I need help meal planning....

Following, because I need help with this, too!

 

I hate meal planning, too (and the shopping part, and the putting it away part). I used to use an online tool which is really great, but I stopped using it because it is not free and I wanted to save the expense. If you are willing to pay I'd recommend Plan to Eat. It is very convenient and easy to use. It does all the work for you.

Now I am back to sitting down with cookbooks (I want to try out more new things because I have so many cookbooks and never used them), pick 5 meals (one day is left for whatever - leftovers or something and Saturday is pizza day) and jot down the list - and forget half.
If we like a certain meal particularly I write it on a fav list and make sure that I have the ingredients at home as a basic. So at least we always have something to make in case I forgot to plan (which happens more often than not). I am horrible at meal planning, thank Gods my kids are easy.

It's all very annyoing but I cannot bring myself to be more organized because it is such a hated task, no matter how organized I am going about it.

 

I've gotten out of the habit since the first of the year, but here's what worked for us up until then. I picked a category for each day of the week that changed each month. The kids helped me pick the categories at the first of each month, so they at least had a little bit of say in the planning. Our categories where as standard as "chicken", "pizza" or "pasta"... but we also did other categories like the random "food you eat with your hands". It gave me a start each week when planning. I also liked to then challenge myself to think outside of the box in the standard categories... like for pizza night we had Mexican pizzas one night (layers of toppings sandwiched between tortillas and baked).

Even though I haven't exactly been doing the category thing lately, we do still sort of do it. Like right now my kids are way into those little sandwiches you make with Kings Hawaiian Rolls... so they like to try a new one each week.

When my kids were little I struggled with finding stuff that they would always eat. My compromise then was to make whatever I wanted, but always make sure I had one side dish that I knew they would eat.

 

I use plan to eat. I have for years. The expense was higher the first year, but I always get another year at the Black Friday sale (50%off).
When planning meals, I check out my friends recipes to see what looks good, or like something my family will eat. I actually have more friends there than on Facebook!
If I come across a recipe to try from Pinterest or blogs or wherever I add it to my queue.
Then I drop the recipes in a the monthly planner to create the shopping list. Then I write the titles on our white board. We pick and choose from there if I'm not in the mood for the meal on the calendar. Or if plans change and I need something quick I can see what we have ingredients for. It sounds complicated when I write it out, but it's actually really easy.

 

I have a meal plan calendar in my gallery. We don't have allergies, but maybe it'll give you ideas?

Nov-Meal-Planner by bestcee posted Nov 2, 2016 at 10:05 AM

And here's this month of meals:

 

I'm like you Kristina ... make a plan for the week (in my planner) - with a mix of easy meals for those lazy nights/or unexpectedly busy ones and then a few of the more involved-type meals too. i then make a shopping list based on that.

i will seriously forget what i planned and shopped for once everything is in the frig/pantry. so besides having it written in my weekly planner spread -i have a big chalkboard in my kitchen to remind what is on the menu for the week. if one night is too busy to make the "meal for that night", i switch and grab an easy one, and move things around as needed.

i also do what tracie does by breaking up with the week with different meal types: a pasta dish, a one pot dish (like a stir fry), a mexican inspired meal, a soup/stew and salad night, a new recipe to try night, etc. this helps big time with the planning and makes sure the week has variety so the family doesn't get bored.

it is a huge pain and my least favorite thing. i also feel like i am bored and repeating meals over and over. and my kids will pretty much eat anything!!! so i really feel for you with picky eaters.

can i ask ... do the kids care if you have say 10 meals they like and you just keep repeating those things? or is it that you & hubby don't like it/find it boring? if the kids don't care - maybe just make what they like until they grow out of it? and .... for you and hubby ... make a little side dish -along with the staple protein say, 2x a week - so you have something different and yummy to look forward to without worrying if the kids will eat it? or maybe agree to all try something special once a week that everyone has to eat. i do think making the kids try new things is important - like you are doing, but your kids are so little - you really are in that stage where it can be hard for many kids. offer the special side dish and require they take a bite to keep introducing them to new tastes. if they end up eating it great, if not you & hubby can have it as leftovers for lunch? and maybe eventually their palette will grow.

i don't know - meal planning just stinks. it really does!

 

I feel your pain! My 2yo only eats fake meat e.g. chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, pizza rolls. He doesn't eat anything mixed together, either, so he usually eats a fruit or veg for dinner + some kind of starch + milk & I've given up fighting it for now. My husband eats GF so I make all of our family meals GF, too.

