Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

It seems like it would be so obvious but I'm really struggling. So much food goes to waste in my house because my planning is really poor planning. Like I'll make something such as cheese enchiladas while the fresh veggies go to waste. Or I'll forget to take out the frozen chicken so we'll go get takeout.

I really just need to know how you do it and what things you're thinking about. I also would love to know how you're doubling up on recipes that are freezable. I really think I would save myself a lot of grief if I learned how to do something like make enchiladas but double the amount to have another meal for later.

Help?

My mother taught me absolutely nothing about taking care of a family or home. :lol I am take out queen which would be fine if I werent buying $150 worth of groceries bi-weekly that were getting thrown out while I was eating the take out....

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

This is actually a specialty of mine.

Let's start at the beginning. What do you know how to make?

I made a list of all the recipes I could make w/o any recipe, directly out of my head. I thought it would be like 7 or 8 things, but it was more like 56.

I included variations on a theme like Rotini with red sauce and turkey pepperoni baked and Rotini with pesto and shrimp. Basically the same meal, but totally different taste.

When you have that list, LMK, and we'll move to the next step.

In the mean time, you can check out my blog and see how I put my food up on the calander. http://yesiknowwhatcausesthis.blogspot.com

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:popcorn because i STINK at this... like really really. :blush i'm going to check out your calender when i have a minute, allison... i really don't think i have a lot of meals in que that i don't need a recipe for, though...

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

My confession is that most of my meals are not from scratch. They are "some assembly required"

I'll type them all out here when I get back from my errand, so that you can see *exactly* what I mean. I'm doing this as a 'class' for the ladies at church, so y'all can be my guinea pigs!

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:ty

I'll be back when my list is done!

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

oh, i have no illusions of making everything from scratch... i think i gave up that dream long ago, :lol .

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I'll jump in cause I do some but not super efficiently. I have a list of 12 weeks of meals. Kind of like Saving Dinner (savingdinner.com). I decide on something that sounds good for the week and find the week that has that recipe and the week is done. I do a week or 2 at a time.

I also have a posted breakfast and lunch menu. I need to change it up though, I'm bored with it.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I do two week meal planning with each paycheck (though most food comes form FS)
step 1: Look in fridge and pantary and see what needs to be used up (or tossed) and what we already have make meas form the stuff that needs to be used and make a list of what I have (3 cans of veggies packages of rice mix ect)
step 2 look at the weekly adds for my prefered groccery store (comes in the mail or I can pick one up at the store) to see whats on sale and also see what I've been able to collect i coupons. Mke another list of good deals
step 3 we follow a pattern for the week 2 meals is a traditional meat sides type 2 is are veggie/vegan meals 2 are simpily convient and 1 is leftovers
lucn is always sandwiches soups or leftovers breakfast is cereal and bread type. so match what I have with the sales to create meals in this pattern
step 4: shop
step 5: assemble a list of the meals for the 2 weeks I just have a list and each night I choose one I cross it off the list. I put a special star besie ones that might use produce we just bought sometimes I dont but something till I need it.

This week chicken was BOGO free Tuna was on sale 20/$10 and were many canned veggies apples and oranges were 10lbs-$10 and a free box of a post cereal with every gallon of milk and dozen eggs bought...
Wana guess whats on our list this week :lol

Deanna

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I resisted meal planning for the longest time because I thought I would hate it. I finally started by necessity a few months ago when DH had to do the grocery shopping and more of the cooking while I was PG and on restricted activity. Now...I :heart it!!

I've only been married/cooking for about two years so I don't have a ton of stuff I could make out of my head--but that doesn't bother me. I got organized this summer and put all my tested-and-approved recipes into a three-ring binder that's my main go-to for recipes. Each section also has an index listing all the recipes as well as recipes in other cookbooks that I would otherwise forget about (for example, the pork/beef section index would say "Pork Pot Roast in Apple Cider (BHG cookbook p. 48)"). Then I keep a stack of other recipes I have printed off that I want to try. I love trying new recipes and don't repeat very many things very often, so only working off a list of what I know would NOT work for me--I like to experiment and I would get bored!

