Meal planning is...

[Chaos Coordinator]

...probably the worst thing i've ever tried to enforce, ever. Ever.


:shiver


i need a different approach to saving money on food.

[Victorious]

I made theme nights. A blank menu gives me menu planning block

[Autumn]

Yup. :hug

[justbreathe]

:yes

:popcorn

[blondie]

I have an emergency meal plan. :giggle I make whatever I want, but if I can't think of anything, I have meals written on every day so that I don't have the excuse of not being able to think of something.

[melliethepooh]

Are we filling in the blank?

...the worst thing to happen to me ever

...obnoxious

...not worth the time or effort

...what's wrong with spaghetti squash every night, again?

[Chaos Coordinator]

:roll

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------

i really think i am going to have ptsd episodes any time someone mentions the words meal and plan together in my presence from this point forward.

[hollybells]

:roll

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------

i really think i am going to have ptsd episodes any time someone mentions the words meal and plan together in my presence from this point forward.

Oh dear. Then I guess I'll keep my utter giddiness and glee over meal planning to myself and offer a hug instead. :hug

[mamaKristin]

I love when it's done...it's the DOING that I struggle with. :bag

[Chaos Coordinator]

i will gladly make meal plans for all of you. that's the fun part! the possibilities are endless! <i'm such an enfp>

following it? oh Jesus have mercy on me. Lord please hear my cries. I can't do this. I can't.



i just want to cook whenever the whim strikes me, cook whatever i'm craving or whatever i scrounged around for or whatever is convenient or whatever presents a particular challenge that i need to overcome to feel satisfied with life again (enter last night's idea to make chicken nuggets coated in coconut flour and fried in butter)





i seriously feel inadequate though.

[LilacPhoenix]

I make a meal plan that has a certain number of meals, but not necessarily what day. When it's time to cook, I use it more like a menu of possibilities. But I always have other ingredients on hand to spontaneously throw together something different. It's the INFP T1 version of a meal plan I guess:lol

[Chaos Coordinator]

i wouldnt' mind keeping a posted inventory so that i can review it when deciding what to cook.

but then again, i could just open the freezer :shifty

---------- Post added at 11:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 PM ----------

okay, one thing i really am seriously considering is making a big pot of beans every week this winter. then meals can be meat alone, meat and beans, meat with random veggie (i keep tons of frozen veggies in the freezer - obviously fresh asparagus and broccoli and such are tastier but sometimes i just have no more responsibility left in me to use it in a timely manner), meat and sauce, meat and eggs...whatevs.


breakfast is always eggs and fruit. lunch is always leftovers. when there are no leftovers, i just throw more snacky stuff at the kids and make a smoothie or something for myself. dinner though. dinner's being a pill. dinner needs to take a time in.

[Blue-EyedLady]

Would it help to do a pantry challenge, then? Sort of like your very own reality show contest. Pick 4 random things from the pantry/freezer that need to be used up and make a meal with it. Ready, set, go!

[RedPetals]

I make a meal plan that has a certain number of meals, but not necessarily what day. When it's time to cook, I use it more like a menu of possibilities. But I always have other ingredients on hand to spontaneously throw together something different. It's the INFP T1 version of a meal plan I guess:lol

I also do this! I plan 4 or 5 dinners and then pick the one I feel like making that day. It also leaves room for a spontaneous meal with friends, take out, or throwing together something random.

[Chaos Coordinator]

Would it help to do a pantry challenge, then? Sort of like your very own reality show contest. Pick 4 random things from the pantry/freezer that need to be used up and make a meal with it. Ready, set, go!


almonds, olive oil, ah-laska chocolate syrup, and navy beans. go!

[LilacPhoenix]

What are you hoping to accomplish by meal planning?

[Chaos Coordinator]

spend as very little on groceries as is possible.

[LilacPhoenix]

If I see your goal, I might have some ideas for you:)

[Blue-EyedLady]

The first three can become fudge. And the navy beans can be soup, bean dip, rice and beans, etc.

[Chaos Coordinator]

hence the bean idea :shifty

[Blue-EyedLady]

BTW - have you ever looked at Supercook.com? Awesome site for a pantry challenge. :yes

[LilacPhoenix]

Honestly, I don't find that meal planning saves me much money:shrug Maybe I'm not organized enough for it to make a difference.

