Meal Planning?

Hi S.! We plan all of our meals and I think you can save a lot of money by doing this. The first thing I did was make a spreadsheet with 3 categories of meal ideas - quick, medium and long prep/cook time. Then before I do my grocery shopping I write down 6 meals (we usually eat out at least one night a week)The order doesn't really matter, you can pick what you want the night before and take it out of the freezer to defrost.

After you list your meals, go through and write down a shopping list with all the ingredients you need for each meal. When you get to the store if something is on sale you can always buy it now and freeze it for the following week, then just check your meal list to see what you can make with it.

Some quick easy things we always get for backup dinners are spaghetti and pasta sauce, chicken breasts to freeze (you can do a million things with chicken), canned soup (for soup and grilled cheese night), and cream of chicken and cream of onion (again a million different ways you can use these)

Sorry to go on and on with this, it's just we've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to streamline this whole process and we've finally got something that works for us!

By the way, you can go to this website and type in the ingredients you already have in the house and it will search for recipes which contain those ingredients. http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/inthepantry/default.aspx

my problem is that if I try a new recipe, I end up with all kinds of leftover ingredients that go to waste in the fridge afterwards, so if you can find 2 or 3 recipes that use similar ingredients do those in the same week, or make soup with a variety of leftovers--Ideally I would do that, but I'm not great in the kitchen and don't have enough skill to put together similar recipes, maybe someone here will give me ideas!

I keep chicken in the freezer and pull it out the night before, then marinate in just about anything to BBQ or grill on the George Foreman. I keep frozen veggies on hand always and it only takes 10min or so to steam on the stovetop, so that's easy and quick for when you didn't get a chance to (or feel like) planning ahead. We also do tacos or pasta nights because those are SO easy!

For me and my family, to cut down on costs and so I don't have to wonder each day 'what to cook'- I make a weekly menu... and then I base my grocery list on that. And then I ONLY BUY what is on that list. Thus, cutting down on costs.

This works for us, and has actually reduced our grocery bill each week.

I plan meals that I know my family likes. Easy stuff. Not recipes with a lot of ingredients... but rather, recipes that has ingredients/staples that can be used for the rest of the week. Thereby, not 'wasting' food and money.

I am the type, that cooks from my head... I cook by taste and make my own 'recipes.' There are times I do use cookbooks/recipes... but for me, it is another hassle. So this works out for me, because I make low maintenance quick recipes that are still healthy and packed with taste, and yah, I do serve all food groups.

You just have to get creative, then you have flexibility. Not locked into a recipe or saying "I hope this recipe is good... the ingredients costs a lot..." etc. Then you don't waste food/money.

OR, what you can also do is: Do a Google search based on what you have on hand in the cupboard/fridge. If you only have say potatoes/onions/chicken/carrots/rice... then do a search on "recipes with potatoes, onions, chicken, carrots and rice" and then a ton of 'recipes' will some up in the search. AND being that the recipes are with items you ALREADY have... then you got an entree to make!

If you only buy things on "sale"... then make sure it is for staple items, or main ingredients that are flexible and can be made into anything! Then, you find a recipe for it, based on that method of Google searching I mentioned above. Then you will have a recipe for it.

BUT... the main thing is: plan ahead... look at the inserts in the paper and see what is on sale BEFORE you go to the store, then make your grocery list & weeks' menu, based on that. I do that sometimes too.
Then it is economical.

Then, for me... for the actual meal planning I already know what to cook all week because I have a 'menu' planned already. AND then, I do the cooking in the morning... and then dinner is all done early in the day, and I put it in serving dishes that can just be put in the fridge if there are any leftovers, and I already wash all the pots/pans that I used for cooking it. Then, I don't have it hanging over my head all day with dread. THEN, whenever we eat dinner, all I have to do is warm it up and we eat! Because for me/us... from the afternoon onward is just TOO busy for me to cook/prep dinner with all the kids around and the activities we do. So, I get all the cooking/dinner prep done in the morning right after I drop my daughter off at school. AND.... since this is my "routine", my son knows that, and I always have an activity for him to do while I cook AND I am also now teaching him to cook too and he assists me! So its a learning thing for him too. THEN, after I finish cooking, we go out... and we do what my son suggests or what I have planned.
So, the day is taken care of, AND the dinner, AND all the dish washing and planning! And by the time dinner rolls around, I just heat it up and that's it! Its all ready!

AND, by making a WEEKLY 'menu' AND grocery list... my hubby/family KNOWS what is going to be for dinner too... then they don't have to wonder and then think "what the heck is Mommy going to cook tonight...?"

Sometimes for inspiration, I go to the Martha Stewart website... and they have an "everyday" cooking recipe collection, for recipes that don't take long to cook, and they list everything you need to buy.

All the best,
Susan

I had to plan well while we were on vacation, as there were 7 of us in the house for 1 week. I didn't want to throw out a bunch of food at the end of the vacation.

I used a spreadsheet and planned the first meal of hamburgers and fries, the second meal was spaghetti and meatballs...using the leftover meat in the spaghetti. The next day was chicken and buttered seasoned pasta...with the leftover pasta, etc.

Soup is always good with leftover beef or chicken.

Have fun!!!