Tips and hints for meal planning?

[~Ash~]

I have attempted to follow a meal plan for months now and it never seems to work out that way. My new years resolution was to focus on less waste (food and money) coming from the kitchen - and so far it's failing!

I would love some tips to start my meal planning habit and stick to it. I need a couple of good weeks to get my confidence up with the whole thing I think!

This week should be the perfect week to start because I'm starting to bring back the school routine at night to get DD ready to go back in a week.

Please shower me with your wisdom ladies!!

Ps. We shop every fortnight (not sure if that matters or not lol)


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[LuluHB]

I've only been doing this for a short while too but find the only way I have a chance of sticking to it is to take my shopping list and buy NOTHING that's not on the list. The only exception I make is if say washing powder is on sale or something like that - not likely to upset dinner plans but good savings.

Day before take whatever meat you need out of the freezer so its ready for you the next day - no excuse of frozen meat.

If you only shop fortnightly cook the meals using the fresh vegies at the start so they are still at their best.

Don't let your other half and LO derail the plan. If they ask for something that's not in the meal plan that week, tell them not today but you'll do it next time. I also find letting them have a bit of input by choosing some of the meals helps too - so Tuesdays become DD1's choice, Thursdays DD2 etc.

Good luck with it. I'm finding it a big adjustment when I used to just cook whatever springs to mind by late afternoon.

[Astrid]

I find full blown meal planning does not quite work for us, so I have tweeked the concept for how we live.

What works for me is to work out how many nights I am shopping for. So if I am shopping for 7, then I work out 5 meals (4 if I know one will definitely do 2 nights). This allows for using up leftovers or if we have takeaway or a meal out. Also look at if there is any time for meals that take longer to cook. Busy weeks means no time for roasts etc

Look at the reason why it could not be working for you. For us, I found that sometimes life was not so organised that we would be home on certain nights, or home in time to cook a certain meal. Add to that we have a veggie patch, so often want/need to incorporate what is coming in from that.

[Arimeh]

I used to have a meal plan for the entire month, but sort of dropped it cos I found it a bit restrictive. I now do it for the week cos we shop weekly. I write down meals for the 7 days, but I can switch the days around if I want to. Plus I keep extra eggs or baked beans for those cbf'd cooking nights lol

[sloane]

i do one weekly because i shop weekly. i try to make meals that use up anything left over from the previous week & also make use of ingredients we already have in the pantry. i also occasionally allow for takeaway nights because i know they will happen & i'd rather plan for them than throw out something. during winter i will often plan for a couple of weeks & then make bigger batches of things in the slow cooker & freeze half.

i'm not the best at it but i do find it keeps me more organised & encourages less waste than if i don't do it!

i bought myself a meal planner pad from kikki k (you don't need to buy them, they're easy to do at home but i had a voucher so thought i'd treat myself ) - it is 7 days & includes breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks. breakfast is easy here but i'm trying to be more organised about lunches rather than staring blankly into the fridge or pantry at lunch time every day!!