Meal Planning: I'm surprised at how many of you know what you're cooking for dinner!.

[Guest lovin'life]

Do you plan a week at a time? I seem to spend more when I meal plan.

[mcconnellboys]

I'm so busy Monday through Thursday that I do plan those four meals. At least some of us tend to be out of town on the weekend, so Friday through Sunday are looser and we fend for ourselves, eat leftovers or eat out more....

 

Regena

[OnTheBrink]

I try to plan two weeks at a time. I also meal-plan for a friend. I spend less when I plan meals, because there's no last minute running to the store for that one ingredient I don't have for a meal.

 

I get out my calendar, look at where we'll be any given day and go from there. If it's a busy day, it's a crock pot meal. If it's a slow day, it's something that takes some time. If it's a weekend when dd is with her father, it's Chinese take-out. LOL

[Mom2legomaniacs]

I plan some things standing at the butcher shop. I usually get a general idea for a couple of days or so with some leftovers mixed in. I usually do this twice a week. No big meal plan. Just a sort of kind of thing.

[Beth in Central TX]

Yes, I plan our meals out for each week and go to the grocery store Saturday morning. I usually have a couple of frozen pizzas for the freezer in case I don't want to cook what I've planned, but for the most part, I stick to my schedule. I seem to be the opposite of you; if I don't go with a list, I usually go way over budget.

[AnneJ]

This helps me save money and I like knowing what we'll be having instead of thinking of it that day or the day before. I only grocery shop once a month (except for milk and produce) which is wonderful since I am shopping with 4 kids. I just look at our schedule for the month and base what we will be having that night on what we have going on (i.e. if I've worked the night before, it is something from the freezer I have previously made).

[Lisa in SC]

I can't function without at least a loose meal plan. It's way too stressful for me if I have to come up with dinner at the last minute. It actually costs me less to do it this way. I buy everything at the lowest possible price (the whole pantry principle ala Tightwad Gazette), and then I plan my meals around what I already have.

 

So, one week, I might pick up 10 lbs of chicken for my freezer because it's at the lowest price, but we don't have chicken-only meals. We'll have a beef meal, at least one vegetarian meal, a chicken meal, homemade pizza, soup with homemade bread/muffins, etc.

 

Besides the really good deals for the week, the only other things I buy are perishables (dairy, produce, etc.). If I think a certain "something" sounds good, but I don't have a key ingredient and it's not at it's lowest price, then I don't make it. I just pick another meal that I can make from the things I already have. Does that make sense? And, yeah, I plan weekly. I'm not organized enough to do it on a monthly basis -- but I'm working on it. :D

 

Lisa

[j.griff]

Friday is pizza night :D

I don't really do a meal plan, whenever I try that life will inevitably get in the way of my plans, LOL

I just try to have some simple meals planned for certain nights of the week- Friday=Pizza, Tuesday=Spaghetti

and I'd like to start cooking a large batch of meat (roast, chicken, ham, etc.) on Sundays or Mondays to use with other meals throughout the week, and for lunches.

[mysticamethyst]

OMG, I would be lost at supper time if I didn't have it planned out. In fact, if I dont' have a menu planned and shopped for we end up at a drive-thru pretty much every night. Every Saturday morning I aske each person what they want for dinner, each child picks something. I make shopping list, they help me shop. When it comes time to cook then whoever picked that nights meal is also responsible for helping me prepare it, serve it and clean it up; I call this home ec. I just made up a table in word for a weekly menu and we just fill in the blanks; my shopping list is on the back. Each Friday we go out for dinner. We do field trips on this day and I am usually too tired to even think about cooking and Saturdays is must go night, everything left-over must go. Makes room for new menu.

[Angela in TN]

I don't always meal plan but I need to. This week I did and it's great, no mid-week grocery trips and everything you need in pantry or fridge. Of course I'll write up what we are having but sometimes we steal it from another night but I've had 6 meals planned for this week, it takes away so much stress when I just do it. :)

[Unicorn.]

Do you plan a week at a time? .

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! :D Nope, sometimes it's dinner time and dh and I are still trying to figure out what we are going to do. That's why for dinner last night we had. salad. just. salad. The dc have something every night, and even if I do get around to planning, sometimes it just has to be changed because I ran out of time.

[cin]

I plan 4 dinners a week; M-TH. Friday is date night, Saturday is Family night and Sunday is the Oh Crap it's dinnertime what are we going to do night. I'm trying to plan lunches and breakfasts. Especially breakfasts, because I have no brain in the morning, and having 2 hungry kids looking at me is stressful at best :p.

[Musical Belle]

When I "fly by the seat of my pants" for mealtimes, the budget goes down the drain. I plan two weeks at a time because that's dh's pay schedule. I subscribe to a meal-planning service which has also been very helpful. I love my crock pot, too! Putting something in before church saves us from the temptation to eat out after the service. Planning has saved us a lot of money.

