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Meal planning - love or loathe?

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Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:00 pm

I had a search but couldn't find another thread on this so my apologies if this has been covered before.

There's been a few comments recently on various threads about cooking for small households, looking for some inspiration etc.

I'm a "meal planner", well for main meals anyway :D . It works for me, it minimises food waste, helps me budget and definitely stops me falling into a rut. I have a grocery delivery most Fridays and apart from maybe a top up of milk or bread I aim for that to last until the next delivery. I bulk butcher meat a few times a year and visit the local butcher & fishmonger every 4-6 weeks. I plan weekly with my week running from Friday to Thursday. It doesn't always go to plan but usually we pretty much stick to it. In winter months I also add a "soup of the week" to the plan.

I wondered if thread where we could post an outline of what we are planning to cook might be of interest?

Meal plan 20/08 - 26/08
Fri - DIY (DS2 tends to have a chippy and I usually have something quick from the freezer)
Sat- Homemade cheese burgers in buns, salad and frozen potato balls
Sun - Bacon wrapped chicken breast stuffed with blue cheese with garlic mushrooms, new potatoes and roasted tomatoes
Mon- Halloumi & pepper fajitas (gleaned from another thread) with sweet potato fries or wedges
Tues- Lentil dal, tandoori spiced chicken legs, rice and naan
Weds - Hoisin pork cheeks with egg fried rice
Thu - Pasta with pesto, tomato sauce & chorizo with garlic bread

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Busybee » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:37 pm

I’m a planner too. Like you I have a tesco delivery every Friday, buy from the local butcher every 6-8 weeks and use our local market, on a Friday, for fresh bread and other sundries usually about £10 worth.

I think it goes back to being at work for quite long hours, I had to be organised and I’ve just continued in the same vein. One thing that has changed is having a roast dinner on a Sunday, since the first lockdown I’ve got out of the habit ( because my parents used to come for dinner). That used to determine Monday and maybe Tuesdays evening meal/ sandwiches etc. It seems a bit of a faff now, although I did cook one last weekend as DS’s Chinese girlfriend wanted to experience proper home English cooking - explaining bread sauce and stuffing was a challenge but she ate it all and proclaimed roast potatoes as perfection.

I like Thursday nights tea the best - usually using all sorts of odds and ends up. I love a bubble and squeak type dish, with a fried egg and HP sauce.

Even though I have plenty time I also use my slow cooker quite a bit, keeps the kitchen cool in summer.

I totally agree about meal planning helping to reduce waste, I really don’t throw very much away, it also helps having a dog!

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:46 pm

Long hours, two teens at home and being a single parent got me into the habit.BB it was one less thing to juggle and it's just stuck. I still like a roast but tend to cook smaller joints these days so I'm not overly laden with leftovers.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Gruney2 » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:53 pm

I'm in the loathe camp. My problem is I don't know what I'll fancy from day to day - it's not been unknown for me to go to the supermarket, get everything i need for something I'm really enthusiastic about - only to have gone off the idea by the time I get home.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:57 pm

Sounds like my sister Gruney who loathes it, she likes to shop as she goes along then by the time she gets home remembers she either forgotten something crucial or already has it!

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Seatallan » Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:04 pm

I'm an obsessive planner. I have embryonic shopping lists going ahead weeks in advance (and tweak them as time passes). I've been known to lie awake at night thinking about what we can have for dinner three weeks on Tuesday. I blame it on my age... :)
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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:11 pm

I'm not quite that organised Sea though do have a "to make" list and a rather extensive folder of bookmarked online recipes.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Suelle » Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:13 pm

I'm not a meal planner either.

I'm only cooking for one now, and meals are often based on what in the fridge needs using up quickest. It's hard to buy small amounts of any fruit or vegetable, so I have to keep an eye on things to avoid waste. I've been known to decide what to cook based on half a tin of tomatoes which need using.

I have a well stocked fridge and freezer (both in terms of ingredients and portions of frozen meals) and store cupboard, so am never short of the makings of a meal.

