Meal planning posts?

heyemilina · February 2012

Anyone interested in posting a daily or weekly menu of meals (or maybe even just dinners)? We do all our meal planning and grocery shopping for the week on Sundays, and I'm finding it harder and harder to not repeat the same thing every week. I thought maybe I could find some inspiration here. I check out the What's Cooking board every once in a while, but some of the recipes and meals that are posted over there I would have no time to make on a weeknight.

pdxmouse · February 2012

I would be interested. I'm just starting to meal plan and I'm not really very good about it yet. One meal kinda flows into the other, but then it starts to get repetitive. All my dishes will be veggie, of course.

modb1rd · February 2012

I would do it, but I cook just for me and am working really hard at losing weight, so there is little interesting going in my belly and even less variety since I cook something and it it for 4 days straight.

KayRI · February 2012

I'd do a weekly What's for Dinner? post. I get good ideas when people post recipes. I meal-plan on Thursday or Friday because I shop on Saturday morning. Meal planning for the week has really helped our food budget and curbed the tendency to order out a few times a week.

applesandoranges · February 2012

I am boring on the weekdays. We just have a pork loin and chicken and a ton frozen/steam-ready veggies, salads and sweet/red potatoes on hand to make quick dinners. I have a TON of sauces, marinades, and seasonings to make them all "different." We have our stand by meals too. Try this: Cube 2 or 3 sweet potatoes and large chunks of 1 purple onion in a glass baking dish, mix in some olive oil, salt & pepper, coriander, chili powder, and cumin, pop in the oven at 400 for 30 min with foil on top and 30-45 with no foil. Really good with pork and a green (like asparagus or broc).

CaliopeSpidrman · February 2012

I do my meal planning and grocery shopping for the week on Sunday too! We do repeat a lot of the same items, but that's because we're both picky eaters (Mr. Spiderman even more so than me). I only really plan meals for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Mr. Spiderman cooks on Tuesday (things like fish sticks or other uninspired fare), and we order pizza on Fridays. Then we eat leftovers or whatever on the weekends.

mashedpotato · February 2012

I generally only cook a real meal on Tuesday and Thursday, those are the nights my son is home for dinner during the week. The rest of the week I eat leftovers, soup or fish. Lately Tuesday and Thursday's have been some kind of burritos or shrimp, those are my son's favorites.

heyemilina · February 2012

pdxmouse:
I would be interested. I'm just starting to meal plan and I'm not really very good about it yet. One meal kinda flows into the other, but then it starts to get repetitive. All my dishes will be veggie, of course.

I'm actually looking for some good veggie meals. We try to eat meatless 1-2 nights a week but that usually ends up being either a pasta dish or a salad. I'd love to have a few other good ideas.

modb1rd · February 2012

Learning how to prepare tofu has been a godsend for me in my semi-vegginess. Lots and lots of pressing to get the water out and slicing it thin and freezing it so it picks up more of the flavor of the marinade.

We also like to have spaghetti squash with a mushroom heavy red sauce,

L_Woods · February 2012

I'd be interested. We're just starting to meal plan, and I suck at it so much right now. It's always the same chicken, pork, chicken, pork, fish, etc.

TheDuckis · February 2012

I would not be good at participating since I am terrible at both cooking and meal planning, but I would read the sht out of a weekly food post, just to trick myself into thinking I can put a meal on the table 5 nights a week.

boxerfan · February 2012

Yes, we should definitely do this. We shop for the week on Sundays, and I'm always struggling to come up with meals on Sunday morning. This would give me ideas, and help me to think about it ahead of time too.

heyemilina · February 2012

What day should it be posted? I don't mind making the post but I can't post during the day during the week. I was thinking Sunday evenings but a lot of us will already have our shopping done anyway. Although, we can always use the previous week's menus for inspiration.

modb1rd · February 2012

I don't think this is the exact recipe but I made something very similar to this once for book club and it was yummy. http://www.food.com/recipe/vegetarian-lentil-taco-meat-filling-substitute-crock-pot-252590

ChristinS · February 2012

I usually aim to cook about twice a week. One nigh I'm usually out, one night he's out, one night it's leftovers, and the weekend we just play it by ear. If I plan to cook more than that I usually don't keep up with it. I often try to do any prep I can on Sunday night, like veggie chopping, etc. I made this last night for myself (D's out to town) and it was fantastic (and my first time having kale!). http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-sausage-ragout-with-tomatoes-kale-zucchini-10000001011292/. I used a whole 14 oz Jennie-o turkey kielbasa and chicken broth instead of water, as well as various spices.

pdxmouse · February 2012

Hymen, what do you like? I make a lot of variations of black bean dishes. So Monday can be chili, then later on in the week bean & cheese (& fresh veggie) tacos. Or I make rice, beans, salsa with diced plantains and roasted sweet potato. Or fried eggs with black beans and polenta. I throw in fresh salsa and avocados or guacamole into pretty much all of that. Grilled veggie fajitas (broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions and squash) with scrambled eggs too.

