Anonymous
06/15/2022 22:50
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Anonymous wrote:Weekly or less. We have a general plan that we will plan on cooking 3 times, eating leftovers 3 times (so we plan meals that will produce leftovers) and then going out or doing take out one night. Sometimes if we have a busy week socially we'll only cook twice. Sometimes we'll just do a super easy meal from the freezer that doesn't produce leftovers, and then go out twice. But that's our standard.
We rarely sit down and meal-plan for the whole week at once though. It's more like, my DH will say he wants to make something on Sunday (he loves cooking so making a big meal on Sunday is a leisure activity for him) and then I'll plan a Tuesday night meal based on what he's making. So if he's making chili and cornbread on Sunday, we'll do that for leftovers Monday, and then I'll do Cobb salads with grilled chicken for Tuesday/Wednesday because I'll figure we might be ready for something less heavy and rich by then (plus something like that will also become lunches for several days, so I want to counter program for dinner).
Other weeks we just play it by ear, taking turns throwing meals together, always with an eye towards leftovers. When I make baked pasta dishes, I almost always make double and freeze half so that we often have a baked ziti or some meatballs and red sauce just sitting in the freezer, and can pull them out for an easy dinner for 1 or 2 nights within the next month. I love doing that because I can cook for four nights in one swoop, and then we just need a quick salad (either bag salad from store or we'll throw together something quick with arugula and an easy dressing at home). If I do that twice a month, that's four days the next month where we won't have to cook or meal-plan, but also won't have to splurge on take out. Makes me feel so organized!
This is very similar to my approach. We generally plan to cook 3 nights and eat leftovers or stuff out of the pantry or freezer 3-4 nights (we do takeout 1-2x a month). We tend to waste food if we plan to cook from scratch more than that because I'm more excited to spend my time after work taking the kids to the park or pool. Having a well stocked freezer, both with homemade meals and some store bought stuff like ravioli, is useful.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 22:27
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Anonymous wrote:I can’t seem to manage more than 3-4 days at a time. Trying to work up to a week, but that seems to lead to food waste and changed plans.
Same here.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 22:02
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
I can’t seem to manage more than 3-4 days at a time. Trying to work up to a week, but that seems to lead to food waste and changed plans.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 22:02
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Weekly meal plan.
I can't knock off work at five thirty or six and then pivot to *figuring out* what's for dinner. My brain is fried at the end of my work day. I have to look at my list, pull the ingredients from the fridge, and simply execute.
I can't knock off work at five thirty or six and then pivot to *figuring out* what's for dinner. My brain is fried at the end of my work day. I have to look at my list, pull the ingredients from the fridge, and simply execute.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 21:00
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
I aim for weekly, but it usually only happens around 3 weeks per month. The other week is wing-it. Usually because I've been super busy or out of town all weekend, get home late Sunday evening, and just don't get around to it.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 16:06
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Weekly.
Leftovers are either eaten for lunch or frozen if possible.
So if we plan meal for leftovers, it's usually frozen leftovers from a previous week. Although we often use leftovers from the freezer if we have a change of plans and can't cook what was planned.
Leftovers are either eaten for lunch or frozen if possible.
So if we plan meal for leftovers, it's usually frozen leftovers from a previous week. Although we often use leftovers from the freezer if we have a change of plans and can't cook what was planned.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 15:59
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Weekly.
Winging it really doesn't work well for us. Some days I'm WFH and can throw something that takes an hour in the oven. Other days we're mostly out, so need leftovers or something in the slow cooker. Other nights someone is home early enough to cook something that takes 30 minutes to get on the table.
If I don't plan, we end up eating junk.
Winging it really doesn't work well for us. Some days I'm WFH and can throw something that takes an hour in the oven. Other days we're mostly out, so need leftovers or something in the slow cooker. Other nights someone is home early enough to cook something that takes 30 minutes to get on the table.
If I don't plan, we end up eating junk.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 14:14
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
I wing it and just buy what looks freshest and is on sale. I also SAH and stop at the grocery store a few times per week though so winging it is very easy
Anonymous
06/15/2022 11:14
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Weekly or less. We have a general plan that we will plan on cooking 3 times, eating leftovers 3 times (so we plan meals that will produce leftovers) and then going out or doing take out one night. Sometimes if we have a busy week socially we'll only cook twice. Sometimes we'll just do a super easy meal from the freezer that doesn't produce leftovers, and then go out twice. But that's our standard.