Each week I sit down with the grocery flyer, my binder and my recipe stack. Sometimes DH is around or I'll call him and ask if there's anything he's hungry for. Then I just decide on a week's worth of meals based on:

• what's on sale at the grocery
• what DH or I am hungry for
• what new recipes I am wanting to try out
• what we have on hand, especially things that need to be used up
• what we have going on that week (nights when dinner needs to be quick, or when it'd be convenient to use the crockpot, or whatever)
• whether I was overbudget the previous week at the grocery (so I'll try extra hard to make things with what we have on hand)
• what meal(s) we had planned for the week before and didn't actually end up making

I do my grocery list and my meal plan simultaneously, checking to see what ingredients I need or how I can combine ingredients (like if I need sour cream for one recipe, I might choose another meal that uses sour cream).

Then I write the list on a whiteboard on the fridge, as well as a separate list of what needs to be thawed/prepped when, so I can make sure meat gets taken out of the freezer in time.

It is SOOOO helpful to know I have everything I need for dinner and to have the meat already thawed. Not to mention avoiding that whole 5:00 blank stare into the refrigerator, not knowing what to make, or knowing I'm hungry "RIGHT NOW" and everything we have on hand takes an hour or more to make, or things like that. Everything goes so much more smoothly--and it's even easier for DH to help if DS decides he needs to nurse right at dinnertime.

Our plan is generally just a loose guideline. More weeks than not, a couple of days get changed. DH might decide he's not really hungry so we don't eat much dinner at all...we might end up with a ton of leftovers, too much to eat for lunches (we always have leftovers for lunch) so we'll have "clean out the refrigerator night"...DH might decide he wants something different than planned...It's not rigid.

I'm not an expert. And I don't really even base everything on what's on sale at the store--I know some people do that to save money with GREAT success, but for us, that's just a starting point, not the main deciding factor. This week I bought ribs which were on sale but didn't want to put them on this week's plan because we just had them a couple of weeks ago--so I froze them and we can have them another week. But even just this little bit of planning has helped me be more efficient in the kitchen and feel more organized.

AFA freezing meals, I would love to, but we don't have the freezer space. I do other things to save time like:
--buy ground beef (OK, we do ground turkey at Aldi, it's waaaaay cheaper. I wouldn't use it for burgers, but when it's in things or seasoned a lot you don't notice a difference) (/tangent) 5-6 lbs at a time and brown it all at once, then freeze in 1-pound bags
--buy a whole fryer chicken and cook it in the crockpot, then cut up and freeze the cooked meat for recipes that call for cooked chicken
--when making spices from scratch (taco seasoning, a rub for roasted chicken, whatever) I make several batches at once and keep them in ziploc bags in the cupboard, so the next time I can just open a bag and it's as convenient as something pre-made from the store (but cheaper and probably healthier).

:phew That was a ridiculously long post. Hope some of it helps you! Allison can probably help you more; she plans for every meal (I only plan dinner) and cooks for more people (here, it's just DH and me).

**Oh, one other note. When it comes to leftovers, I just did something new this week that was helpful. We had TONS of leftovers on the fridge at the beginning of the week...so I did an inventory and wrote a list on the whiteboard on the fridge, in order of oldest to newest (using the previous week's meal plan so I could remember when we had what). So when DH went to pack his lunch, he knew what was in there (if it's not in front he forgets about it) and what to use up first. Same when I was ready for lunch, I could pick something older since it would go bad sooner. Very helpful so we didn't forget about things that get pushed to the back of the fridge, or reach for the newest leftovers only to have something older spoil. :yes

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:popcorn

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I'm soooo....following along with you allison.

I'm going to go start my list now, but are we talking Dinners only, or should I enclude breakfast and lunch too?

