Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.


You obviously aren't on a food budget.


or into healthy eating.


I am into both.
There are certain things I buy weekly, always.
Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, milk, yogurt, cereal.

People, its not that hard. I have a fully stocked pantry. its easy.


I find it harder when I don't plan. however I cook very diverse food that required a large amount of fresh herbs, greens, a variety of grains, and a whole host of specialty items, which has me also shopping at the Asian grocery store.

I'm sure your method works great for people who cook very vanilla and who do a lot of "pantry cooking". Most all items I cook with are perishable. My pantry consists of whole grains, whole spices, dried fruit, and nuts-plus kids lunch snacks.

Anyone who cooks with depth, has to plan their meals.

Or just be creative, know ingredients well, and be good at substituting. Give me a pantry full of grains and spices, an herb garden, and a fridge with various fresh veggies, eggs, and meats (if you're into that) and I can 'cook with depth' just fine, thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

You obviously aren't on a food budget.

or into healthy eating.

I am into both.
There are certain things I buy weekly, always.
Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, milk, yogurt, cereal.

People, its not that hard. I have a fully stocked pantry. its easy.

I find it harder when I don't plan. however I cook very diverse food that required a large amount of fresh herbs, greens, a variety of grains, and a whole host of specialty items, which has me also shopping at the Asian grocery store.

I'm sure your method works great for people who cook very vanilla and who do a lot of "pantry cooking". Most all items I cook with are perishable. My pantry consists of whole grains, whole spices, dried fruit, and nuts-plus kids lunch snacks.

Anyone who cooks with depth, has to plan their meals.

Anonymous wrote:M - roti, potato curry, squash curry, raita
T - veg chili, cornbread, side of brocoli
W - pau bhaji (yum!)
R - baked potatos, oven roasted brussel sprouts
F - pasta, salad, garlic bread

We're veg and Indian.

Please share your recipes for roti and pau bhaji! My family LOVES Indian food!

M - roti, potato curry, squash curry, raita
T - veg chili, cornbread, side of brocoli
W - pau bhaji (yum!)
R - baked potatos, oven roasted brussel sprouts
F - pasta, salad, garlic bread

We're veg and Indian.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

You obviously aren't on a food budget.

or into healthy eating.

I am into both.
There are certain things I buy weekly, always.
Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, milk, yogurt, cereal.

People, its not that hard. I have a fully stocked pantry. its easy.

I think planning is harder not easier. It forces me to balance the meals and not stick to the same boring routine.

I have the same type of pantry items. But I like to have my recipes picked out by Sunday night. I don't cook the same thing week in and week out, that is so boring. Taco, lasagna, steamed veggies, etc... boring... it is more like african stew, thai cod, etc

I don't decide the day of because I prepare the crockpot before hand.

I also try new veggies every week so I need to figure that out, Swiss Chard this week. Okra last week. Thai eggplant the week before. I can't always get that at 1 grocery store. I can't live off Broccolli, Cauliflower, Carotts and Celery. I also find it hard to thaw meat after I get home from work and microwaved/defrost meat grosses me out. I don't eat food from a can so canned veggies are out. If I just buy random stuff it all goes bad.

But I only plan Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday... Th (levovers), Friday (order in), etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

You obviously aren't on a food budget.

or into healthy eating.

I am into both.
There are certain things I buy weekly, always.
Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, milk, yogurt, cereal.

People, its not that hard. I have a fully stocked pantry. its easy.

You win at life. Congrats.

PP, can you please explain how you make 'Cozy Orzo' (orzo, cottage cheese, parm, peas)?

Thanks.

http://spoonful.com/recipes/cozy-orzo
sometimes I add crispy pancetta (crisped in a pan like bacon)

Anonymous wrote:
Roast chicken and veggies
'Cozy Orzo' (orzo, cottage cheese, parm, peas)
Leftover chicken egg rollsRice and beans
Slow cooked lamb with apricots and chickpeas
Something TBD depending on ingredients and level of energy


Question - are these leftover egg rolls from previous ordering in? or egg rolls made from leftover chicken (two nights previously)? If you are making homemade egg rolls on a weeknight, PLEASE share! DH used to love my egg rolls, but I just never feel like I have time anymore

I'm the egg roll poster. This recipe is a pretty good approximation of what I do, although I generally use whatever I have on hand: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/baked-egg-rolls

As for the meal planning/cook on the fly debate, I do a little bit of each. I go to the grocery store with at least 4 meals for the week in mind, but alter my menu based on what I feel like on a given day. We have enough pantry staples to cobble together a few meals, and I've found if I buy for 5-7 meals, I usually end up with unused food at the end of the week.