We rarely sit down and meal-plan for the whole week at once though. It's more like, my DH will say he wants to make something on Sunday (he loves cooking so making a big meal on Sunday is a leisure activity for him) and then I'll plan a Tuesday night meal based on what he's making. So if he's making chili and cornbread on Sunday, we'll do that for leftovers Monday, and then I'll do Cobb salads with grilled chicken for Tuesday/Wednesday because I'll figure we might be ready for something less heavy and rich by then (plus something like that will also become lunches for several days, so I want to counter program for dinner).
Other weeks we just play it by ear, taking turns throwing meals together, always with an eye towards leftovers. When I make baked pasta dishes, I almost always make double and freeze half so that we often have a baked ziti or some meatballs and red sauce just sitting in the freezer, and can pull them out for an easy dinner for 1 or 2 nights within the next month. I love doing that because I can cook for four nights in one swoop, and then we just need a quick salad (either bag salad from store or we'll throw together something quick with arugula and an easy dressing at home). If I do that twice a month, that's four days the next month where we won't have to cook or meal-plan, but also won't have to splurge on take out. Makes me feel so organized!
We rarely sit down and meal-plan for the whole week at once though. It's more like, my DH will say he wants to make something on Sunday (he loves cooking so making a big meal on Sunday is a leisure activity for him) and then I'll plan a Tuesday night meal based on what he's making. So if he's making chili and cornbread on Sunday, we'll do that for leftovers Monday, and then I'll do Cobb salads with grilled chicken for Tuesday/Wednesday because I'll figure we might be ready for something less heavy and rich by then (plus something like that will also become lunches for several days, so I want to counter program for dinner).
Other weeks we just play it by ear, taking turns throwing meals together, always with an eye towards leftovers. When I make baked pasta dishes, I almost always make double and freeze half so that we often have a baked ziti or some meatballs and red sauce just sitting in the freezer, and can pull them out for an easy dinner for 1 or 2 nights within the next month. I love doing that because I can cook for four nights in one swoop, and then we just need a quick salad (either bag salad from store or we'll throw together something quick with arugula and an easy dressing at home). If I do that twice a month, that's four days the next month where we won't have to cook or meal-plan, but also won't have to splurge on take out. Makes me feel so organized!
Anonymous
06/15/2022 11:08
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Always have chicken breasts, chicken thighs, ground turkey, ground pork, shrimp and apple chicken sausage in the freezer. Frequently steak and pork shoulder in there as well. Pantry is also well stocked, pastas, rices, grains (barley, quinoa, taboleh, variety of beans). Weekly, buy fruits and vegetables. Then wing it, based on what I feel like making/eating.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 11:06
Subject: Re:How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Weekly, but I keep it loose. I had planned on stir fry last night, but DH suggested we go to an Indian restaurant. I’m never going to turn that down.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 11:04
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
Wing it. I usually have 2-3 meals in mind when I go shopping, and I keep plenty of frozen/shelf stable staples on hand so there's always something if the weather or scheduling means my planned meals don't work or we feel like something different. I waste very little food -- if we have something perishable, using it up a priority and I work hard not to overbuy on things that will go bad.
Anonymous
06/15/2022 11:01
Subject: How do you meal plan? Weekly, Monthly, wing it?
How do you plan and shop for your families’ meals?
We make a menu for the week and then shop based on the menu. We rarely go out as it is just so expensive. My biggest issue is I forget to leave a day for leftovers. Sometimes we have so much that it goes bad and we end up wasting food.
My goal this summer is to completely clean out the deep freeze and either eat or toss so lately a meal or two a week has been using what’s in there.
We make a menu for the week and then shop based on the menu. We rarely go out as it is just so expensive. My biggest issue is I forget to leave a day for leftovers. Sometimes we have so much that it goes bad and we end up wasting food.
My goal this summer is to completely clean out the deep freeze and either eat or toss so lately a meal or two a week has been using what’s in there.