Meal Planning

[MamaBelle4]

Unfortunately I've fallen out of the habit of planning our meals and every night seems to be a "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?" type of evening. This usually ends up costing us extra money because at least a couple of times a week we decide too late what to do and wind up grabbing take out.

I actually enjoy meal planning and meal prep, I think I fell out of the habit due to decision fatigue. Well, DH sat down with me today and we worked through a menu for this week together and that helped tremendously. I didn't have to decide each meal! I'm going to share our menu here and am happy to share any recipes anyone might want. I'd love to see what meals you have planned out as well!

Saturday - Cheeseburgers and pasta salad
Sunday - Bratwurst/hot dogs and chips
Monday - Blackberry-ginger pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli and basil rice
Tuesday - Roast Beef sandwiches, mashed potatoes and peas
Wednesday - Cheesy bacon and broccoli ravioli skillet and winter fruit salad
Thursday - Orange chicken and fried rice
Friday - Cheesy stroganoff tortellini

My grocery bill for this week for my family of 7 was right around $150. Now we did have about half of the meat in the freezer already (specifically the burgers, bratwurst/dogs and chicken) so that saved us some. I did buy some other essentials as well. I'm hoping maybe some members of this community can inspire each other with their tried and true recipes (I've not made a couple on my plan so I don't know if they'll turn out well or not) or just general ideas if anyone else besides me struggles with getting out of culinary ruts!

 

[pregnantw4thprincess]

I am trying to work myself into a culinary rut! I hate (hate) *hate* cooking, so my new theory is that maybe if I make the same thing every week or maybe two weeks in a cycle I will be able to force myself to cook

 

[MamaBelle4]

I am trying to work myself into a culinary rut! I hate (hate) *hate* cooking, so my new theory is that maybe if I make the same thing every week or maybe two weeks in a cycle I will be able to force myself to cook

I like it! Let me know how it plays out!

 

[disny_luvr]

I'm always in a cooking rut. I think a lot of that is due to that fact that my kids are picky eaters while DH and I will eat anything. I try to make something everyone will enjoy and then I feel like I start making the same foods over and over again and we just get tired of it. My sons are working now and often miss one or two meals with us each week because they are at work and then DH and I can get a little more adventurous in our eating. Back around the beginning of covid, I started keeping track of our meals on a calendar. I've kept all those monthly calendars and I look back at them when we just cannot decide on what's for dinner; it has actually helped.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I don't mind grocery shopping or cooking or cleaning up. I hate figuring out what to cook. Our family is at the stage where our 2 sons are in different directions most nights, and it's often just my husband and me and (right now) his father who is staying with us for awhile. I've been keeping a calendar like disny_luvr suggested and it has helped me remember what I haven't made lately. My biggest hang-up is that I dislike frozen meat except chicken, so I like to buy fresh meat several times per week. I don't keep close track of our grocery budget - I try to buy what meat is on sale, but mostly I just buy what I want to cook. (Publix is just a half mile from my office so it's easy to swing by when I get off work at 3:00 so I don't mind extra trips to the store.) But the meal planning just gets tiresome. My struggle is compounded by my husband eating low-carb so I don't do pasta dishes or casseroles. Right now I'm working on just a couple of days of plans:

Monday - I did a pork butt in the crockpot and we had pulled pork, green beans, sweet potatoes and hash browns. The leftovers will be pork bbq sandwiches and Cubans for lunches this week.

Tuesday - I'm planning to do beef tips in the Instant Pot and make rice to go with. Probably leftover green beans as a side.

That's as far as I've gotten. I'll probably do some kind of chicken Wednesday.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't mind grocery shopping or cooking or cleaning up. I hate figuring out what to cook. Our family is at the stage where our 2 sons are in different directions most nights, and it's often just my husband and me and (right now) his father who is staying with us for awhile. I've been keeping a calendar like disny_luvr suggested and it has helped me remember what I haven't made lately. My biggest hang-up is that I dislike frozen meat except chicken, so I like to buy fresh meat several times per week. I don't keep close track of our grocery budget - I try to buy what meat is on sale, but mostly I just buy what I want to cook. (Publix is just a half mile from my office so it's easy to swing by when I get off work at 3:00 so I don't mind extra trips to the store.) But the meal planning just gets tiresome. My struggle is compounded by my husband eating low-carb so I don't do pasta dishes or casseroles. Right now I'm working on just a couple of days of plans:

Monday - I did a pork butt in the crockpot and we had pulled pork, green beans, sweet potatoes and hash browns. The leftovers will be pork bbq sandwiches and Cubans for lunches this week.