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Well, I started with dinners, then found that it was very easy to do breakfasts and lunches.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I have some recipes from a freezer cooking book saved in my email. :smile

If anyone wants them, pm me your email and I'll send them to you! :yes

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I have a form I made in excel that has three columns-one for meals, one for plans, and one for groceries/prep.
I use a recipe box my grandpa made for me (he made me two-one of the last things he made :heart) and I put everything on a recipe card-even simple stuff like, "tomato soup and grilled cheese" I use these to find what to make. I use the grocery store flyers as well as my pantry/freezer to decide on meals.
then I figure out what's going on during the week-church is on wednesday, and we eat there for supper, so that's one day all I need is free-will offering; no groceries. Same with sunday morning (breakfast is served between services) Then I figure out nights I'll be at work (I work 3-11 shift) or days/nights we have plans; i.e. cub scouts or something. That ensures I don't plan, say, meatloaf on a night we aren't even going to be home! I use my crock pot a lot and plan one day a week for kitchen prep, so I don't have to dice carrots three times in one week, kwim? That's where I use the prep section of my form. I write down everything the recipe calls for on the grocery section, then figure out what I've got enough of and what I need more of. I've spent too many hours in the kitchen just KNOWING I had enough parsley only to find out had I looked, I'd have seen there's really only a tablespoon or so in the jar. :lol
Then I plan simple dinners, like bologna sandwiches and fruit salad or hot dogs and chips. Then I plan suppers. Then I put them together so there's not a bunch of one kind of protein in a row. So we don't have beef three days and chicken two then a week of beans, kwim? I also plan for leftovers. I also plan for meals out-I find that if I don't plan for them, I tend to feel that I'm deprived of them and we actually spend more and take out more. If I know that friday night the pizza guy comes, then it makes cooking monday through thursday easier.
I keep things around for breakfast, like oatmeal, eggs, tortillas to make egg-cheese burritos, etc etc. I don't really plan a specific breakfast meal. I don't buy cold cereal, though. We have a big family and I simply can't afford the luxury!

I also bought a recipe software (it's really cheap and really useful) called accuchef. I'm in the process of putting in all my recipes. It will make meal plans and grocery lists for you. Can't wait to utilize that function! :rockon :lol
I've thought about keeping my menus for future reference, but...I haven't.

That's how I do it. I absolutely love to hear other people's methods, too!

btw, I'm a farm girl. My supper is the meal we eat in the evening and my dinner is the meal we eat around noon. Sorry if that's confusing! :lol

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:glasses

I'm very busy cutting and pasting this info into a word document to save!

I sooo need help in this area. I know I could do better with some instructions like this to follow. I've never been taught about this either.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:popcorn

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I need serious help in this area, too. Great ideas here!

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Every day of the week we eat lunch and dinner but on Sunday we eat dinner and supper, so ITU, Darci ;)

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Decide what day of the week you want to grocery shop. Make meal plans for every day that you will cook dinner starting the day after you grocery shop. Plan through the next grocery shopping day so that you won't have to buy that day's meal at the store just in case it needs to be prepped ahead of time--crock pot, thawed, etc.

Stick to your menu. If you don't make something that week, put it first on next week's menu.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I've been meal planning since we seriously overhauled our grocery habits about 5 years ago.

I've always kept my recipes in a database (first in a simple one and now in Mastercook 9). Then I would plan about 1-2 weeks of meals and manually put together the shopping list in excel.

With mastercook the 2nd half of that has changed drastically. I open the calendar, click on each day to add a recipe/meal, then click on "add to shopping list", remove stuff I have already in the house and print. Done.

I've written down all my recipes even the ones that I've cooked without recipes because hubby missed out on getting his granny's recipes and a lot on my side of the fam are lost as well. I want our family recipes to be documented so that hubby and the kids can put together the same meals I do and for our future grandkids too.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Yep this is me, too. :yes2
Sara, glad you started this discussion! :ty

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:popcorn

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

The way I do this is I grocery shop twice a month so I plan for a month because I double dinners and I make soups for lunch {or salde and sandwiches in spring and summer}for breakfast it whatever is cheap and kids can grab themselves.Anyway ,keep your recipes easy ones that you know will double easy and things your family love to eat.If Im making caseroles I just make two instead of one and start putting them in the freezer.You could decied if you want to cook for the first 2 weeks then use whats in the freezer the second 2 or if you want to cook a few days out of the week and eat the spare on the other days of the week.You really dont have to freeze that way just choose leftover days.What ever works best for your family :shrug I have been refining my system for years so dont feel bad if it doesnt work out right away.Keep trying :heart

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

OK Allison, I'm ready for the next step.

