shopping visits. For instance...Like Cabbage. I put it in everything, breakfast, lunch & dinners. Tonight I am making Tacos but stir in a lot of veggies while it is cooking such as cabbage, onions, tomato's, peppers, spinach. I use Greek Non flavored yogurt instead of sour cream.

    Meal planning happens for me once a week, then I shop and on the nights I need something really quick I might whip up some spinach fritters that take 20 min. max to make and so, so tasty as well as good for you. I also make enough dinner to last for lunches the next day. Good tip, Prattiger switching the meals around depending on your time, but yet still sticking with the plan.

    You will find a way that works for you, all the best as you figure it out!
  • runningforthetrain
    runningforthetrain Posts: 1,037 Member
    I often resort to shopping daily for the same reason you stated (what I feel like that day). I am lucky enough to have the grocery store around the corner so it is doable. But I also dislike the inefficient use of my time.

    The only meal planning that has worked for me in the past is to make items that are versatile- like baked chicken - you can have that as itself or you could shred it for tacos put it in chicken soup. Tortillas- very versatile. I mix a lot of stuff with eggs or tofu scrambled. Eggs are good anytime a day. I'll bake a tray of vegetables with olive oil and vinegar- those will work strait out of the oven- or cold the next day in salad. Or you could add the veggies to pasta and add a cream sauce- pasta Prima Vera- This is how I get around being stuck with something I'm "not in the mood" for. I leave the veggies covered in a storage bowl in the refrigerator.
  • Ja_ja_jakeya
    Ja_ja_jakeya Posts: 88 Member
    Cook several meals one day and freeze them. Buy fresh fruits and veggies on your bi-weekly shopping trips but only buy what you know you can eat! Make up the difference with frozen fruits and veggies that have no added sugar/sodium. Make things like mini pizzas, meatballs, chicken and veggies... etc. Before your trip to the grocery store come up with a few different meal options. If you can come up with different meals that use the same ingredients, then you'll be great! For example if you buy ground turkey, you could make meatballs, meatloaf, spaghetti meat sauce and turkey burgers. If you buy chicken breast you can make chicken Parmesan, bake it and cut it up for a salad, oven fried chicken tenders... If you have access to the internet, then you have endless recipes! Good luck <3
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    Do you have a decent-sized freezer? Frozen ingredients can lose a little bit of nutrients, but not a lot, and most of them keep pretty decent texture. I have a large freezer, and it's been invaluable in stocking a variety of stuff so that I can cook whatever I'm in the mood for rather than having to be militant with planning.

    But as for planning: Pinterest is a great source of recipes. You can make a board with pictures of the dishes which also serve as links to the recipes.

    Out of Milk is a great phone app which you can use for grocery shopping. It's free and very easy to use.

    So the smartest thing to do would be to note some staple meats and veggies for the freezer that you can play with when you're in the mood. Then also select some recipes that you know you will want to try, and try to get some that share the fresh ingredients. For example, if you need green onions for one recipe, look up some other recipes that use green onions specifically, like Japanese or Mexican, so that you will have a chance to use them up.

    Also, there's plenty of recipes that are made for using up leftovers. Turkey, for example...you can roast a whole turkey or turkey breast, and then there's recipes for using the leftover turkey to make turkey soup or turkey pot pie, turkey chili, various sandwiches (I'm a fan of the grilled turkey, cranberry and brie). You can buy a big package of hamburger, make burgers one day, chili the next, and use the leftover chili in a taco pie.

    As for school lunches, you might have to buy some of that separately to adhere to school rules, like sandwich stuff or whatever, but a lot of what you cook can be made to fit in with those rules.
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