[*anj*]

Not usually. Sometimes I make a loose plan for the week, though.

I buy many things in bulk or through co-ops, so I sometimes only need to purchase fresh produce once a week or so. This means that I almost always have a ton of choices at my fingertips. So despite the fact that I don't do a lot of meal planning, I improvise and use the many things that I have on hand, and that keeps me from overspending in the grocery store.

[JessMcG]

I plan and shop by the week.

[Tonia]

I don't meal plan. I tried. Can't do it, can't stick to it. So now I plan one or two meals and keep stuff in the house that is easy to throw together into a meal. I keep hamburger cooked and frozen in 2 cup portions. Great for tacos, sloppy joes, bbq beef cups, pizza, casseroles, spaghetti sauce (I keep this frozen as well). Generally, I plan the chicken meals because I have to thaw that out ahead, but most everything else I thaw in the microwave the day I want it. My basic shopping list is always the same so I know that I can make most meals very quickly with minimal planning.

[Mom2boys]

My meal planning happens about 4:30 every day when the kids start saying they are hungry. And sometimes it ends with me calling my dh and asking him to pick up take out on the way home. :D I really am trying to improve in this area. Really. And for me, it is more about eating healthily than it is saving money. I want to serve more made-from-scratch meals and less of the heat-and-eat stuff.

[Tutor]

I usually plan the night before so that I have time to defrost meat in the fridge. I also use the crockpot quite a bit, so I have it cooking by 10am.

[Just Me]

I plan paycheck to paycheck, and grocery shop on or around payday. Then I only need to hit the store once more for milk.

[WTMindy]

because me, my two sil's and my mom all have a food co-op. We plan together for the month and then I cook on Mondays and deliver. Then, the other nights they cook and deliver to me!! It is one of the greatest things I have ever done!!!!! Actually, we have gone to three nights a week, so once week out of the month I get a night off. (It is Monday-Thursday) We go out to eat one night a week and usually have left-overs one other night.

 

If you can find people close to you, you should start a food co-op. I put it off for a long time thinking my dh wouldn't like it because he is picky, but because we plan together, it makes it great. Plus, we have meals we might not otherwise have.

[mcconnellboys]

Wow, I'm impressed! You are WAY too organized, LOL!

 

Regena

[jmgconner]

Yes, I plan weekly. On Sunday afternoons, DH and I sit down, check the Grocery Game, and make up our meal plan and shopping list.

[Arch at Home]

I plan 6 weeks at a time because my calender is a 6 week calender. Actually it is 2 3-week cycles with a couple of meals on 6 week cycles. It really helps with kids that say when are we going to have such and such. I also find that we have a better variety and it is easier to write the grocery list each week.

[Ria]

I plan two weeks at a time for dinners and breakfasts. I'm just totally clueless otherwise. Do NOT ask me to cook on short notice...I can't do it. I need a plan.

 

Ria

[Chris in VA]

We plan a week at a time.

We use an envelope (from junk mail, ideally) and write 7 meals across the bottom. Then we write the things we will need for those meals on the left, and non-food items on the right (dish soap, dog food, t.p., etc.). Hubby does the grocery shopping and takes dd7 with him. He used to take the boys with him--gives them a little time together and teaches them how to shop efficiently.

 

We sat down together about 20 years ago and wrote out every dinner meal we knew how to make, and liked. We used this master list when planning for a while--now we know what we typically make, and we just try new things once in a while. We have some typical "company" meals, or things we serve when my parents are in town (they don't like "spicy"), and some date night meals.

 

We always look over the ads from the grocery store, to see what the loss leaders are, and to find other sales. Then we make the list. It takes 10 minutes at the most. We add in other things we might need or like, such as pantry items and lunch stuff (lunch meat, bread, soup, etc). Occasionally I'll need something for science or history that goes on the list.

 

Every night, I know what's for dinner, because I just choose one from the list. If it's running late, I just pick a more convenient item. If I am thinking ahead, I'll make a roast chicken or crockpot meal, or other meal that needs more time.

 

Meal planning is easy. Really. And I'm all for taking the stress out of my day.

[Plaid Dad]

We plan a week's dinners at a time, before we go shopping, but we leave it up to hunger levels and available time to decide which dish we'll prepare on which night. When we don't do this, we end up going out to eat more or rushing out to the store every night for forgotten ingredients. We can't afford to do either of those things, so we plan. :)

[PariSarah]

. . . depending on our schedule, but generally I have a one- or two-week rotation of categories. (Stir-fry, Indian, pasta, grill night, whatever)

 

And then when I go to the grocery store, I get what's on sale and what needs restocking in my pantry, and then I plug in actual recipes.