Embarassingly I have 16 meals that I can really think of that I can make from scratch without needing a recipe. :giggle

I need to go shopping, like ASAP, so hopefully I can get step 2 going soon! :)

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Ok, are you going to shop for 1 week of meals at a time, or two?

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I am totally relate to this! I have thrown out so, so many wonderful, organically grown, local CSA veggies due to bad meal planning!! Or, due to meal planning that don't include plans for the CSA food. :hiding 100 dollars worth at least.
That doesn't include the other grocery store stuff I have thrown out. And we eat sooooo much takeout.
*sigh*
I am going to work on this, too. Thank you for starting this.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Where did you get that software Marielle? I am always looking for organization stuff :)

What we do around here is keep a good stock of recipes (that I can do and that I can make without thinking OR that I can follow along and know we'll like OR that I want to try :tu )

I also have 6 months of food in my freezer (well,. down to about 3 now ;) ) and I use that as a base and filled in a calendar to make sure I won't use too much too close together

Then I make my weekly updated list and buy the food I need for that :)

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

ok, we will assume that you are planning for one week.

Look at your calander. Are there any nights when cooking is well nigh impossible? For us Wednesday is hard because we have Violin lessons, Church and JBQ, so that night I plan for eating take-out or making something super easy (like sandwiches or cereal) Next I put each meal I want to make on a day, and then check what ingredients I have in my cupboard for those things I want to make, and make my grocery list to include *every single ingredient* that I need for those recipes so that I don't have to go back to the store.

Now that you've done that, add snacks, and breakfast/lunch foods to your list, and you're ready to go to the store.

Buy all the ingredients. When you get home, put them away in a way that makes sense to you. Do not hide anything from yourself!

The first week, resolve to stick to your meal plan, no matter what. Actually, it's good not to deviate too much from it for the first three months, with exceptions for emergencies, until you get good at it.

At first I would look at the calander and think "I don't really want that tonight :pout " but then I would remember that I would have to think of something else, and have the ingredients OR I would have to swap it with the food from another night. I have the stickie notes so I can swap food nights pretty easily, so I do that occasionally, but generally speaking, I just make the food I have on schedule.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Crystal I bought mine at Best Buy (I think it was $19.99) but it's also available online. There are many different types out there including Cook'n (betty crocker) and I forget the other names.

Mine is mastercook 9 and the initial investment is mostly entering the recipes (although there's a neat copy & paste tool as well as a web capture button for importing recipes you see on the web). You can put ratings in for the recipes, make up your own categories and it even has a nutritional breakdown feature.

I agree with Allison that it's important to make sure you have every ingredient. I tend to view my weekly mealplan as a list of meals. Provided stuff is fresh I shift stuff around depending on our needs but the meals get made that week for sure.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I think this is a common objection--"what if that doesn't sound good when I'm supposed to make it?" FWIW, I've found that if I make a meal plan according to what sounds good at that time, I am then anticipating making those things, so they automatically sound good. I'm making things I *chose* to make because I wanted them in the first place. I find myself going, "oh we're having fish monday and that really sounds good." It's almost like I psych myself up to anticipate the meal because I have planned it. Not always, but most of the time.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I use www.menus4moms.com as a basic menu plan, and plan for 2 weeks at a time, since dh gets paid every other Thursday. So sometimes I'm using last week's and this week's menus. I only plan 8-10 meals for two weeks, since we'll have mac-n-cheese nights or leftovers or whatever. If there are things I know my kids won't like, I look in the archives or in my cookbooks for an alternative. At M4M, they provide a PDF grocery list, but I like to figure my local prices so I've developed my own Excel spreadsheet for groceries (I think I can link it in Google Documents if you're interested). Wednesday before payday, I go through the recipes I want to do for the next two weeks and make a note of anything I need to buy, and enter it in my spreadsheet with at least guesstimated prices.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I forgot I bookmarked this as I'm no good at meal planning.

