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Do you meal plan?

Great article on your blog! I meal plan a bit. I pick a few dishes for at least 2-3 days of the week, and I will make them every week for about 4-6 weeks, then I will pick new recipes to rotate. So this month I am having chicken/ceasar salad, BBQ burgers with cheese and onions with a green salad, and spiced pork chops with potatoes. That covers 3 weekday meals planned out which really helps with knowing what groceries to get. I also look at sales and stock up so that might influence what I make the rest of the week. I also try to have a sandwich night once a week for my hubs and I have an egg salad or tuna salad over greens (b/c I don't eat sandwiches).
 
I'm not very good at it, but it is just me and hubby right now. I do try to scope out a couple of dishes for the week, one we'll usually cook on Sunday to set us up with leftovers for later in the week. Some weeks I do really well at having a plan that gets us through an entire week, but other weeks we end up being a bit more spontaneous.
 
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I know I've said this before, but my husband is totally old-school when it comes to eating. He hates leftovers. He doesn't like anything pre-prepared or any frozen dinners. For him, it isn't a meal unless meat is involved (and in certain situations, it can't just be a plain meat... it has to have some sort of marinade). And he doesn't like to have one meat two nights in a row or to repeat meals every week. He also doesn't particularly like eating out (but we do once a week to save my sanity). He also won't eat breakfast for dinner. He is pretty much a pain in the you-know-what as far as meals are concerned.

But in the cooler months, I have gotten to be a minx at planning. I used to subscribe to Cooking Light and Food Network magazines for recipes/ideas, but now I just use Pinterest to add to our "core" dinners. I can sit down and plan out for three months in advance and not repeat something from week to week or even repeat it during the month. I have a big list that I maintain and will go through and plug things in, making sure to not repeat a protein back to back or not have Mexican twice in a week or whatever. I save those calendars and will use them again, and switch things up if we happen to be out of something or things aren't on sale or whatever. But it is a big process to get the months down on the calendar. Once I have it down for the month, it is pretty simple to figure out as far as shopping or whatever. I have a whiteboard where I keep a list of items we need from the grocery store or Costco. And in the grocery store column, I just mentally know which store carries which item at the best price. I also have "Alexa" the voice activated Echo from Amazon where I can just yell things to her and she keeps a running list in an app on my phone.

But in the summer, I'm just lost. I try to do a salad once a week and sometimes I can sneak in a sandwich night, but that isn't high on his list of choices. But aside from a salad, the rest of the week (if it is too warm) there is all of the meat grilling and trying to figure out side items, and I just don't have it in me. LOL. I have a neurological condition that makes me exhausted all of the time, and when it is hot outside, I just have absolutely no energy for cooking... not to mention that I don' t even want to heat up the kitchen.

I desperately need to figure out a generic meal plan similar to what I do for fall/winter during the hot months because I bump up against this problem every year, and I get progressively more frustrated about it. I'm at the point where if I wasn't married, I probably wouldn't really ever cook big meals. I'd rather snack for dinner or eat eggs or a sandwich or something. And everyone (including my husband and extended family) knows that I relish the times he has to go out of town because then I don't have to plan/cook (or we'll have breakfast or sandwiches for dinner). LOL.

Maybe I'll start a thread asking for summer time dinner ideas and create a list from there. :D
 
Kimberlee, I am super impressed with your 3 month meal plan!!

I have slacked off a bit since it is summer with my meal planning but during the school year when I am teaching, I discovered that planning for the month was a lifesaver for me. I would sit down with a calendar for the month and just fill in all the days. It helped us a lot by having a plan and because I had something on the calendar, we wouldn't fall into eating out. Some days, I would plan for eating out because of whatever was going on, but it was a huge benefit to me. I also would plan according to what meat I had in the freezer (I am always on the lookout for good buys in the meat department and would 'shop' there first). Additionally, I would try to at least once a week, plan to make a double recipe of something to put in the freezer for a particularly busy week.

With summer, I have slacked off a lot, but will get back to it this fall.

Sarah, I also like the planning after you go to the grocery story--because I do sometimes find great deals, but then I have already planned my stuff out.
 
Thank goodness my husband isn't picky, or he'd never eat! My husband works out of town a lot and has an apartment when he's out there. I'll cook meals during the week for me and my boys, and I'll freeze a portion or two for him, and then he can kind of choose what he wants (his freezer is pretty stocked right now). I'll also marinate meats for him and freeze them so he can thaw them and cook them on his George Foreman.

As for meal planning during the week for the rest of us, let's just say I try! ;) I'll do really well for a week or two, but I get so lazy and then it's quick throw together meals, or I just buy them hot dogs and let them gorge on those for the week (I won't touch them). I know...I'm a horrible mom!

If I could afford it, I'd pay someone to do all the cooking for me! (and grocery shopping too). It's really just not my thing.

Sarah, I'm totally impressed by how you do this! You're so organized!!
 
Sarah, I love your post on the blog and think this is a great idea I might try. My work commute is still an hour plus each way and my husband works odd hours. In the cooler months I try to do bulk cooking on the weekends so we get a few fast meals in the freezer. During the summer we grill a lot, but I get bored with various grilled meat and fish. I also tend to buy the same stuff at the grocery store each week.
I'm going to think about trying your great idea.
 
I like some of your ideas about planning to use things that go bad, and frozen produce... I need to be better about that.