Tuesday - I'm planning to do beef tips in the Instant Pot and make rice to go with. Probably leftover green beans as a side.

That's as far as I've gotten. I'll probably do some kind of chicken Wednesday.

Lol our slow cooker pulled pork turns into Cubans and/or pork tacos. Pork tenderloin turns into cubans too.

Lately I’ve been into egg bakes with sausage, cheese and veggies.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I've kept all those monthly calendars and I look back at them when we just cannot decide on what's for dinner; it has actually helped.

That's a great idea!

Monday - I did a pork butt in the crockpot and we had pulled pork, green beans, sweet potatoes and hash browns. The leftovers will be pork bbq sandwiches and Cubans for lunches this week.

My youngest DD would be in absolute heaven with that meal. Pulled pork sandwiches is her absolute favorite meal - it's what she asks for on her birthday every year!

 

[MamaBelle4]

Lately I’ve been into egg bakes with sausage, cheese and veggies.

I wish I could make these. But there's only 3 of us (myself, DD9 and DS4) that like eggs.

 

[Marionnette]

I used to get Hello Fresh but stopped shortly after the introductory period. I never canceled. I just go into the app periodically and "skip" upcoming deliveries. By not canceling, I have access to their recipes and can print them out.

I have a 6" d-ring binder where I keep all of the recipe cards that I print out. They're divided for chicken, beef, pork, pasta, and vegetarian. Once a week, I grab one card for each category. Then I create a shopping list based on what I don't have on hand. I found the recipes for most of the special seasoning blends on reddit and some of the sauces on allrecipes.

Once a recipe card has been used, it gets placed in the back its section in the binder and doesn't get repeated until it rotates to the front of the section. That way, we don't get stuck having the same thing over and over. I only pull 5 cards because Wednesday is leftover night (it's just me at home) and Sunday tends to be brunch and then soup/salad/sandwiches in the evening.

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, I'm gonna join in and say inflation and grocery deals have helped make me creative!

Yesterday, I made my 1st ever ground pork meatloaf. It was actually really good. It was 2lb of Aldi's (all free) ground pork, 1/3 bottle of Aldi's BBQ sauce (split between in the meatloaf and smeared on top pre-cook), 1/3 bag of Aldi's bacon bits, 1/2 a diced onion, 2 eggs, and panko bread crumbs (by feel). I cooked it for an hour at 350 and everyone liked it. I'd have never made pork meatloaf if I hadn't gotten the pork for $2/lb (vs the all free Aldi's ground beef being $7/lb when I was there).

To go with the meatloaf, we had roasted rainbow carrots, homemade French bread (DD made) and a choice of fruits (using up blueberries, cherries, and grapes before today's farm box - not enough of any for 7, but enough when all there)...

Today, I got my farm box and went grocery shopping, so we're having Safeway's fried dark meat chicken (deal on my card) with my farm corn on the cob and farm peaches and nectarines.

Tomorrow, we're having meatball subs with an OLD bag of meatballs from my freezer and the Safeway 99 cent jar pasta sauce on some bakery rolls (Safeway reward use), roasted green beans and onions from the farm box, and some more peaches and nectarines with the last cherries (still have a few from yesterday's dinner).

Friday is gonna be an early birthday dinner so I'll let that kid decide, b/c they have an escape room party after, so I want them to feel good. It will likely light b/c they have ice cream planned for after the room with their friends. I have the makings of potato leek soup from my farm box, so that's my plan with sandwiches, but that works for lunch this weekend if she doesn't want it!

 

[MamaBelle4]

By not canceling, I have access to their recipes and can print them out.

That is amazing! I have emeals - which is a service that provides you with a new menu weekly and is linked to instacart/walmart so you can directly load your shopping list. I wish it allowed you to save or print the recipes. You can't. The only way I can pull them from the app is to screenshot them and it's several screenshots per recipe the way it is laid out. You can't even access them on the computer.

Today, I got my farm box

Farm box? Something like Misfits Market? I've been wanting to try that but haven't yet. Potato and leek soup would sound so good right now if we weren't at the beginning of another heat wave. That's why almost all (except for Monday's) my meals this week are stovetop. I don't want to be turning the oven on and competing with the AC.