 

This semester, we are on a seriously stripped-down schedule. I was seriously tired of trying to get everything right--you just can't have tasty, varied, cheap, healthy, quickly-prepared, and low-dishes-to-do-after meals every night of the week. So, this semester, my meal plan is:

 

Mon: Soup (vegetarian)

Tues: Pasta

Weds: Stir-fry

Thurs: Crockpot beans

Fri: Something fun (actual meat involved)

Sat: Indian or other vegetarian

Sun: Breakfast for dinner

[Amy in NH]

I haven't read the rest of the replies yet. I will later when I have more time.

 

I shop sales, so I stock up on staples when they are on sale, including meats, dairy, frozen veges, and canned goods. I also buy only in-season produce. When I plan out my meals for the week I start with the sales flyer for the grocery store, then I check my freezer and pantry, and I base my meal plan around those items that I already have or can get on sale. This way I only go to the grocery store once, I save money on each meal, and I know ahead of time which meals will work best (time-prep wise) based on our weekly calendar schedule.

[Melinda in VT]

I am cooking challenged, so when I am in charge of dinner, I plan and shop weekly.

 

In our current lifestyle, DH is in charge of dinner, and he likes to plan for 2-4 days and shop several times a week. I do think it is more expensive than my way at the grocery store, but we eat out a lot less when he is the cook, so overall I don't know that it's any more expensive.

 

I do cook one night a week, on the evening DH has French class, and I do have to plan ahead for that.

[elegantlion]

I'm allergic to my kitchen :D. Seriously my meal planning is done by opening the pantry door and seeing what looks good. My dear, dear husband used to like to know what was for dinner. He'd call and ask during the day and I'd just make something up :eek:.

 

He has been sick and yesterday, at about 4:30pm, I asked him what he could eat. He said "It's a little early to be thinking about dinner isn't it?" I almost did a little happy dance right there thinking I might have him "trained".

 

No, I'm not that terrible. We tend to use the same meals over and over, so we keep those ingredients on hand. Plus one night a week we get take out.

[profmom]

I plan a list of meals for each week and choose from the list each day (and if I lose my list, I'm truly lost!) Most lunches are leftovers from the previous night's dinner. This means that lunch is easy most days and that I make sure we like the dinner meals enough to have them twice. (Dh comes home for lunch most days and is fine with this too!)

 

I have to make myself do this, but it really helps: I make a list of meals and my grocery list while waiting for my kids during piano lessons on Thursdays. Then, I go to the store on Friday mornings after dropping my older kids off at co-op. I try to plan a good mix of very easy meals (especially for Wed. nights before church), reasonably quick meals (for most nights), and maybe a couple that are a bit more time-consuming for variety.

 

I have a friend who just opens the pantry and gets creative every night -- way too stressful for me!

[jail warden]

I make a monthly list of meals to choose from. I try to make pizza about 2x/month, soup 1x/week, and some easier meals here and there. Sometimes I come to the end of the month and with leftovers I really don't have to plan the next month for another couple of weeks. I usually dread the planning so I try to stretch it out, but I need to have a loose plan or I would never have anything ready and we would just eat the same thing over and over. There are times that I come up with a meal not on the list I want, but usually if I try to come up with something last minute my mind goes blank.

[Mrs. Readsalot]

Usually I shop on Saturday and cook most of the meals for the week on Sunday. This really maskes our weeks go much more smoothly.

[Kat in GA]

I plan a week at a time - usually sometime over the weekend. I have a grocery list running all the time, too. What makes things challenging is that I am not "allowed" to go to the grocery ;). My husband does all the grocery shopping because he follows the list and cuts coupons...I go when I am hungry! I also post my menu on my blog so that my mom (who lives with us) or my husband can see when I am cooking (or not) and what we are having ( because you know they are not going to remember the plan when I tell them over the weekend).

 

I don't cook on Friday or Saturdays...everyone is pretty much on their own. Last night the kids had pizza at a church lock-in; tonight I think they are going to have chicken noodle soup.

 

We do buy meat in bulk when it's on sale - or we stock up at Sam's - and every few months I will go and make meals at Dinner Afare or Super Suppers (but then we have 3 refridgerators and a chest freezer!) which makes it easy to change course if I have to.

[BizyPenguin]

I used to only meal plan for 3 to 4 days worth of meals at a time. I wound up having to run to the grocery store three times each week on average...and I wasn't just picking up what I needed for the meals planned. I'd pick up lots of goodies along the way. $$$$$ We also ate out more because if I didn't have time to run to the grocery store, we just ate out or ordered take out food. $$$$$$$ So, last month, determined to get more organized and trim our food budget, I began meal planning for one week at a time and it is sooooo wonderful! I plan the next week's menu about mid-week and stick it on the fridge. Sunday is my grocery shopping day and I take my menu, check the cupboards, make a list, and head to the store. Easy peasy! If you visit my blog click on 'A Peek at Our Week' to see my meal plans. Trust me. Meal planning works wonders!