I usually write down our meals for two weeks at a time, and use the list to go shopping. I typically pick one or two different meal options for breakfast that we will alternate between. Lunch is almost always leftovers or sandwiches. For dinners... we try to have a meatless monday, taco Tuesday, wacky Wednesday (leftover clean out). The rest of the days are just meals. We do breakfast for dinner (Brinner) as one of out meatless meals usually, and then I try to find other recipes online to try. Tacos, we do try different taco recipes occasionally. We eat out at least once per pay period, so that's always one of my nights. We always keep things like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, or sandwiches available for nights where hubby and I do not want to cook, so we'll hit up fast food and give the kids that...."crap"... lol

I also love planning crock pot meals. I go on spurts. Some weeks we do 6 meals in a crock pot, and other weeks none.

Hubby and I both work full time. I'm fortunate enough to be able to work from home many days, which enables me to start dinner early if I need to.

We live about a mile from our grocery store. I've tried the whole "grocery sale ads" method, but found I'm willing to sacrifice any possible savings on money, to save my time instead. We go to fry's/kroger/Fred meyer for everything almost. Stock up on meat when sales and our account mesh up :) we live a few miles from a ranch market where we get a lot of our produce, but it goes bad quickly. I need to be better about produce shopping in smaller increments.
 
I have tried freezer cooking in a huge spurt, but found we still spent more money, so on some meals, I will double batch and freeze leftovers. Works better for us.
 
4noisyboys said:
Thank goodness my husband isn't picky, or he'd never eat! My husband works out of town a lot and has an apartment when he's out there. I'll cook meals during the week for me and my boys, and I'll freeze a portion or two for him, and then he can kind of choose what he wants (his freezer is pretty stocked right now). I'll also marinate meats for him and freeze them so he can thaw them and cook them on his George Foreman.

As for meal planning during the week for the rest of us, let's just say I try! ;) I'll do really well for a week or two, but I get so lazy and then it's quick throw together meals, or I just buy them hot dogs and let them gorge on those for the week (I won't touch them). I know...I'm a horrible mom!

If I could afford it, I'd pay someone to do all the cooking for me! (and grocery shopping too). It's really just not my thing.

Sarah, I'm totally impressed by how you do this! You're so organized!!
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I don't think you're a bad mom! Lol. I only have 2 toddlers... I can't imagine 4!
 
Oh, we also deal with allergies in this house! My daughter is allergic to dairy, eggs, and peanuts. Those drive a lot of our menu options, and another reason kids get the "easy" stuff when hubby and I go out.
 
At the beginning of each month, I take inventory of what we have on hand - meats in the freezer, etc.
I have a big post-it calendar that I use to make up a menu for one full month... looks like this...
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Like Kimberly (although it's me, not my husband) I don't like to repeat meals, I don't like to have the same protein back-to-back, I don't like to eat too many pasta meals in one week, or multiple Mexican meals in a week, etc. So this helps me be able to see it all laid out. Once I know my menu, I can fill out my grocery list for items I don't already have on hand.
The weird thing, though, is that I seem to have commitment issues, and i can't seem to make myself eat the meals in the order I've put themon the menu. LOL So we really use the menu as a list of available meal options. I do highlight the meals that contain items that need to be used quickly (ie before they go bad), and try to use those up first. Then, as we make the meals, we cross them off of the menu, so we can see what we still have left. It works great for us and keeps the eating out to a minimum.
 
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I try to be organized about it and make a 2 week menu that involves one major grocery run with a minor trip for necessities in the middle of that time period. I am noticing, however, that we've had some form of a taco salad three nights this week so I clearly am going for a theme. Whatever is easy, provides a bit of protein and is easy is right up my alley.
 
I haven't used any, because of the allergies. I have so much substituting to do usually, it's just as much work creating my own. So.... :)
 
I WISH I was a good meal planner. I am in awe of your organization. My meal planning more often than not is done in the car... on the way home from work.... and involves - Mac N Cheese or McDonalds tonight? (JK - not THAT bad...but maybe close.)
 
i am meal planning for the week now - this is a normal weekend thing for us, meal plan (i use pinterest a lot for that), then shop and some prep for the week ahead (chop and freeze some stuff like chicken and veg to save time on weeknights). I try to use a few things from the freezer already and include the odd on-special items from the shops but it mostly goes off what the [fussy] ones will eat and make dinner just the most stressful time of day. (i'll pretty much eat anything but i hate taking the time to make meals that the kids especially sit there and refuse to eat [and my two can manage hunger-strikes which really i can't handle, they totally win so that governs my menu planning, DH will just whinge thru a meal he doesn't like but i can tolerate that a lot easier.

i'll be back with this weeks menu..
 
so this week (and it's winter here):
tonight, we're making dough and pizzas (the kids eat variations of ham and pineapple with a few other toppings like capsicum (red pepper) and olives as well). The rest of this week because we are on school holidays is a bit more pick and choose than normal, usually i plan exact days based on after-school commitments
Slowcooker (crockpot) soup with a ham hock, veg and some tiny pasta to add bulk -makes enough for a leftover night with garlic bread http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/bacon-hock-and-vegetable-soup-L2089.html
Baked ham, broccoli [with added capsicum & leek] omlette https://www.pinterest.com/pin/75364993741394260/
Quesadillas using this filling https://www.pinterest.com/pin/75364993741593296/
Hobo-foil dinner - stick all the foil packets in the slow cooker - we then add peas or beans and carrots depending on who likes what https://www.pinterest.com/pin/AVYPxGNA2AOs92MX7DWKsX4y1GHhusB-b2UCQC74yXm9cKD3RfyN-pQ/

and one night we are hopefully out this week but otherwise it'd be pasta with bolognese or oven fish and chips etc
 
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