Help me with meal planning!

[Peaceseeker]

I am so unmotivated the last couple of weeks.  I think I need to do something different.  I plan out my weekly meals, shop, and then...nothing.  I cook one or two of the meals I plan and we have been eating out way too much. Sometimes because of life, but more so I am just burnt out on cooking right now.

I have done once a month cooking before but I feel too unmotivated to do that much cooking at once. It feels overwhelming.  But life is about to get busier with homeschool, activities, and my busy season at work and we can't keep eating out all the time!

I am wondering about once or twice a week cooking or meal prep (s/o of the other thread). When people say once a week is that really for the whole week, or just M-T or M-F?  It seems like some stuff just wouldn't last that long unless frozen.  I am usually a 3 days tops on leftovers kind of girl.  And it seems like veggies might get mushy or spoil earlier of I chop/prep everything ahead? On the other hand, they are not getting eaten dying in my veggie drawer.?

What am I missing here?  Any ideas to help me get motivated?  I have a lot of uncooked chicken breasts and par grilled chicken on hand in my freezer. As well as some roasts and steaks left from the cow we processed last year.   I really don't know what to do with some of these roasts as I usually just use chuck roast for my pot roast.  Anything easy I can do with rump roast or sirloin tip roasts?

I usually plan for about 5 meals a week since the kids eat once at church on Wednesday and once at their grandmother's on Friday. So I need Sat-Tuesday and then Thursday night for prep purposes.  Also once activities start I may need to use the crock pot more some days or have something people can eat at different times on a couple of those nights.

Any help or ideas?

Edited August 10, 2018 by CaliforniaDreamin

[cjzimmer1]

I mostly cook from scratch but I have periods of cooking burnout where I just don't want to do anything.  Convenience food definitely becomes my friend.Hamburger helper (and I just add a pound of veggies that seems like it would go with it and let them cook with the noodles/sauce/meat), spaghetti, tacos, frozen chicken tenders (or even rotisserie chicken), boxed starch (mac and cheese, dried pasta and sauce pouches, boxed mixed of rice or potatoes) and a bag of frozen veggies, frozen pizzas.

But if I have a little more energy to devote to cooking, planned leftovers are helpful.  For instance make spaghetti one night and when frying hamburger double the amount and remove half before adding sauce.  Next night make another meat with mashed potatoes and a mixed veggie side but make double the amount of mashed potatoes and veggies.  Night 3 combine the meat and veggies and make a white sauce or use cream of chicken soup top with mashed potatoes and bake.  Easy shepherd's pie with almost no extra work.  I find it easier to cook extra of a part of the meal and repurpose it than to create a new meal from scratch.  

Another combo, tacos night one (double the meat and remove half before seasoning), night 2 stir fry (and use precut veggies if short on time/energy) and make extra rice.  Night 3 make stuffed peppers (and if stuffing is too much effort, just dump the rice, meat, chopped frozen peppers, tomatoes and seasoning together and have unstuffed peppers).

So anyways I find if I don't have to make every component fresh each night, it goes faster and helps me recover from burnout.

Edited August 10, 2018 by cjzimmer1

[Kassia]

When I cook, I always cook enough for 2-3 meals so we have leftovers.  It's hardly any extra work and then we end up with easy meals with no clean up.  

[ksr5377]

I have found that I have a harder time deciding what to plan when all the options are available, so I have given each night a loose theme that I try to stick to.  Mondays are "Homecooking" - these are the recipes from my mom or grandma. Tuesdays are Taco Tuesdays, but I'll rotate through several different Mexican dishes we enjoy.  Wednesdays are a busy day so it's a Fast Food at Home night - stir fry,  chicken tenders, hamburgers, brats, frozen veggies and fries etc.  Thursday we're usually gone all day so it's a Crockpot meal night. Every few months I'll put together a bunch of freezer meals that I'll use for this.  Fridays the kids call International night -it's usually pasta or curries, sometimes a Greek or Ethiopian dish and also includes pizza ?  Over the weekend I usually make a large amount of either hot chicken or beef or egg salad for sandwiches which we munch on through the weekend. We also usually have a meal or two at the grandparents and finish off the leftovers.  And then it all starts over again, which is always the worst part isn't it?  By narrowing down the focus of each day I have an easier time making my menu for the week and don't feel quite so overwhelmed.  Also, I don't worry if I don't stick to it.  Sometimes I'm not in the mood to cook what I have planned and we just have pancakes and eggs for dinner.  