 

[TwoMisfits]

That is amazing! I have emeals - which is a service that provides you with a new menu weekly and is linked to instacart/walmart so you can directly load your shopping list. I wish it allowed you to save or print the recipes. You can't. The only way I can pull them from the app is to screenshot them and it's several screenshots per recipe the way it is laid out. You can't even access them on the computer.

Farm box? Something like Misfits Market? I've been wanting to try that but haven't yet. Potato and leek soup would sound so good right now if we weren't at the beginning of another heat wave. That's why almost all (except for Monday's) my meals this week are stovetop. I don't want to be turning the oven on and competing with the AC.

My area actually has a business that does a box just for my own state's delivery. I have done Misfits Market, but I find the localness of my state box (and the quality of the produce) was better - but it is more limited produce b/c it's just 150 miles from my area, except for Florida citrus brought in during the winter (when, there's just not enough greenhouses and carryover to carry the winter boxes)...

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Welcome to my 3-ring binder of food options!


Those recipes on top are ones pulled out for the grocery order we'll be making tonight for meals beginning Friday (tonight's meal will make enough for tonight and tomorrow).

I have it organized to what works best for us.


We also have cookbooks although we've pulled recipes out over time and photocopied them, printed them and put them in the binder if we end up liking it. Most recipes have come from Pinterest, Pillsbury and Food Network however. While we have fav repeats we also select lesser used ones.

Weather can play a role for why some recipes don't get used for months. We've also found ourselves having to deal with over time shortages of food items

Last night's meal was 1 pot chicken piccata pasta which did not make leftovers for a meal but did for 1 person's lunch.

Tonight's meal is philly cheese steak mac and cheese bake. Ordinarily we make that with Neufchâtel (as it becomes "Lightened Up" as the recipe calls it) however the store was out of that when we bought months ago so they gave us a 2 pack of cream cheese instead.

Friday's meal will either be bow tie with sausage and sweet peppers, pesto chicken tortellini bake (which makes 1 meal for 1 night and 1 meal to be frozen and used later), parmesan-crusted pork chops or biscuits and gravy casserole and much of that will depend on if everything is available during the grocery order.

I'd say for us if we keep in a norm of pulling out several recipes, buying groceries for them, etc it helps keep us going on doing that saving eating out, fast food or food delivery for those more random occasions.

Typically we buy stuff for 3-5 meals at a time averaging 3-4 but as it's just the two of us meals often make leftovers so we have to be careful with buying too much at once and things going bad not just in spoilage but usage (like meat expiration dates or dairy products).

 

[MamaBelle4]

Tonight's meal is philly cheese steak mac and cheese bake

Mmm that sounds good!!
I know what you mean about the weather!

 

[smwisc]

One of the things that helps me not have to figure out a recipe every day is making big batches of a few staple meals and keeping them in the freezer (I use quart-size freezer bags to freeze flat and then stack upright in a shoebox). We also keep buns in the freezer, and all of the taco fixings are "staples" that we buy again as soon as we open the last package, so I can do any of these without much planning (not that I always have all of them in the freezer, but usually have several - when I make it a batch, it's anywhere from 3-6 meals worth).

Ground beef tacos
Chipotle pork tacos
Chicken chile verde tacos
Pulled pork
Italian beef
Buffalo chicken

I also make big batches of marinara sauce and usually have meatballs or Italian sausage in the fridge. And in the summer I make and freeze batches of pesto (minus the cheese, which I add when cooking).

When I buy boneless skinless chicken breasts, I cut them all up as soon as I buy them and freeze packages of breast pieces to eat "whole", plus packages of tenders, plus packages of the small bits that are good for eating with pasta or for stir fry- the chicken comes in such huge pieces with odd shapes that I need to trim it down anyway.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We also keep buns in the freezer

We do that as well, right now have some hamburger and hot dog buns. We also have hot dogs in the fridge so probably will have that soon.

We do typically keep at least one loaf of bread in the freezer, I actually just took the one out this morning and put it in the fridge to defrost since we're almost done with the loaf we have. Not so much for dinner but the bread comes in handy for lunch. Makes it easier to not have to remember all the time about inventory on bread if we just purchase 2 when we need it and keep doing that.