Okay, first make a list of what you can cook:

dinner-wise
spaghetti
hamburgers
hotdogs
mac n cheese
crockpot meals in a bag

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

:popcorn

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Ok, if you can make spagetti, you can make:

Pesto bowties with shrimp, and

Cavitiini (spiral noodles, with spagetti sauce and chopped up pepperonis and italian sausage, put in a pan and baked with cheese on top) and

Baked tortalini

If you can make crock pot meals in a bag, you can also make:

Stir Fry veggies
Quesadillias
Beef stroganoff from Hamburger Helper

If you can make a hamburger, you can make:

Any grilled or baked meat or fish (chicken, pork, salmon, talapia, steak)


See where this is going?

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

This thread is great! I can't really eat out because of food restrictions (no dairy, soy, wheat, corn & nuts, plus limited fruits & veggies), so if I don't cook, I end up eating cereal, which generally puffed rice and uncooked oats with rice milk. Not the most nutritious meal ever!

Now I have to come up with a list of what I can cook. I'm not at all good at that!

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

Allison, how do you do that though? Meaning, how do you take it from spaghetti to those "fancier" items. Is it a creativity thing? When I think (notice I used the word think there, not make) of making dinner I don't think, "Chicken with alfredo sauce and mushrooms sounds good." It's more, "We need bread, milk, vegs, and chx." But it's very hard for me to get creative with that and take it to the next level.

Am I making sense?

This is a great thread btw. This was never modeled for me and I'd love to learn how to do this so, at a minimum, I can teach my girls one day.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

apmommy, I read cookbooks. That's how I get from spaghetti to pasta Alfredo!
I love to cook, so I have a lot of cookbooks I own. BUT! I always check out about six cookbooks every time we are at the library, too. Then I copy the recipes that look extra good, easy, etc. Then when I'm making my meal plans I have those to consider, kwim?
And I never make a grocery list without a menu first. I used to do list first, menu later-and would always find out that I was missing one ingredient and then wouldn't be able to make that particular dish! :banghead
I use a meal planning/recipe software, too-it's called accuchef. It had like 60 free uses then you can buy it for really cheap. I think it was less then 10 bucks? I spent about 25 because I bought the back up disc and the how-to book.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I used to use Mastercook when I used Windows. Now I use MacGourmet. I recommend both of them :tu

During the first part of my pregnancy I was so grossed out at the thought of food that I started using Menus4Moms too. I only use it to get ideas. Some weeks I'd use all of the recipes. Some weeks I'd only use 1 or I'd browse through the archives to find something better. Most weeks I'd alter to make the recipes fit our family and our food restrictions. Since they only give 5 days worth, I'd use a few of my own as well. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm bringing back in my regular recipes.

ITA about getting cookbooks from the library. I have the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook out from the library right now :tu

I'm also using doortodoororganics.com for my food delivery, so I am planning my meals based on what comes in my weekly box. When I did this with Menus4Moms, I mostly used the stuff in the box to substitute for the sides that she had planned. I get an email the Friday before my box comes (it comes on Wednesday) so I have plenty of time to plan.

FWIW, I actually prefer to leave my options open, so I don't plan which day I'll do each meal. The only time that days are loosely planned is if I'll be using the leftovers for a meal later in the week.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I wanna come back to this, but a few years ago I came across my mom's planner for meals...back when she cooked meals. It was like two weeks of meals that rotated. So, let's say week one was -

Sunday - Tuna & Noodles (it was the 70's)
Monday - Mac n Cheese (homemade, of course)
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Chicken, Baked Potato, Salad
Thursday - Frogs Legs (I don't know!)
Friday - Hamburger Patties & Tator Tots (while watching Diff'rent Strokes)
Saturday - Fried Fleas Knees

Then next week she'd change the menu, including the horrible steamed veggies over steamed white rice (blech!...every kids nightmare). It always felt new because apparently we had the memory of a gnat and didn't remember we had just had it not too long ago.

Re: Can someone teach me how to meal plan?
 

I have to ask,What is fried fleas knees? :hunh