What's Cooking?
Omgzombies
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Do you have a meal planning system?
Do you have a meal planning system? For example on Monday's beef, Tuesday's crock pot recipe, etc. If so would you mind sharing?
Re: Do you have a meal planning system?
my food blog
From Hey To Horses
I created a meal planning spreadsheet, but I don't use it much. I grocery shop weekly (it's personally too overwhelming for me to shop for a whole month), and my list is based off of what I need to the next week or two's meals.
Right now, my husband and I are trying to spend less money, so I'm being more careful of how I shop. When entering the store, I go straight to Meat, then Produce, Deli, Dairy, Frozen, Bread sections, then the Canned/Boxed Bagged last. That way, I'll get the most important items before I get too close to my preset limit.
No pattern, although I try to incorporate a combination from each list below of mains, sides & cuisines each week:
MAINS:
beef
pork
chicken
seafood
meatless
SIDES:
rice
potatoes
corn
salad
bread (gf)
CUISINES:
Asian (Filipino/Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Indian/Thai/etc)
Italian
Latin (Southwestern/Tex Mex/Cuban/Puerto Rican/etc)
American
Mediterranean
European (French/German/etc)
I basically do what Joelen does.
Every week I try to have :
Chicken, pork, tofu, ground beef, and every other week we have either fish or beef.
Then I like to do:
1 italian meal (usually ends up being Friday), 1 Mexican, 1 Asian, and the rest a combination
For sides:
Rice, potato, mac n cheese, corn or beans, salad, bread, grits or polenta.
Nope, no system.
I sit down on Sunday afternoon with my weekly meal calendar that hangs on the fridge so the kids and I can see it, and the dry erase board listing the contents of our freezers. Between that list and what I know we have in the pantry, I make up a weekly plan (often asking the kids if there's something in particular they want for a meal/on a certain day/whatever).
Usually there's one chicken dish, one pasta dish, one "easy" night like soup and sandwiches, one pizza night and the rest is play it by ear. But even those things aren't on the same night every week and some weeks I might skip them entirely depending on what else we have/want to eat and/or what our plans are.
I do not have a system but I do meal plan for the week. I usually have one big-ish theme for the week and go from there. Some weeks, I roast a chicken, and that keeps turning up in different forms for 3-4 meals. Or a tomatoe sauce - also good for 3-4 different meals. Last week, we bought a big bag of colorful peppers, so I sought-out recipes to use it up. That turned into fajitahs, twice.
I also make a point of using my freezer stash once a week - otherwise, those odd meals and/or options get overlooked too much. This week, that meant defrosting some shrimp for a salad and last week it meant a veggie lasanga that was a small main dish that split perfectly with DH, DD and I. This week I put 3 servings of Shepard's Pie to freeze - so it all works out.
My sister does a "Chili night" on Tuesday nights because she works late and needs to come home to a crock pot meal for 6 without any extra fuss. I would do that in a heart beat, if I had to feed a crowd.
I meal plan bi-weekly, i've been doing this since we got married, since i get paid bi-weekly, so i grocery shop according to when i get paid LOL
i sit down usually on a saturday/sunday, and usually log on pinterest or other favorite sites, i write out my items for each day, and go through what ingredients i don't have, and i grocery shop for the 2 weeks at one time.
i usally do 1 crockpot night, and friday nights are usually our quick/easy night so i'll make soup or pasta, and usually once over the weekend we'll finish up leftovers, whatever we didn't use for lunch during the week.
I used to. I don't remember what I had specifically and on what days, but knowing what I cook it was probably something like:
- Meatless Monday
- One-skillet Tuesday
- Family Favorite Wednesday
- Ethnic Thursday
- Pizza Friday
- New Recipe Saturday
- Elaborate dinner Sunday