[HomeAgain]

My downfalls here are forgetting to doing things ahead of time like taking the meat out of the freezer. The best thing here is we write out a menu with notes.  If I know what we're doing the next day, I can prep when I have free time that night or first thing in the morning so that dinner is fairly quick when it gets down to the hour.  Taco night is pretty quick here because I can make the meat in the morning and prep all the veggies except the avocado, then do that and the shells at night while the meat reheats.

[Peaceseeker]

Yeah we are basically living on tacos lately when not eating out. Apparently I am never too tired to make tacos.

[Andromeda]

I do one cooking session a week. The food lasts us (2 adults, 1 teen, 1 child) between 5 and 6 days. On day 7 we have a free for all - make your own sandwich, instant oatmeal with whatever you like in it, cereal for dinner, etc.

I'm actually sitting down right now and taking a break from cooking for the next several days, so the memory is fresh. :)

First I turn on the oven to 425F. Then I put a pot with water on the stove to boil for pasta. Or, instead of pasta, I may put some quinoa (1 cup grain to 2 cups of cold water) on the simmer burner until boiling, then turn off heat and let it all absorb, then fluff. 

While the oven is heating (yes, I do this in summer also), I peel and slice sweet potatoes, or regular potatoes (we like gold). These will go on a mega baking sheet (check Amazon if you want one, they are very useful) with some olive oil, a bit of salt, and pepper. They roast on the bottom rack while chicken is cookng on the top rack (see below). I make an entire 5 lb bag of potatoes or about 4 lbs of sweet potatoes all at once. Store in a container in the fridge.

I often buy a large package of skinless boneless chicken thighs - about 3 lbs worth or so. These go into a baking dish with some sort of sauce. I keep bottled sauce on hand to make this easy and choose one:  bbq sauce, teriaki sauce, stir-fry sauce. If I am feeling more energetic, I may make a sauce or rub from scratch, but even simple olive oil, garlic powder, a bit of salt and italian seasoning are nice, too. I cook these in the oven at 425F for about 20 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil and cook some more until they look done to me (clear juices when pierced, etc.) This may take another 20 minutes or so. Very easy - dump, cover with sauce, bake. Again, store in a covered container in the fridge.

When the chicken and potatoes/sweet potatoes are in the oven, my pasta water is usually ready (or the quinoa is boiling). So I can pour a bag of pasta (like rottini or whatever you like) and set the timer for what it says on the box. If I am making quinoa, I turn the flame off, and let it absorb water until later.

I turn back to the counter and prepare the next thing. I often buy some combination of pre-sliced Brussels sprouts, mushrooms (these I cut myself), stringless sweet peas, broccoli florets, or whatever vegetables may be reasonably priced and look nice. I will rinse and slice these as needed and put them on a baking sheet with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Now, my pasta is ready to be drained, so I do that, and put in a large container. Then I take the chicken out of the oven, check if it is done (usually yes), and put the pan with veggies in the oven in chicken's place.

At this point, I am ready to make either pasta salad or quinoa salad. Both include washing fresh veggies and slicing as needed. I use things like grape tomatoes, sweet peppers, string beans (raw, yes, very nice and crunchy), broccoli florets, cucumbers - whatever would go nicely in a salad. If I am feeling fancy, I will make my own oil and vinegar type dressing. If not - I use bottled Italian dressing.