Anyways, I meal plan every week. I grocery shop Monday mornings for Monday - Thursday and Friday mornings for Friday - Sunday (since my husband is gone every other weekend). During the week, I buy 2 lbs. of ground beef (2 meals), 1 package of chicken, and either a pork roast or pork chops. I make one easy meal (tacos, spaghetti, etc.), I make one crockpot meal (usually the chicken or the pork), & then I make a 'wild card' meal that's either something we haven't had in awhile or a new recipe. We have either rice or potatoes for a side once or twice and frozen veggies & applesauce or fresh fruit every night.

I also 'piggyback' recipes and use a specific ingredient twice in one week. I do this all the time with green peppers; my homemade sloppy joes, our 'Christmas rice' (deconstructed stuffed peppers), & a kind of soup I make all use green peppers so I will make two of those recipes in one week since I don't buy or keep green peppers around all the time.

We go to my parents' for dinner on Thursdays & have pizza on Fridays so I don't plan for leftovers, either. I usually err on making not quite enough then making way too much as either I will have to eat it for lunch every day for a week or I will have to throw it out.

I love to cook & am pretty good at it but my husband and daughter just don't care whether they're eating something gourmet or tacos for the 8th time that month so I've simplified the process way down & they are just as happy.

 

oh I don't even want to think about meals... Sarita is so busy studying and working, that she hardly ever eats here...so I end up eating very very badly... and even when I was cooking for the two of us...planning never worked
I will need to make some changes now because I have been very very ill and a proper diet is very necessary.... so I ll have a look see what you guys are doing see if I can adapt!!!

 

Getting some great ideas here. I seriously need help with this, too!!

 

i hear ya - i plan for Miss Picky when i plan for the rest of us (so if we are having steamed veg, she has raw carrots and cherry tomatoes etc) Last night we had a chicken done in the oven so she has her frozen crumbed fish from a box that i throw in at the end - yeah i know but it saves arguments #avoidingconfrontation She also prefers everything 'deconstructed' which again is a bit time consuming despite understanding it all mixes in her stomach anyway So we had a veggie fried rice the other nite, she had plain rice, a section of peas & broccoli, some meat, basically scrambled egg and raw capsicum /red pepper - for the rest of us i tossed it altogether.

Fun names can help - we used to call Quesadillas "Dora Fold-it's" when she was little and she started eating them when she could pick what ingredients to go in hers (and then she'd call it a Diego Fold-It or Swiper etc) Making mashed potato snowmen etc didn't neccesarily help cos the kids just wanted to look at the food and it became art they didnt want to eat.

We have used cookie cutters to make our own chicken shapes (we cut out from a homemade snitzel after it was cooked with a metal cutter - the plastic ones didnt seem sharp enough) - might help with the 'nuggets from somewhere' - u can't get special stars or gingerbread men ones from 'somewhere' except home!

 

me neither - it must for some people and i wonder sometimes whether it's to do with smell too (i think heat intensifies the smell of things) and she prefers bland, so heated up if something smells more intense is that part of the problem?! i dont know - she wont eat cooked carrot but loves raw carrot (my nose is pretty usless but i dont think carrots smell either way!); re: deconstructed - she will have mashed sweet potato mixed in with mashed normal potato though, go figure (and i hide cauliflower in pretty much everything!) but she won't eat anything i call 'casserole' (which is pretty much code for hodge podge of what's in the fridge in a pot - i guess it's too hard to seperate) - meal prep is pretty much a fulltime job but it's faster for me to deconstruct from the start than to have her remove every little bit of something as she's such a slow eater to start with, every night family dinners end with her still sitting at the table by herself for half an hour - yep frustrating especially after the meal planning battle;

So know you aren't alone - i pre-cook things just for me sometimes and freeze in small portions and then if i'm frustrated by cooking the same. thing. again! arrgh! then i go reheat my own thing for myself.

 

I'm with Traci on the "Categories" type of planning. That way when I'm at the store- I can buy for whatever's on sale (pork loin for example last week was on super sale so I got a few of those in the freezer!)

We plan weekly- I usually shop on Monday mornings after kids have gone to school.
Mondays is Chicken- this week we're doing Sweet & Sour Chicken with brown rice & stir fry veggies.
Tuesday is protein bars for adults/macncheese for kids(or something equally fast since they both have Ice Skating lessons at 5:30.
Wednesday is pasta (I don't eat pasta so I usually have just the protein portion on salad or something.) This week we're having Spaghetti with ground turkey.
Thursday is Pork. I think I'm going to do a pork loin- I have a really yummy raspberry chipotle sauce that'd go great with a porkloin! I usually add a veggie the kids like- green beans or peas mostly.
Fridays we eat out with the inlaws.
Saturday/Sunday depends on the plans- but lately we've done crockpot chili, make your own pizza, Taco night- anything that can involve the kids more so they will actually eat it!