meal planner - does anyone do this?

I've had enough of being disorganised when it comes to meals - I quite often get to 5 and go "oops, whats for tea?" Same with snacks - for both DD and me - I never seem to have any healthy options in, apart from fruit, so quite often DD and I get biscuits (not good!).

So before #2 comes along, I'm determined to get organised. My plan is to do a meal planner, and shop according to this, rather than having to dash to the shops at 5 because there's nothing in.

Anyone else do this? DOes it work? ANy tips?

I am a total advocate for meal planning, after having much the same experience as you. Love, love, love it.

I meal plan on the weekend, and make a shopping list from it. It takes a little bit of time to do, but then shopping is super quick and easy, and there is no more rushing around like a headless chook at night. I usually stick my meals on the fridge and the night before I take out of the freezer anything I need for the next night.

There are lots of ways to do this meal planning, but the most basic is just to flick through your recipe books, make a list and list the ingredients you need. Simple. I got a bit trickier after a while and started an excel sheet for my meals and grocery list and included on the grocery list the things I need every week. I also had a section where I could move our favorite meals to so there was always good ideas. I now have an iphone app which does much the same things. Very cool.

But however you do it, I cannot recommend it enough. It really does make like so much easier.

We do.

It helps when doing the grocery shopping that we know exactly what we need for the week and don't end up wandering aimlessly grabbing stuff we think we need and then not knowing what to do with it! It has helped save money as well.

We don't often sit down and decide what we are going to eat on each particular night, but we organise a week's worth of meals and then decide as we go through the week what we're doing.

BW

Yep! Another huge fan of meal planning here. We have only been doing it for a couple of months now, but I have noticed a huge change. Its so good to know there is meals there all ready to be prepared.

It does take a little longer to get organised, I havent got around to the spreadsheet idea yet, but I will get to that stage! I am a bit of a spreadsheet geek :redface:

If you google meal planning there are heaps of website that have templates you can use.. I found these really handy when I started. A couple of website I can think of off the top of my head that have them are

lovefoodhatewaste (uk site)
healthy food guide (aust site)

At the moment, DP and I have a fairly relaxed convo about what we want to have and what recipes we want to try.. and we shop from that. This week I have put the meal ideas on the fridge, just in a list and I have crossed them out once we have had it.. for example this morning I looked at the list and decided we were having tomato and meatball risoni.

Highly recommend giving it a go. We havent had takeaway for dinner in nearly 6 weeks!!! :clap:

i meal plan for 2 weeks.. so that 1 week i do a big shop and get all the meat we need and a weeks worth of what we usually have then the next week i get all the fresh fruit,veg & stuff i need for meals and its worked for the past 3 years and saves us $$ to

I started doing this about 2 mths ago and find it REALLY good. I sat down and wrote a list of all our 'standards' that we like to have and then put them into a 4 week rotating menu table with a few spots here and there for a takeaway night or something special. Then when I do my shopping, I look at the table of what meals we are having that week and write my list. If I decide I want to do something different than what I'd planned then I might swap a night here and there, or use the ingredients to make something a bit different (eg. we love Rissoles, mashed potato and Gravy but every now and again I make them into Hamburgers with the lot) On two nights in the four weeks I have Grilled Chicken written down, which means I still can marinade it and have it with rice or make a nice sauce to go with it and have it with vegies, etc. so that it doesn't become too boring and planned.

My DH was sick of me always asking him what he wanted for tea, and so this way I don't have to think, I don't have to ask DH and he actually looks at the menu and goes - "oh, good tonight is Spag Bol night"!! I've also found that it means we are having tea earlier as I can get my meat out of freezer in morning and be organised, rather than doing it at 5pm.

A couple of years ago I did something similar, but wrote all of our standard meals, plus a few creative/special ones onto cards and kept them in a box. When it was time to do the weekly shop I would randomly pick out 7 cards and that would be what we were having that week. Only catch was that I often found myself selecting the same card three weeks in a row, or I would make my pick, and have 4 beef nights and 3 chicken!!

Hope this helps,

Lou.

I do this too - I plan dinners and lunches, eg if having rice for tea, ensure I keep some aside for tomorrow's lunch and just add in some veg etc.