I cover and put the pasta or quinoa salad in the fridge, do the same with chicken, and pull out the potatoes and the roasted veggies from the oven. If they are not done, I give them a few more minutes.

I wash dishes as I use them, so there is not a huge pile at the end.

This takes about 2 hours start to finish. Throughout the week people pull out whatever combinations of stuff appeal to them. Roasted veggies are very nice with hummus for example in a pita for lunch. 

[Miss Tick]

Buying frozen burgers/pizza/lasagna/chopped salad/deli salads etc. would be cheaper than frequently dining out. Maybe just start there and break away from the eating out habit. It is ok to be sick of cooking. You'll eventually have to find a new groove, but not necessarily all at once.

[HS Mom in NC]

1. Cook once, eat twice...or more. Eat it for dinner one night and then the next or save it for as long as is safe in your fridge or freezer.
2. Cook basics then freeze: grill chicken breasts, slow cook a roast and shred it, make big batches of brown rice, shred and freeze cheese, large pots of beans, pork chops, meatballs, soups.
3. Have a very nutritious dried and/or frozen pasta (read the labels) and jars premade sauces on hand like marinara and pesto.

[KungFuPanda]

I’m  not here to contribute; just to steal ideas. I’m mid-project and in a record-breaking slump. 

[Hoggirl]

Purchasing an Instant Pot got me out of my dreading to cook rut.

I like to plan my meals weekly - a month at a time is too much to me, and it really only takes care of the main dish anyway.  Especially before the nest was empty, I would sit down on Sunday and look at what was coming ahead in the week.  Most of our weeks were pretty consistent, but anytime there was an “extra” - medical/dental appointment, hair cut, social event for ds, whatever, I would make sure I worked around NOT cooking on that day.  Rather than thinking of the food I want to prepare, I would think of how I wanted to prepare my food.  In other words, was it a day best for a crockpot or stovetop or oven? Was it better to have a casserole ready to go, so I only needed to prepare a salad and bread?  Did I want the food to create leftovers or not?  Was there going to be a slow day where I didn’t have to leave the house at all such that I could prepare a bit for the remainder of the week? 

I am less structured now that we are empty nesters.  I like to cook three meals a week.  We eat leftovers and go out occasionally.  We always go out on Tuesdays, so I plan around that. I like to go out one other night, but that doesn’t always happen. 

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by Hoggirl

[sassenach]

When I’m burnt out on cooking, I do a bunch of Costco/Trader Joe’s ready meals. When I’m burnt out on shopping/planning, I do a box service. Burnt out on all of it? Dh orders out.  But our budget forces me to put on my big girl pants most of the time. 

[Liz CA]

I always fall into the black hole of "what to cook / eat" in the summer when temps climb and I just want to eat ice cream for dinner. 

Just wanted to say it must be normal since it happens to me as well. [tongue in cheek smiley].

[Kassia]

30 minutes ago, Liz CA said:

I always fall into the black hole of "what to cook / eat" in the summer when temps climb and I just want to eat ice cream for dinner. 

 

 

Ice cream is my favorite dinner.  I always choose it for Mother's Day and my bday (usually ice cream cake) and now my dd does, too.  Tomorrow is her bday and we are headed to Dairy Queen for dinner!  ?

[TX Native]

I get in ruts and burned out on cooking as well.  My meal planning is similar to another poster's. One night a meal with a large Costco rotisserie chicken as a base (pot pie, chicken & dumplings, pesto pasta salad, etc...),  another night is a taco/Mexican based meal, a large chef salad night with lots of fixings (goat cheese or dairy cheese, nuts, seeds,  bacon or turkey, leftover chicken, etc...) with a baked sweet potato to the side, a crockpot night (usually beef roast or pork loin), a soup night (usually chili or potato/ham soup), bean night (black beans/cheese/rice bowls or pinto beans with cornbread), a light meal night with a fruit/spinach smoothie (such as make your own pizza on pita bread, egg burritos, dig for leftovers, precooked chicken sausage with a side salad, or a frozen meal), and then a spaghetti night (alternating pasta and polenta for the grains....with a salad or cooked veggies in the meat sauce).  We eat out for dinner once or twice/month and dh will grill at times to create some variety.  I used to have salmon, tilapia, sprimp or mahi one  night/week...I should add that back into the cycle soon.   I make enough of most things to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  

