Menu Planning

[purple_magada]

For those of you that have to cook meals daily for your family, do you prepare your menu's in advance or just "wing-it" day by day? Usually, I just decide at the last minute what I'm going to make. But I've ran into problems b/c I'm always missing an ingredient or two. So I got this bright idea to make a menu for the month of March (minus weekends). I'm returning to work on March 1 and thought that this might be easier on me b/c I'll already have everything on hand. I just got the new WW cookbook and bought the lastest issue of Eating Light so 3/4 of the meals will be coming from those. It took me HOURS to make a plan for a month and make the grocery list. I think that this is also going to save me some unnecessary trips to the grocery store as well. Wish me luck!

 

[andtckrtoo]

Good luck! I plan my menus weekly. Like my rotations, I might rearrange things a little, but usually I follow pretty closely. I often make up casseroles and lasagnas on Sundays so I only have to pop them into the oven when I get home from work.

 

[mathgeek]

I've done it both ways but I pretty much wing it from day to day. I keep my kitchen pretty well stocked so there's usually several things I have all the ingredients for. I subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture) so I get a big box of veggies every week from a local farm. It makes it hard to plan exactly what I'm going to make because never know exactly what veggies I'm going to have (or how much) until Thursday afternoon when I pick them up.

Kristy

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good

 

[40something]

This is something I NEED to be doing more often. I am a cook-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal. I do cook breakfast and dinner for my family of six. I tell myself all the time I need to start planning meals for a week so like you...I'm not out of one ingredient when I decide to make a certain meal. I also just despise grocery shopping so it would make my life easier if I had everything on a list for the entire week instead of calling my H to stop and pick something up.

Planning meals for a whole entire month though?!?!! Wow! I am humbled in comparison.

 

[buffettgirl]

I usually decide the evening before what I'm going to have the next night. It depends on what I found at the grocery store that week, what I have on hand, what I'm in the mood for and how much time I have that evening. I love variety and have a huge grocery store on the way home, so stopping a couple times a week is no problem. I'm not sure it's the cheapest way to cook though. Good luck with your plan. Good luck getting back to work too.

 

[Soosan]

Once a week when I have some time, I write down daily menus on one side of a piece of notepaper and my grocery list on the other. Family meals are a priority for me and I find that if I don't plan my meals weekly, I wind up not bothering to cook because it's too much of a pain to run to the grocery store at the last minute. A little planning goes a LONG way for me here.

 

[JAFitMama]

I'm a weekly planner too!

On sunday mornings, my rest day. I wake up to a big pot of coffee and plan out our dinners after I see what is on our schedule for the week. This way I know which days to to cook ahead of time, and which days I can cook and serve immediately.


Judy "Likes2bfit"


If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
Success is acheived by early preparation


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[FiddleFit]

I make weekly plans, like some of the other posters have said. Today I'll write up the meals I want to make for the next 7 days, with the recipe book and page number beside the item, and then make the grocery list from there. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I started doing this about 3 years ago, and the packrat in me made me keep all of my weekly meal plans. Now I find it really easy to make my weekly plan - I just flip back through all my previous plans and either just redo the whole week's worth, or tweak them to suit my week. I always strive to make one large meal a week (like a roast beef dinner), 3 decent meals (spaghetti or a casserole), and 2-3 super fast, convenient meals (eg, canned stew and whole wheat rolls). Every time I cook vegetables I always cook twice as much as we need for dinner, and eat the rest for lunch over the next day or two.

I don't stipulate which day I'm going to eat each meal. I like the flexibity of being able to choose which meal to make each day, to suit my mood and my time frame.

Good luck returning to work!!
Sandra

 

[Imafitnessfreak]

We are weekly planners and always make extra for the next night (or two). It is a great way to ensure you are getting a healthy meal. If we "winged it" too much, we'd be eating a lot of pizza! But when there are left overs...you don't want them to go bad. Plus, left overs are faster than pizza delivery/pick up!

 

[sparrow]

On Sundays I usuallly pick three different interesting recipes to do sometime in the week. Then a couple of nights I make whatever I have in the house (brown rice pasta, eggs, whatever is simple but healthy) and also leave one night as an "every person for him/herself" night so I get a break. Easier for me I think because it's usually just DH and me, though I always manage to cook extra to bring to family and friends throughout the week. Must be the Italian in me!

Sparrow


Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow - what a ride!’ — Peter Sage