I also make soups and frittata or quiche. A great side is sweet potatoes, kind of like above, but I make mine with a olive oil, rosemary and garlic puree. And I still have chard coming up, so I'll toss that with garlic and an onion and saute it for a side.

It keeps the grocery list simple, but I think Mr M and the kids might rebel. I want to incorporate some curries, or other grains or SOMETHING. But then I find myself buying a few things that don't all get used, but don't really go with anything else.

Mod's suggestion for the tofu is great. I also like pressing it, coating in coconut oil and baking it on a cookie sheet.

mashedpotato · February 2012

if you like shrimp, I've made these two ressypeas recently and both were very good. I served my son's over penne and mine over wilted spinach.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shrimp-scampi-bake/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shrimp-francesca/detail.aspx

ChristinS · February 2012

We could also do daily WFD posts? Not like our board is jammed with too many posts. I realize we won't all be cooking every day, but I'm generally interested enough indoors to want to know what people are eating on the daily. Do you guys use pinterest for recipe ideas? I usually meal plan on Thursday or Fridays. I love just opening my recipes board and being all "ohhh. I want that."

samfish2bcrab · February 2012

I'm always looking for new meal ideas. I've been trying to make a couple of meat-free mealsa week, too, so Veggie's load on the recipes.

I recently made this: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/lamb-tagine-recipe-00100000074132/index.html

but substituted beef for lamb. I let it cook too long, the spices had dulled, but serving with cilantro and lemon saved it.

I also made these:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/healthy-meals/vegetarian-slow-cooker-recipes-00100000074430/index.html#2

They were okay. I used low fat cheddar, next time will use 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes and some onion inside and regular cheddar on the outside.

This was fabulous:

http://food.chatelaine.com/Recipes/View/Turkey-and-white-bean-soup

samfish2bcrab · February 2012

And I still have chard coming up,

Why the everlovingfuck do i live here?

heyemilina · February 2012

Christin, the daily WFD posts sound good.

Mouse, I LOVE black beans. My H also recently realized he likes them too, so black bean dishes would be fabulous. The fried egg, polenta, and black beans sounds so good.

We're also really into roasted veggies. I probably roast different ones with a little EVOO, salt, and pepper as a side once or twice a week: green beans, onions, zucchini, asparagus, etc.

pdxmouse · February 2012

Hymen, the polenta recipe is from Pdxria. She usually adds enchilada sauce, I'll do that or lots of salsa depending on what we have on hand. The sweet potato and plantain thing sounds weird, but it's so good. I stole it from a burrito place here. Oh, that's another way to find good dishes, steal from your favorite menus.

If we do daily WFD posts, can we label the day? Sometimes I don't open the OOTD posts because I think yesterday's is still going.

ChristinS · February 2012

I do see myself doing a lot of simpler dinners in the coming months. I just don't think I'm going to have as much energy for anything that isn't simple. I was stocking up on easy frozen dinner items at Trader Joe's tonight. BUT, I still like reading about what other people eat.

heyemilina · February 2012

ChristinS:
I do see myself doing a lot of simpler dinners in the coming months. I just don't think I'm going to have as much energy for anything that isn't simple. I was stocking up on easy frozen dinner items at Trader Joe's tonight. BUT, I still like reading about what other people eat.

Plus, you might end up living on the weirdest things for a while, depending on how you feel.

I survived on bagels, cereal, and milkshakes for a good month or two.

KDJD2012 · February 2012

I know I'm a little late, but I'm always looking for new menu ideas so I'd be really interested in this! I do our grocery shopping on Thursdays because that's when DH gets paid.

I would love to participate! I make a menu every week and it's been helping save money. I try to make 1-2 meals using things we already have too!

Meal planning posts?

Re: Meal planning posts?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards