Meal Planning...

You're not the only one, Karen. I'm a member of the "unable to plan meals club", Too.

Planning meals is not easy at least not for me. there are some weeks when I know what I am fixing on Monday and Tuesday but the rest of the week is shot. I have a husband that when I ask what do you want for dinner he says I don't know. Well I never learned how to cook I don't know.

So Bob, it is me and you...LOL....Apparently all others plan well and have no words of wisdom for us....Where is Connie? I know she would have ideas....

Welcome to the club Dawn...

Being a single guy, I'm not really all that much into planning meals...or preparing them. Seems like a lot of effort and clean up when I'm done eating in 5 minutes or less. I know growing up, mom made some of the same types of foods on certain days of the week. Dad was a simple eater and did require many 'fancy' meals. Mondays would be hots, burgers or chops, potatoes of some type and a veggie. Tuesday would be beef steak or ham steak. Wednesday would be soups and some type of sandwiches. Thursday would be sauce night with some type of pasta and meatballs, sausage or whatever and a salad. Friday, we'd order pizza or she'd fix home made. Saturday would be tuna fish, grilled cheese or something quick. Sunday would be a roast, ham, chicken and the fixin's. It was never the same exact thing from one week to another, but her 'schedule' helped her with shopping for food, too. I do a great job when it comes to shopping myself. I clip coupons and always buy items on sale rarely purchasing anything for regular price. I get boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.99 a pound...same with 90% ground beef at $1.99 a pound...and buy family packs of 5 pounds or more and freeze them. I'm a plain, somewhat bland eater, so I don't go all out with extravagant recipes. Many of my vegetables are simply the vegetable steamed, baked or micro-waved...potatoes, fried or baked. My meats are baked or broiled. I usually spend between $75 and $100 a month on groceries and have more than enough stocked in my pantry. I haven't grocery shopped in a couple of weeks and haven't even made a dent in what I've stocked up on. I can probably go a month or more without getting much more than a few basics; bread, eggs, milk. Rarely do I eat out. I can't see spending $10 on a meal in a restaurant when that same amount of money will buy me enough groceries for 3 or 4 days worth of eating at home.

I cheat....we buy our meat from a farmer .... 1/4 cow and 1/2 pig... and anything tinned that we use in bulk whenever its on sale

there's always SOMETHING to make

mostly I only ever have to shop for perishables... and as long as I never run out of popcorn and oil, I can be forgiven anything else

Rob - You are such an intelligent man...I mean it...always insightful things to add...

Flit - My hubby has talked about buying our meats like that!

I'm good at planning my grocery list if my husband and kids don't go with me to the store
when they come along they throw all kinds of stuff in the cart causing me to over spend.

It's very hard to plan meals all the time! I get really lazy about it sometimes, and it helps if you get the family involved, with the 'what shall we have on Wednesday night' ....I find that I am much more motivated to cook when the pressure to plan every meal is taken away. And sometimes it helps to do a crockpot meal (something you can put on in the morning and then come home and it's done). I got a couple new cookbooks that are for recipes of 6 ingredients or less. You know how sometimes recipes just look so freakin' difficult and you don't want to mess with them? this is great, and even encourages the kids to help.

I think its more like the best laid plans...
I always tr to plant thigns out...but it doeswnt always work...
so just decide which way to go...and do either or...
either plan and execute meals..OR go out...unless you really really spend time in the kitchen and keep staples on hand...it cost just about as much to try and make a specific meal and buy all the ingredients...and put in the time....
otherwise allyou can afford is the mundane weinies and mac and cheese type stuff

I am very grateful, I learned to cook when young...it amazes me how many people ahve to ahve a specific recipie to make anything anymore...

my niece calls me all the time...too cute...

I always plan my meals based on what's on sale at the grocery store. I also take one meal and recycle it throughout the week.

For example, I made a pork roast in the crock pot. It was about 4 pounds. We ate it that first night with mashed potatoes and squash.

Night #2 we had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.
Night #3 we had pork fried rice (I didn't even use that much pork since I used an egg and some veggies like carrots, celery and peas)

We still had some leftover pork, so I put it in a ziploc bag and threw it in the freezer for another time.

