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Pad Patter: 10/2 meals?

AnneofAlamo

AnneofAlamo

Slippers IN sunshine? Even better!
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
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Do you plan your meals.
or
wake up and go, man what are we havin' for dinner tonight?

I have a plan, but it doesn't always happen! :giggle
 
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I get home from work/picking up kiddos and go "man, what are we havin' for dinner tonight?"! lol - i have GOT to do better, though - soccer started last week so we have something every night from mon-thurs. I do much better when I have freezer meals ready to go because it is fun to be able to say "yay - that's for dinner!" and feel all organized & stuff. ;)
 
i like the idea of meal planning, and life runs so much more smoothly when I do....but 5/7 I end up winging it, which generally means a run to the grocery store at the last minute.
 
I don't plan so much as I have a set of standard meals we eat on a regular basis, and I typically have the ingredients on hand for most of those. So my "planning" consists of taking whatever meat I need out of the freezer in the morning.
 
a little of both! i plan for about a weeks worth of meals, so i can shop quickly. but the reality is, i don't always make what i plan. some days i'm too lazy or too busy to make a big meal and then i have those "what's for dinner" days, where i throw something quick together. good weeks ... i have it all planned, shopped and written out on our big chalkboard hanging in the kitchen so the kids don't ask fifty times in a week. they can just go look at the board.
 
I can barely call them meals. More like an assemblage of food on the same plate. Last night I had bread that needed to be used up. By family vote we had grilled cheese sandwiches AND french toast with fruit on the side. Planning would probably help!
 
Yes! Meal planning saves my tushy and helps me save so much money.

We have repeats so I don't have to think of very many meals. Mondays are breakfast for dinner (eggs are cheap and healthy, omelets use up leftover veggies and meats), Wednesdays are salad (again uses up leftovers), and Fridays are leftovers.

I keep a running list of meals we like (even super simple stuff like spaghetti is written down so I don't have to think) to fill in the rest and also an overloaded food board on pinterest.
 
I'm kind of sporadic about it. Some days I decide in the morning and take something out of the freezer to thaw or in the afternoon pop over to the store (which is 5 minutes away). But I do try to plan a couple of meals in advance when doing a bigger grocery shop. Partly because of the savings when buying bulk and dividing it up for multiple meals and partly because I know I'll make healthier meals if I take the time to plan a bit. I am seriously getting fed up about losing 15 lbs so need to be more focused on what I'm eating and plan my meals more.
 
I meal plan a week at a time. I have a base of about 30 meals that I rotate through. I also have some meals that I make almost every week, like chili, for when we have tball or scouts. With four little ones, I can't get out to the grocery store easily during the day, so it makes my life much easier to have a plan. Of course, there are plenty of nights when I scrap my plans and order pizza!
 
I do meal plan and if I don't, we do not survive very well.

Each weekend, I try to sit down and plan out the following week. I have my list of freezer meals and meat that I already have in the freezer and I try to look at our calendar and weather to determine what is the best night for which meal. And I look at the sale ads to figure out what is on sale and try to plan accordingly.
 
I am lucky: my husband cooks most of the time so he is also the one who is mostly responsable for the food.
We never plan a week ahead, we are way to impulsive to have this. We sure would not follow it.

I do admire people who do, though.
And I wish I would be a little bit more like that...
 
I plan 5 meals/week. Then, we choose from those each night. Wednesdays are our date night bc Luke goes to church with a friend. And we usually eat out one night.
 
We planned with two home, then planned less when it was just me and my son. Now, it's just me except on weekends. My planning consists of cooking enough to have leftovers, then eating until they are gone OR I'm sick of them, eating pasta or anything left I can combine in the fridge, the occasional eggs and veggie stir-fry if no meat in the house or even cereal and fruit if I had a big lunch. When he's home on weekends, I usually cook one night and we eat out the other. And I make HIM pick what I cook so I don't have to decide.
 
I do plan my meals a day ahead as i follow the slimming world plan and find it easier to do if I know what I'm having ahead of time
 
We usually come up with a weekly meal plan and buy the stuff we need for each meal at the beginning of the week.
 
I have my dinners planned out (now) from the last week in September through the first of January with minimal repeats.

My DH is weird about dinners. He doesn't think he's picky because he eats a variety of things, but he's seriously delusional. He won't eat leftovers. He doesn't want the same meat two days in a row (even if it is totally different). He won't eat frozen meals or boxed things. He doesn't particularly like casseroles. He won't eat breakfast for dinner or have something simple like a sandwich (unless it has salad and fries to go with it). He doesn't like fast food. He is a traditional meat & potatoes sort of guy. It is insane. So I have a fairly complicated set of lists written out (ex. chicken, beef, pork, salads, etc.) that I go through and then plot on the calendar. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get everything mapped out once I had the main lists and stuff from Pinterest. But now it is done and I don't have to worry about it for several more months and/or I can start over and recycle my months. :D

The only saving grace is that it is easier in fall/winter AND I take Friday nights off and we eat out. And next week I'm excited because he's out of town for four nights. LOL. I don't have to be so complicated!!
 
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