I write mine up with what I need to prepare for the next night or lunch now (eg marinate meat) or get out of the freezer. I do a fortnightly meal plan, and only cook half of each week (fridays are takeout and I don't cook) - I cook double of things like curries, pasta sauces etc so I just need to reheat those. Salads I make for the week during summer. My g/f also has a pile of insulated cups and makes up smoothies for 2-3 days in advance. My DH has also made his sangas (ham & cheese) on the weekend & frozen for the week ahead for years.

I'm with you SammyRo I currently dont' meal plan but said to dh last week that I really want to! I'm sick of not knowing what to eat and throwing heaps of food away because it's not used. That way I can plan 2 meals with cream so that half of it doesn't get thrown away, 2 meals with fresh corriander etc and just use the ingredients more wisely. I also want to make our own snacks like healthy slices etc In doing all this we should end up being less stressed about it all and eat better :D I hope I dont' get lazy with it though because I like to eat what ever I feel like not what is pre planned... Maybe I should work on that issue 1st lol

My DH does a big shop at the Victoria Market once a month for meat and fish. He then lists on the fridge everything that we have in the freezer.
When I get up in the morning I go to the list and pick and then cross it off as it is used. That way I know when to send him back to the market. It usually last's 1mth or so, with a few things like gnocci with a basic sauce or Tuna Casserole so it makes it stretch even further.
I also Fruit n Veg once a week and usually have to top up fruit (my kids love fruit).
I only grocery shop once a week too, so meal planning is very important. It also cuts down on the getting take away too :D

Just starting as well as I have been the same. Very reactive with food, rather than proactive. Would help though if DH would atleast tell me one dish he would like cooked other than spag bol :rolleyes:

So far I have just used 2 cooks books, one of which is a budget dinner one. Have decided that I will write in the cookbooks any changes to the recipes that are needed, like quantities, so I know what to get next time. Over time I will compile our own recipe book of recipes we are happy with.

We have to because I can't walk very far at the moment, I don't drive and for one week out of two DP is not home for dinner.

So without some planning we would starve or live on takeaway ;)

We try to plan three or four meals ahead. Doing the whole week is a bit scary (especially for DP who really, really hates planning but has been won over on the meal front).

Yip with four boys who could happily eat us out of home within two days of doing the groceries I am a big fan.
it does take a bit to get going but once you have you wont look back. You save not only time but also money so thats gotta be a good thing.

My tip is to write out a list of the basics mince, sausages, chicken etc and then write out what are the meals that you have using those meats.

mince - shepards pie, spag bol, lasagne, nachoes etc

then once you have all the meals that you usually have you can do your plan.
I do mine based on a two week shop. I do go back for milk bread fruit and vege every couple of days but try to keep the main shop a fortnightly one.
Ours is a six week rotation. It is not gospel and quite often gets changed or varied but generally it is followed as I know I have the ingredients for everything for that list.

Hope that helps as I know it can be a bit daunting where to start but that is what I have found easiest and it works for us.

Did anyone see on ACA or Sunrise or something like that a woman in the USA who had meal-planned an entire year in advance? Now that's OCD!

Thanks everyone for your great tips! Now, just to get round to doing a meal planner that I can laminate and stick on the fridge! Although I have to say, I was off to the shops on Tuesday (at 5pm yet again!) and rather than just get that night, I did have a think about it, and got in enough for Wedneday, THursday and tonight, so thats already an improvement :D

I have a meal-planning addiction.

I have about 30 meals I make that we like - and I like to try and make a new meal every month. It used to be 10 meals and a new one weekly, but once I got into the swing of meals we liked then it became easier.

I also factor in "meal deal from supermarket" or "take-away"; two meals at least are freezer/cupboard food (not fresh) so I can substitute for a take-away if I need to. Also there's the odd week when I don't plan that well so there's a couple of meals I can easily do in the freezer for that (like this week - but then DS is ill so that is a take-away/meal deal/slow cooker week!).

I'm another one who plans meals so that ALL the cream is used. Or two cheese sauce meals are on consecutive days so I don't have to cook more than one batch (eg roast beef with all the trimmigs inc cauli cheese, followed by lasagne).