I always try to keep kielbasa in the freezer (there are lots of sales for that when I can get it for $1.88 a pound).

I make it with red beans and rice for a mock jambalaya or I'll make it with cabbage and noodles. Cabbage is only like 40 cents a pound and you can usually get the egg noodles for a $1.50 a bag, even when they're NOT on sale.

To make a meal plan just takes a bit of time the first time around. Then it is a breeze after that, cause you know what ur doing. After you figure it out then take a calendar and put down what is for the meals for the week.

Write down the foods you like...........check out for specials and see if any of them are on sale that specific week and if you can, pick up a couple (keep on hand for another time)(say meat, cause you can freeze and like flit mentioned, buy from farmer if you can ) (OR canned goods)

Combine your meats, veg, dessert and you can rearrange them into different meals for days of the week. There are so many ways to cook meat, and veggies. You do not have to have the same every day. Don't forget that if you have leftovers, then 1 day of the week you can make stew or soup. Don't forget that you don't need potatoes all the time; there is always side dishes of pasta or rice you can have for a change.

If you are going to have ppl over, try to think of a theme = Chinese foods, Italian foods, Greek foods, any type that you like or know that your friends like.

I hope you understand this, if not then send mail to me and I will try to explain a bit better. :O)

I am not a great meal planner myself. We always spend too much money when we go and end up getting things we decide we aren't too sure about later. We do try to have planned nights and most of the time it works out if we stick to the plan, but we often find ourselves using ingredients for something else...lol... and sometimes we stand in front of the pantry racking our brains trying to figure out what will go with what....lol...

I started with a calendar and wrote down what we ate for a month without any planning. Then I figured out which items I could or should be able to cook myself. From that I took the next month's calendar and loosely filled in ideas for meals so we would have our favorites. I made a permanent ingredients list and keep it in my computer. On payday, I print out the list, mark what I need , and pre-shop for the meals I wrote down. If we don't feel like spaghetti on tuesday, I switch with a different day, because I have all we need for the whole month.

I basically look at what's on sale and decide what 5-6 meals I can make out of it, knowing I'll cave on at least one day and eat out or get the kids a fun meal somewhere. I also take into account what the favorite meals are in the house and what schedule my swing-shift hubby is on to gauge how many will be eating. Typically, I have a pasta night, a chicken night, a beef night, a pork night, a taco or hamburger helper night, and a fish night. I opt for fresh veggies whenever possible, but will cave for Birds Eye or Green Giant frozen ones, too. I always make sure I have Jasmine Rice, Uncle Ben rice mixes, pasta side dishes, instant potatoes, or real potatoes on hand for the rest of the meal. I do a lot of shopping at BJ's Wholesale Club, so I get a supply. A lot of initial expense, but cheaper in the long run if you have storage space.

Oh, also make sure you throw in some fresh or canned fruit as they can supplement meals well if the kids are still hungry. I've also started to get the Fit & Light Yogurts with no added sugar (they use Splenda) that are like 60 calories. They're not too bad. As long as they get plenty of fruits and vegetables they'll be fine. If it were just me and the hubby, I'd have more legumes, but the kids won't eat them. I add them to soups whenever possible, though.

I usually whip up something last minute, so if my pantry
and freezer are full no problem. Otherwise it's pizza, chinese
or out for dinner.

I don't plan, I am a finicky eater and can't decide what I want until that day. I do however always have things on hand that I stock up on when they are on sale.

My staples are:
Broccoli
corn
long cooking rice as well as a few quick mixes
pasta in all shapes and sizes
tomatoes -sauce, diced, stewed, you name it
chicken breasts
sausage - the bigger ones, not breakfast ones
ground beef
ground turkey
stuffing mix- the big bags are cheaper and I use it more like bread crumbs or to add to meatloaf and such.
etc.

Flit's idea is great, if you have the room to store it. I would just suggest that you get a variety pack from a real butcher if you can. One winter, I was so broke that I had pork for the meat in every meal......I haven't been able to eat pork for the three plus years since. I got so tired of it!

Also, go through the ads with your coupons. I sit at the kitchen table and spread the ad out and pull out the coupons that I have if an item is on sale. I make a list from that and paperclip the coupons to the list in the order that the store is laid out. This helps me from going crazy when I get there!

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