I shop 2 or 3 times a week (it's a factor in getting enough exercise, as I walk to the shops and carry home the shopping) and sometimes decide on a meal while shopping, based on special offers, the reduced to clear cabinet, or what looks good at the time. Or I might need to restock something in the freezer, so will buy a pack of (eg) sausages, eat one portion that night and freeze the rest.
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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:09 pm

Yes it's much harder when you're on your own Sue to avoid food waste, sounds as though you have a system that works for you. I tend to freeze things like half a tin of tomatoes or beans if they aren't going to get used in something else that week.
When the boys were at home I was a great fan of batch cooking but when they moved out and it was just me I quickly discovered that what worked well as "cook once, eat twice" had less appeal when it was "cook once eat, eight times" and I found my freezer full of homemade ready meals I didn't particularly fancy eating!
I do still batch cook but rather than say cook a big lasagne I cook the building blocks for meals and freeze them in small portions which I find much more useful or a scaled down amount of something like cottage pie so that I'm only freezing one or two portions. Things I do like to batch cook in large amounts for the freezer are ragu, bechamel, pesto, mash and tomato sauce. Soup is probably the exception in cooler months I'll make a pot most weeks, have it for lunch for a few days and freeze the surplus. Although DS2 is here just now in the main I still freeze things in one person portions, we don't know if he'll need to move back at short notice if they are recalled to the office and is often away on site visits so that works for me.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Suelle » Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:17 pm

It took me quite a while to come round to the idea of freezing half cans of tomatoes, liketocook! :D

I freeze portions of things that it's almost impossible to do for just one person - curries, ragu, chillis, casseroles etc - and quite often end up with two portions of things like pasta sauces that have a lot of ingredients, just because of the quantities involved, even if I didn't intend to make that much. Anything with an aubergine in it inevitably makes more than one portion! :D
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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:37 pm

Suelle wrote:It took me quite a while to come round to the idea of freezing half cans of tomatoes, liketocook! :D

I freeze portions of things that it's almost impossible to do for just one person - curries, ragu, chillis, casseroles etc - and quite often end up with two portions of things like pasta sauces that have a lot of ingredients, just because of the quantities involved, even if I didn't intend to make that much. Anything with an aubergine in it inevitably makes more than one portion! :D

Yes cooking for one is a different mindset at times. My sister laughed when she found out I froze things like beans and tinned tomatoes, now my nephew is working and not about so much I think she kind of gets it though probably wouldn't do it. :lol:
Yes some things are difficult if nigh impossible to make small amounts of, like you I often end up with a bit more of something than I expected even if I scaled down the quantities. My collection of small tubs is quite impressive but they are ever so useful!
Thank goodness for lots of freezer space, I'd be lost without it. :D

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby scullion » Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:46 pm

i'm not a planner.
i see what veg looks good in the shop and work out what i'll do with it as i'm shopping, so i suppose it's a halfway house.
i have only once made a meal plan - for the month that contained the total eclipse a couple of decades ago.
we had a friend and his family camping in the garden for a couple of weeks and it made life reasonably easy but i found that circumstances, quite often, kept changing the meal we had so went back to my normal method.

the good thing about having small quantities of leftovers of things like indian meals (both homemade and takeaway) is that every so often you can have a thali with no work.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:54 pm

scullion wrote:
the good thing about having small quantities of leftovers of things like indian meals (both homemade and takeaway) is that every so often you can have a thali with no work.

Love it, when the boys were at home once a montb or so (usually the weekend before payday ;) ) we'd have a "pick and mix" meal with random bits and bobs of leftovers from the freezer. We had some strange combinations and the odd surprise but it was always good fun.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Sloe-Gin » Thu Aug 19, 2021 7:06 pm

I don't plan, per se, but i do have a rotating plan of things based on chicken, pasta, etc.
Depending on the seasons, i buy veg to go with it, or see what's in the garden.
And i plan per week, so that we might have chicken on Wednesday, instead of Thursday, or cassoulet on monday if easy for work flow

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:50 pm

Yes days often get swapped about or bumped to the next week, I usually have a couple of more store cupboard/freezer meals in the plan that can get easily moved without leaving fresh veg needing used up.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Earthmaiden » Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:12 pm

When I 'ran' a family home, I planned weekly meals down to the last crumb. My life now is so different I just always have certain items and ingredients in, a fridge full of fruit and veg and a freezer full of rtc meat and fish. Once in a while I plan something which requires special purchases and can guarantee that something happens which makes it inconvenient or impossible to relax and cook and enjoy a leisurely meal or else I find I am doing something and haven't noticed the time and it's too late to bother - so into the freezer the perishables go for some future date.