 

I like the simplicity found in some cultures of rice and lentils with a side of sautéed greens for most meals  better!  If I could get my family on board, I would do that 4-5 nights/week and the stuff I listed above the other 2-3 nights.  Then there wouldn't be a rut!  

[Frances]

Personally, I find it easiest to eat healthy and cook less by eating many of the same foods, at least within a week. In the summer on the weekends, we usually grill lots of food one day, including boneless skinless chicken thighs, fish (usually salmon), and hamburger or steak for the red meat eaters in the family. We also roast a huge tray of vegetables with salt and olive oil at this time. Combined with salad (I always buy the large prepped packages), this makes great lunches and/or dinners. We still grill quite a bit during the winter, but also occasionally do a beef or pork roast in the crockpot. 

I usually try to also make at least one big pot (normally doubling a recipe) of something. A favorite here is chicken and vegetable Thai curry over cauliflower rice or brown basmati rice. During the winter, it is usually soup or salsa chicken in the crockpot with black beans and a baked brown basmati Mexican rice with tomato, onion, garlic, red and green peppers, chicken broth, and spices. Leftovers will be used for both lunch and dinner. Maybe one night during the week we will eat out or make something super quick like breakfast for dinner or avocado BLT wraps if we are tired of the leftovers or they are gone.

Edited August 13, 2018 by Frances

[Emba]

I just read an old book about freezer cooking for a month at a time. I’ve been in a cooking slump too, but we live rurally, and eating out all the time isn’t an option.

A week ago I did partial cooking for two weeks - just the main parts of the main dishes. Browned a lot of meat for various dishes, chopped a truckload of onions, breaded and froze some chicken fried steaks (I bake mine anyway, they just take longer from frozen), made and froze a bunch of meatballs, etc. It has  been nice this week, having a lot of the work done. 

I made a homemade biscuit mix that can be used for pancakes, biscuits, cheddar garlic biscuits, and scones ( sort of like bisquik but better). That’s been nice too.

I also have been using a cookbook someone gave me of 30 minute meals to fill in. They tend to use more convenience items than I usually do, but I’m fine with that for now. 

Between thos three things, and generally just using more convenience foods, I feel like I’m getting my cooking mojo back. I also told my 2 older kids that they would be cooking a meal each each week for the summer. I let them do whatever they choose within reason and it’s worth suffering through the occasional hamburger and green bean casserole for the break. I don’t believe in putting canned green beans in casseroles, for the record.

[Emba]

There are a lot of things that it is barely any more work to make a double recipe and freeze half - I do it all the time with pizza dough, meatballs, chicken spaghetti, and oven-baked chicken fried steak.  I think I’m going to start doing it with soups and chili, too.

[Peaceseeker]

I thought it was bad before this week- but then my air conditioning broke, was fixed for 2 days, then broke again.

I gave up and we had ice cream for dinner one of those nights in despair.  

I keep telling myself this is Just a Season...

[Kassia]

23 hours ago, emba56 said:

There are a lot of things that it is barely any more work to make a double recipe and freeze half - I do it all the time with pizza dough, meatballs, chicken spaghetti, and oven-baked chicken fried steak.  I think I’m going to start doing it with soups and chili, too.

 

Yes!  I do it with just about everything - hamburgers, turkey burgers, chili, chicken, taco meat, meatballs, baked pasta dishes, pancakes, leftover pizza...  Pretty much everything.  I even freeze hot dogs.  ?