PP, can you please explain how you make 'Cozy Orzo' (orzo, cottage cheese, parm, peas)?

Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

Judgmental much? Really? About how people decide what they will eat?

Why plan it a week in advance?
Where is the spontaneity ?
What if you don't feel like eating what you planned?

::shrug::

Works for us. When we plan, we can buy the groceries we need and thus not have to scramble for dinner each day. This vastly reduces stress.

We can be and are spontaneous on weekends, but on weekdays it is all about planning for us.

Sunday - pot roast, carrots, mashed potatoes
Monday - spaghetti with meat sauce and salad
Tuesday - chicken provencale with green beans and egg noodles
Wednesday - maple-mustard pork tenderloin with caramelized apples, cornbread, broccoli
Thursday - black beans and rice

Heavier fare than we normally have.

Anonymous wrote:This is my first week trying to plan our meals and it is a lot harder than I thought. Kudos to you men and women who do this on a regular.

Do you use a spreadsheet or planner? I want to be sure that I'm not replicating the same meal too often and that I'm shopping for what's on sale but its time consuming! Please tell me it gets easier and faster

It will get easier as you go along. I use, umm, the notepad app on my phone I'm not THAT organized!
I don't really worry about sales - I buy/freeze most of our meat from the summer farmers market. If I'm at the store, and see that chicken, or pork chops, or whatever, are on sale I'll grab some and either do a last minute substitution, or just freeze it for another week. Fruits and veggies are pretty flexible. Stock stuff (pasta, canned tomatoes) I buy whenever they ARE on sale, since they'll last til I need them.
I meal plan (in response to the nasty poster) b/c I can't stand running to the store at the end of the day for just a few things, and I abhor wasting food. So buying random things and then trying to make meals out of them, doesn't work for me. most of my prep work is done on weekends or the night before, so I actually have to have a plan. Ie, if I've planned for quesadillas, I need to make the tortillas the night before. Etc.
There's a lot of flexibility in my planning, b/c most staples are already at home and can be subbed in/out, we always have some ingredients for super easy pantry meals, and I generally have a plan for "If everything goes to hell on Wed and we order chinese, this is how the rest of the week will be adjusted..."

Re: repeating meals, I figure that I will be the first to notice. If I don't notice/feel like something's too frequent, DH and DD certainly wont!

S braised beef cheek (crockpot, yum), roasted sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts
M leftovers (it's just me and DD. We'll sub leftover mixed veggies from Saturday b/c I ate all the brussels sprouts!)
T homemade chicken nuggets OR fish sticks with some kind of veggie. Probably edamame (again, just me and DD)
W chicken stirfry with snow peas and peppers
T pulled pork sandwiches (made and froze pulled pork a while ago), broccoli
F leftovers, or eggs/toast, or cereal/fruit, as energy and refrigerator permit (again, just me and DD).
S pork posole, cornbread if I feel like making it

Anonymous wrote:Roast chicken and veggies
'Cozy Orzo' (orzo, cottage cheese, parm, peas)
Leftover chicken egg rollsRice and beans
Slow cooked lamb with apricots and chickpeas
Something TBD depending on ingredients and level of energy

Question - are these leftover egg rolls from previous ordering in? or egg rolls made from leftover chicken (two nights previously)? If you are making homemade egg rolls on a weeknight, PLEASE share! DH used to love my egg rolls, but I just never feel like I have time anymore

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

You obviously aren't on a food budget.

or into healthy eating.

I am into both.
There are certain things I buy weekly, always.
Fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, milk, yogurt, cereal.

People, its not that hard. I have a fully stocked pantry. its easy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to plan out meals in advance.
I decide the day of.

You obviously aren't on a food budget.

I always buy the same staples when they are on sale.
I always have pasta, rice on hand as well as a bag of potatoes. Same with sauces.
Meat I buy on sale and freeze so I always have ground beef, chicken breast, other types.

I never plan it.
If I want to make tacos then I buy all the ingredients while I shop, same with lasagne but I dont plan the whole week.

When we run out of an item we write it on the list. So, when we run out of spag sauce or kidney beans we write it down. Usually we write it down before we take the very last one so.