 

[pfp258]

Monday: marinated salmon, roasted broccoli and cauliflower
Tuesday: tacos
Wednesday: Cobb Salad
Thursday: lemon garlic chicken, roasted asparagus, roasted Brussels sprouts
Friday: veggie stir fry, brown rice
Saturday: grilled burgers, fruit salad
Sunday: no cook/leftover day

 

[MamaBelle4]

One of the things that helps me not have to figure out a recipe every day is making big batches of a few staple meals and keeping them in the freezer (I use quart-size freezer bags to freeze flat and then stack upright in a shoebox).

I LOVE making things in advance and freezing them, the only problem with it for us is that we're a family of 7, so each meal takes up a lot of space!

Got our meals all planned out for this week:

Sunday: Pizzas on naan bread
Monday: Crunchy onion chicken with bacon and celery wilted slaw
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin with dill cream sauce, shallot smashed potatoes and a veg
Wednesday: Sloppy tex-mex subs and coleslaw
Thursday: Lemon-butter chicken with zucchini wedges and rolls
Friday: Smoky skirt steak with pineapple rice and a veg

And out of this past week's meals, the biggest hits were the blackberry ginger pork (as I knew it would be, we've had it before and everyone always devours it) and the cheesy bacon ravioli skillet meals. My 13 year old asked me to repeat them this week! Grocery cost for this one was a little higher ($202) but it included more than just the meals. We also bought stuff for back to school lunches, like cereal bars, chips etc., a bag of apples and 4 pints of strawberries, and a couple of other snacks.

 

[Dumbo777]

Unfortunately I've fallen out of the habit of planning our meals and every night seems to be a "What do you want to do for dinner tonight?" type of evening. This usually ends up costing us extra money because at least a couple of times a week we decide too late what to do and wind up grabbing take out.

I actually enjoy meal planning and meal prep, I think I fell out of the habit due to decision fatigue. Well, DH sat down with me today and we worked through a menu for this week together and that helped tremendously. I didn't have to decide each meal! I'm going to share our menu here and am happy to share any recipes anyone might want. I'd love to see what meals you have planned out as well!

Saturday - Cheeseburgers and pasta salad
Sunday - Bratwurst/hot dogs and chips
Monday - Blackberry-ginger pork tenderloin, roasted broccoli and basil rice
Tuesday - Roast Beef sandwiches, mashed potatoes and peas
Wednesday - Cheesy bacon and broccoli ravioli skillet and winter fruit salad
Thursday - Orange chicken and fried rice
Friday - Cheesy stroganoff tortellini

My grocery bill for this week for my family of 7 was right around $150. Now we did have about half of the meat in the freezer already (specifically the burgers, bratwurst/dogs and chicken) so that saved us some. I did buy some other essentials as well. I'm hoping maybe some members of this community can inspire each other with their tried and true recipes (I've not made a couple on my plan so I don't know if they'll turn out well or not) or just general ideas if anyone else besides me struggles with getting out of culinary ruts!

This is so helpful. I’m glad I am not the only one. I feel like I make the same five things over and over for dinner. I want to make new things, I just never know what to make. I will buy a recipe book and the usually only end up liking one or two recipes in the whole book.

 

[TwoMisfits]

This is a farm box, my garden, and Aldi's week. With my local farm box now hitting peak harvest, and me swimming in cherry tomatoes and beet greens (and some herbs), and Aldi's definitely wanting me to buy certain proteins and produce, it makes for this menu...

Sunday - Turkey tenderloins, No-sauce green bean casserole (roasted green beans, baby bellas, and vidalia onions with garlic and s&p and then fried onions added the last 10 minutes of the bake), mashed yukon gold potatoes, blueberry/white peach/nectarine salad
Monday - Fresh baked salmon with pesto sauce and chopped tomatoes, cucumber avocado salad, strawberries and blueberries, Aldi's crescent rolls
Tuesday - BBQ pork roast (Aldi's product) made and shredded in the crockpot with buns and more BBQ, roasted carrots, strawberries and green grapes
Wednesday - Pasta "Alfredo" (my dairy/nut free version) topped with sauteed greens (kale/beet), raw chopped tomatoes, and bacon with nectarines and blueberries
Thursday - Homemade burgers with lettuce/tomato/onion/pickle, roasted red potatoes with garlic/onion/serrano/jalapeno, cherries and peaches
Friday - Soup and sandwich day - BLTAs with Semi-homemade Borscht and Sliced Honey Crisp Apples
Saturday - Fast food takeout day for son or leftovers from the week with lunch out (not sure if our one meal out will be value menu McD's or our local Vietnamese lunch special, but I owe the kids an outing, and that's the cheapest I can do for each)