[Chaos Coordinator]

okay wait. i want to do more of these pantry challenges :shifty because this is not my thing. it requires a certain -esque that i just have not refined. i grew up on hamburger helper. this is all totally out of my realm.


let me think about what else is in my house that seems utterly unrelated.


eggs, frozen blueberries, baby carrots, bacon.

[LilacPhoenix]

Bacon is yummy dipped in something sweet, like a berry sauce:yum Carrots can be diced and added to scrambled eggs. Complete breakfast;)

[Chaos Coordinator]

yeah grocery shopping is a weird thing for me. some weeks we jsut need meat, a lot of meat. other weeks we dont really need any food but we need every single non-food consumable you can think of (dog food, laundry detergent, dish soap, diapers, wipes, baby wash, sun screen, vitamins, dr bronners, a pack of socks, aluminum foil, tooth brushes, potting soil, and epsom salts. or something equally as extensive that eats into the entirety of the grocery budget)

Heaven help us when those two trips ever coincide :shiver

---------- Post added at 11:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 PM ----------

i really like when everything is really predictable and requires no extra decision making.

but.

i find it horribly oppressive to feel tied to a system.

---------- Post added 10-06-2012 at 12:00 AM ---------- Previous post was 10-05-2012 at 11:58 PM ----------

Bacon is yummy dipped in something sweet, like a berry sauce:yum Carrots can be diced and added to scrambled eggs. Complete breakfast;)



zomg how did you do that!! :faint


let me try again :shifty


pears, taco shells, coconut flour, iceberg lettuce.

[LilacPhoenix]

What if you made a list of all the meals y'all like. Use it as a menu. Pick 7 of them a week to buy the ingredients for. Pick up a few extra ingredients you'd like to have on hand, without necessarily having a meal in mind for them.

I have a system but it's a loose one, with lots of room for flexibility and spontaneity...

---------- Post added at 12:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 AM ----------

pears, taco shells, coconut flour, iceberg lettuce.

Is this a main dish or a dessert?

[mamaKristin]

For me, meal planning keeps me sane (well, kind of ;)) I work out of the home part time, and when I get off work at 5:15 (and get home at 5:17, benefit of a small town), BUT my kids have to be at the pool for swimming at 5:50, no plan = chaos. When I'm on my meal planning game, I'm being more frugal, but it isn't a guarantee that what is quick and simple, or crockpot worthy isn't always on sale.

[Chaos Coordinator]

either.

[LilacPhoenix]

When I see coconut flour, my first response is What can I fry?:shifty And fried pears sound pretty good:giggle Served as lettuce wraps with coarsely chopped taco shells inside for crunch.

I'm not guaranteeing it would taste good, just giving you some ideas;)

[Chaos Coordinator]

no, i can't. i can't write anything down. no one in this house likes any of the same things. i just have to cook, and whoever eats it eats it, and whoever doesn't eats something else that i did NOT cook.

if i write things down, then i cook them, then no one wants them, but i didn't really want them either, i just made them because they were written down, then it goes uneaten.


i'm kind of over it. the whole deal i mean. i've told my husband numerous times that we need to plant fruit trees so that i dont have to deal with trying to feed everyone anymore. Oh, you're hungry? go pick some peaches.

i mean really. its maddening. the only one who likes pretty much everything i cook is the baby, but then he wants to do things like sit on the couch and eat fried eggs with his hands :doh or sit on the counter while he eats grapes and juggles flaming knives while balancing on one leg.


in an alternate universe,i have a normal family that eats dinner together without turning up their noses at any of it.

[LilacPhoenix]

:hugheart We eat a lot of the same things but not always. Keep trying...

---------- Post added at 12:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 AM ----------

Do you have a block of time anywhere you could do some bulk cooking? Do you have a big crockpot? Or even a regular one? A yes to any of those might help...

[Chaos Coordinator]

Yes to the hugemongous crock pot. It's basically my BFF.

I do some bulk cooking using that and roasting whole turkeys. I will roast a turkey and then freeze the meat in 1 or 2 lb bags.

[LilacPhoenix]

:yes I do it with turkey breast, roast, anything that will fit;) What other ingredients do you use that you could cook in bulk and freeze? If it's something not everyone would eat, could you freeze it in single servings? I cook and freeze rice, quinoa, millet, turkey, roast, ground beef, each in meal sized portions. It's less overwhelming for me at meal time if I just have to pull a couple bags out of the freezer and figure out a sauce, veggie, etc to go with them.

