Tell me how you meal plan!

I plan meals better during the colder months when I'm less active and worried about comfort foods. We basically eat the same dinner meals on rotation. I don't really follow the sale items I just know what we'll eat and get it. I do the overnight oats for breakfast and he does the frozen waffles and pb. I eat canned items for lunch and he is on his own (he gets more calories than me so I figure he is eating fast food). I like to make beef roast, chicken, or pork to last a few days and often switch it up with soup, or veggies, or bbq sauce. I get such a low calorie amount that I have to prep or at least think ahead.

I think most people would think I'm doing it wrong, but we go to the grocery store and pick out whatever looks good/is on sale/is needed to restock (plus we get certain staple perishables like specific vegetables, chicken thighs, and eggs.) Then our fridge works like a restaurant one and we basically do a FIFO rotation where I cook something around whatever's been there longest and should be used. I never have to throw out food because I pretty much check every night before I start cooking. So if the broccoli has been open for several days already, then my husband is getting chicken and broccoli alfredo and I'm getting roasted broccoli with lemon and truffle and a frozen veggie burger (or whatever), and the next day I'll see we have a ton of bell peppers so I'll make him stuffed ones with quinoa, ground turkey, and vegetables, then the next night I'll see the bag of salad greens expires tomorrow and make us big dinner salads with hard-boiled egg and the bacon I opened on the weekend and should use and some of the other veg I have, etc etc.

I dunno, it works for me. We get varied meals, I can just think of stuff based on specific ingredients instead of trying to menu plan from thin air (which is harder for me), and we can grab whatever is a good deal at the store and work with that too.

I also have a stash of what we call "freezer food", which is convenience stuff like frozen perogies, pre-breaded calamari, and frozen burgers that we can dig out if I'm not feeling like doing a whole meal from scratch or I'm not home and my non-cook husband has to fend for himself. Sometimes if it's been a long day I just have to plunk down a frozen pizza and some carrot sticks for him and be done with it so I do keep that stuff around for those kind of nights. I'd say we only have to resort to that about once a month though.

kommodevaran wrote: »

Thanks everybody! Here I thought "meal planning" was something that had a definition..!

My mother wrote out everything we were going to have for lunch and dinner for the week on the left side of a chalk board in our kitchen.

Then she investigated the cupboards etc. to find out what she had. Then she wrote a grocery list on the right side of the chalk board.

At the beginning of the week, she went grocery shopping, got exactly what she needed to make the meals for the week + a little bit extra (maybe a few things on sale), just in case ... and we had those meals.

On Monday, I knew exactly what was coming for the week. There were no surprises.

That to me is "meal planning".


What my husband and I do is to look at each other at about 6:30 pm and he asks, "What do you want for dinner" ... he asks because he cooks dinner. I usually shrug my shoulders and say, "Whatever we've got". It's almost always a partial surprise. I have an idea what we've got in the cupboards etc. and unless I'm really tight for calories, I know it will all work within my calories ... but I don't know what, specifically, he'll choose until it appears in front of me.

First off, I buy almost the same things every week. Greek Yogurt, Egg Beaters, Variety of Veggies/Fruits (Romaine Lettuce, cucumbers, zuchini, and apples are usually an every week thing), chicken breasts, and Diet Coke. Then I go by what's on sale. Then I get creative and figure out what I can do new with the sale stuff. I'm actually working on Carnitas Enchiladas right now...LOL

I know for me I have to have all the ingredients on hand, ready the night before after that dinner. Because it's not gonna happen at 6am, or when I get home from work.