Planning/making meals ahead

I haven't had much luck making meals in advance or even buying groceries for more than a day or two's worth. I'm the only one who will eat "leftovers" and too many times food has spoiled because I wasn't in the mood to cook/eat what I had. :P I hope you get some helpful answers!

I always make a weekly menu to plan out what dinner will be. I base it on what I have on hand,and what is on sale at the grocery store. While you don't have to cook every thing in advance, knowing what you are going to make not only keeps you within your calorie goal, it's a great way to save money, and prevent buying too much at the grocery store. It also keeps you from attacking leftovers from making too much food. I try to buy my meat once or twice a month, and keep things frozen until the day they will be used. The only thing I buy weekly is vegetables, for obvious reasons.

I usually come up with several meals that can use the same ingredient (ie. curry with bell peppers and chicken, or fajitas with bell peppers and chicken) so that I can either use up a Costco size bag, or so that whatever I have in the fridge will be more appealing (who doesn't like options right?). Also, I like to run the menu by my husband, that way we are on the same page and know what we'll be eating. I usually plan on 3-4 meals a week, knowing that once or twice we'll go out, and a night for leftovers. Hope this helps. It is easy not to waste when a little thought it put into what you'll be making. And, if chicken doesn't sound good tonight, have it tomorrow Because you'll have ingredients for 3 other meals available. Good luck :happy:

I make an egg white, spinach, and cheese quiche every Sunday. I eat it during the week for quick, nutritious breakfasts on the run. (I happen to love cold quiche). I also roast chicken breasts and make turkey burgers on Sunday for the week so I can pack my lunches. I freeze them individually and pack them for lunch.

Can you send me your quiche recipe?

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but something that helps me is to keep chopped-up bell peppers and onions (seperately) in the freezer in freezer bags. So many recipes that I make call for these and it's easier for me to chop them up in advance and then get out as I need them. Also I suppose you could cut up chicken for a stirfry or whatever and then freeze that until you need it. As you can see, I'm a big supporter of The Freezer.

Grocery store on Sunday's for the week... Or emealz.com!

I plan a week's worth of meals every week. I look through my freezer/pantry and try to make things that I have at least half of the ingredients on hand if possible. I've also made a list of meals that we like and eat regularly, so I usually picks a few things from that list, and then I try to pick a few new meals to try from www.skinnytaste.com or www.allrecipes.com.

Then we don't have the nightly "what do you want for dinner" conversation. I put a sticky note of what our weekly meals are on the fridge and usually let my fiance pick which one he wants that night. It makes things so much easier and you know you already have everything to make the meal! It saves money too because you are not just buying random things at the store.

I plan out a week's worth of meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. After I get home from grocery shopping for the week's menu I 'prep' for the week. I check my meal list and prep as much of it as I can. Things like chopping veggies and fruits, cooking rice and/or pasta. Those kinds of things last just fine in the fridge for the week and it saves me some time (and dishes!) when the day comes to actually make the meal.

Sometimes I do make the meal and freeze or stick it in the fridge but it takes some trial and error to figure out which ones taste the same and which do not. (And the key to that is to NOT tell anyone you didn't cook it today. For some reason that gives them permission to nitpick it. You'll get more honest answers about taste/quality if you zip your lip.) It's really fast and easy to cook when everything is pre-chopped. You just toss it together and cook it.

Also, when planning meals, having one meal roll over into the next helps save time too. Like if you're using rice as a side tonight then for fried rice on friday, cook up the full amount then portion out and store what you need for the later meal. I do this with meats since it's just my hubby and me. I'll do a home-made hamburger helper for one meal but I only need 1/3 of a pound. So I cook it all up, use 1/3 for my hamburger helper, 1/3 for spaghetti meatsauce and I'll freeze another 1/3 for tacos the next week.