I plan very carefully for guests or pot luck suppers and quite carefully for when GD visits. Today I planned quiche for lunch and smoked haddock for supper. Because rain was due in the afternoon we went out in the morning after making the pastry and chopping the veg, bought the wherewithal for a quick ham sandwich whilst out and finished off the quiche in time for tea/supper. The smoked haddock didn't leave the freezer :oops:.

NB - food is rarely wasted.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby liketocook » Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:37 pm

Sounds a good approach EM that works for you. My Mum used to plan down to the last crumb even after we kids had left home and money was less tight, my Dad went completely the other way when she died but tbh used to waste quite a lot which frustrated me a bit . I've never been that organised though packed lunches used to be part of my plan when the kids were at home.
Like you preparing for guests or special events is planned to the nth degree but otherwise, while I have a plan it's very flexible.

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Kacey » Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:33 am

I don't plan as such. I might order specific ingredients for my next supermarket delivery because I want to cook a certain dish or try a new recipe, but on the whole its a case of looking in the fridge to see what vegetables need using first.

Fridays are always burger & chips with all the trimmings.
Saturdays are when we usually have a more luxurious or more calorific meal. Nothing special but perhaps something requiring plenty of cheese or cream or something.
Sundays are usually when I try a new recipe or make something more time consuming, or make several different curries so there's leftovers for in the week.
Mon-Thu will be (especially now I'm back in the office) quick prep meals, pasta, bangers & mash (OH's favourite so we have it every couple of weeks) or something from the freezer.

I'll try to do a bit of batch cooking some weekends. Last night's dinner for instance was pasta with a really good Napolitan sauce from the freezer, and I oven roasted some herby veggie sausage to slice into the sauce.

There are rare nights when I just don't know what I fancy to eat or I just plain don't feel like cooking. I often make the mistake of starting something and ending up wishing I'd not bothered and just had beans on toast!

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Badger's Mate » Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:13 am

I tend to work to a framework rather than a strict plan, for cooking as in other aspects of life. There's always stuff that needs using up, seasonal produce to exploit, and for the first time in yonks, guests to cook for.

If all else fails, Friday night tea is often a freshly baked loaf and fish fingers, Sunday a leisurely breakfast of something other than our usual porridge. However, there is some leftover curry (MJ prawn & courgette), we're going to be visiting friends this afternoon and drink might be taken. Sunday we have got to be up and out early. I'm guessing that I'll make a loaf in case, we'll have curry tomorrow and our Sunday breakfast on Saturday, but who knows how it will go? Monday and Wednesday we've got guests for lunch, Tuesday I might be going to a Minor Counties game but that depends on the first two days play. I've got a plan for Monday and will wing it thereafter. :D

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Re: Meal planning - love or loathe?

Postby Suffs » Fri Aug 20, 2021 9:28 am

When I first married I made a weekly budget and meal plan . It really helped to keep me on track and made sure we didn't waste stuff. Nowadays I'm an old hand :lol: and I don't make a plan, but I do plan ahead. I try to always to keep a stock of staple dry goods (mostly bought from a 6 weekly supermarket shop) in the cupboard so that they're always available for the dishes I have in my 'normal' repertoire, then, in normal times I like to go to a farm shop or market on a Thursday or Friday and see what looks good meat/fish and veg-wise and plan a week's-worth in my head and buy what I'll need ... meat for the weekend goes in the fridge ... usually a roast of some sort on a Sunday (sometimes chops rather than a joint) and something made with leftovers on Monday ... if it was a chicken then there'll be the carcass to use for soup (one supper and some lunches) ... the other meat and fish goes in the freezer and then we'll decide a day ahead which of the options we'll have the next day and take it out of the freezer the evening before.

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