[Chaos Coordinator]

That's just it. Making things up on the fly is not overwhelming to me at all. Sticking to a plan is, though.

[bec28]

I haven't been meal planning consistently for very long, but I think the only way it helps us save money is by cutting back on how much we were eating out. I am not good at cooking on the fly :no

And maybe by helpin us eat more leftovers. But we were already eating most of them for lunches so idk :shrug

[LilacPhoenix]

Then why do it:hug Sometimes it's best for me to just have the ingredients to be creative with, and it helps to have meat, grains, etc cooked ahead to make it quicker.

[Blue-EyedLady]

What I meant by a pantry challenge is that you spend a week (or a month) cooking exclusively out of your pantry, not buying ANY food. I think that would be more fun for you than a meal plan that everyone hates. It's fun! And creative! And very much cooking on the fly. And it saves you money because you're not buying food, obviously.

For a while, I focused on buying food as cheaply as possible, and then forcing a meal out of the ingredients I had on hand. It worked, in that the grocery budget was lower, but it was hard, in that I really had to think hard to figure out how to use all the stuff up. I used Supercook.com nearly every day! A weekly meal plan worked better for me, but I'm not the :frolic type. ;)

[Elora]

dh and I cook what *we* want to eat that day (what WE are in the mood for). I fully support the kids eating something that we do NOT cook in the event they super hate dinner (doesn't happen often, they're not that picky)

I could not ever meal plan what I was going to eat every single day, for all 6batrillion meals that we have to eat

We DO make a list of dinner items for when we shop, so that we end up with *complete meals* ...but we do not plan which days we will eat those meals. Generally we use up fruits and fresh veggies very quickly, so perishables aren't an issue...in the event that we don't use them, I throw them in the freezer for smoothies or soup (I find that I prefer frozen veggies in soup or some sort of sauce. I'm not crazy about the texture of previously frozen food)

On the weekends I try to make lots of soups and salads that I can keep in the fridge for "easy access" throughout the week (I don't mean lettuce salad...I mean chicken,quinoa, pasta, bean, antipasta, egg, caprese, fruit -especially fruit that is going to need cut-up anyway because it will be eaten more quickly if it's cut). If the soup doesn't look like it's getting eaten after a couple days, I throw it in the freezer.

[Niphredil]

I'm the most organized ENFP ever (it's verified, see my sig :shifty) and I can't meal plan to save my life. It DOES NOT work for me. Basically I buy the same staples and just toss food together at the last minute. We stick to a pretty tight budget pretty easily, but end up eating the same things over and over again.

[Chaos Coordinator]

i'm extremely organized too. all that type 2 energy (my secondary is pretty strong)

i've been doing pantry challenge type cooking for so long that i thought that was normal. i dont even buy non-staple things. my pantry has two different kinds of oils, beans, whole almonds....ziploc bags....that's kind of it. my freezer has chicken breasts, whole chickens, broth cubes, steaks.....there's nothing that's not already an ingredient. so when its time to cook, i just pick a meat, decide how i want to cook it and what i want to serve it with....done.


i need to be at peace with the idea that i dont need a meal plan to be an adequate housewife and mother and that meal plans dont necessarily save us money or relieve stress.

[Blue-EyedLady]

Here's how a meal plan helps: You make a plan, go buy all the food needed for the plan, then cook according to the plan. No last-minute trips to the store, no dining out because the meat isn't thawed, no impulse buying convenience food because you're hungry and need food RIGHT NOW. If those things aren't an issue for you, then you don't need a meal plan to be an adequate housewife. :hug

[Chaos Coordinator]

those things are still issues when i do meal plan :shifty

so meal planning does not solve any problems that already exist.

however, it does ADD the problem of robbing me of the flexibility to go with life's flow.

[justbreathe]

I make a meal plan that has a certain number of meals, but not necessarily what day. When it's time to cook, I use it more like a menu of possibilities. But I always have other ingredients on hand to spontaneously throw together something different. It's the INFP T1 version of a meal plan I guess:lol

I was going to suggest this, but then I read the rest of your posts. I can not stick to a meal plan with assigned days but do well with a list of possible meals to choose from. But, since that is not your thing. . . .

That's just it. Making things up on the fly is not overwhelming to me at all. Sticking to a plan is, though.

definitely quit stressing about meal planning then. Meal planning should make your life easier in the end - if it doesn't, throw it out the window. It's just not your thing and that's totally ok. If coming up with random meals on the fly works for you, I doubt that menu planning will save you any money, and it certainly does not make you a better wife or mother. :no:hug2

[Chaos Coordinator]

i'm going to need virtually every gcm member to post that in order for me to change the tapes and start believing it.

maybe i'll make a huge poster and hang it up in my kitchen so that i will read it a zillion times a day until i believe it.

[Blue-EyedLady]

The only thing that makes you a good wife/mom/housekeeper is loving your family and doing your best to take care of them. :heart

[bec28]

Meal plannin definitely doesn't make you a better wife or mom :no in fact, I've often wished I could cook without a plan. Just doesn't work for me. I get all flustered and then freeze and can't do anything. My mind just can't think of what to cook if I don't have a plan.

[WingsOfTheMorning]

I make a meal plan that has a certain number of meals, but not necessarily what day. When it's time to cook, I use it more like a menu of possibilities. But I always have other ingredients on hand to spontaneously throw together something different. It's the INFP T1 version of a meal plan I guess:lol

I do something like this too. I also browse for meat that's on sale to freeze and keep extras around of all the staples we eat a lot of. There are a lot meals I can throw together if I feel like it from stuff in the freezer/pantry. What works for me is having a loose plan and plenty of stuff around to make something else if I feel like it. If you don't even need the loose plan, then :rockon

And FTR, frozen broccoli tastes great roasted. ;)

[graciousmomma]

almonds, olive oil, ah-laska chocolate syrup, and navy beans. go!

Gluten-free chocolate bean brownies! :giggle Seriously - they are yummy! But you would also need eggs and a little sugar.

---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:32 PM ----------

okay wait. i want to do more of these pantry challenges :shifty because this is not my thing. it requires a certain -esque that i just have not refined. i grew up on hamburger helper. this is all totally out of my realm.


let me think about what else is in my house that seems utterly unrelated.


eggs, frozen blueberries, baby carrots, bacon.

Bacon and eggs with a blueberry/carrot smoothie! Oh, this is fun! :giggle

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

Now that I have read the whole thread, here's a :cup and a :cookie and also a :hug

I have meal planned off and on over the years. We have phases where we do better with cooking on the fly, or meal planning. When I have alot going on, meal planning helps. But otherwise, we like to be spontaneous. If meal planning isn't your thing, it's OK!

[mokamoto]

I make a meal plan that has a certain number of meals, but not necessarily what day. When it's time to cook, I use it more like a menu of possibilities. But I always have other ingredients on hand to spontaneously throw together something different. It's the INFP T1 version of a meal plan I guess:lol

Is this a standard meal plan for many weeks or do you change it? This sounds closer to a plan I can live with! :heart

[LilacPhoenix]

Is this a standard meal plan for many weeks or do you change it? This sounds closer to a plan I can live with! :heart

I do it for one week at a time usually, unless I have to shop for longer. But you could do it for any length of time. When I used to shop for two weeks, I'd plan for two weeks:shrug

[Virginia]

Ugh, I feel your pain :( I constantly struggle with feeling inadequate because I can't stick to a meal plan. I.just.cannot. I feel stressed out by it. Or I'm not in the mood for what's on the menu.

You are not a bad wife or mother for not sticking to a meal plan :no Being flexible is such a positive attribute! Being able to whip up meals from whatever you have is a skill that many women don't possess :)

[Katydid]

Have you ever read the Tightwad Gazette? I really like the way she does meal planning. She just keeps their pantry stocked with the best deals on the things they use most often. They don't shop for meals, they shop to replenish their pantry. Then they decide the night before what to make (in case anything like soaking beans or something needs to be done) based on what they have and what needs to be used up. I love the idea. I've yet to be organized enough to do it for very long, but I love the idea. :shifty

Some days I like the challenge of putting together a meal based on limited choices, but some days I just need a quick, throw together meal that I don't have to think about. The problem is I don't know ahead of time which one I'll be in the mood for. :giggle

Maybe we should call this thread "meal planning for Ps" :shifty

[Chaos Coordinator]

See, that's what I used to do, but then due to money, I just started using up what I had in my possession without replenishing, then again due to money I started only buying exactly what I needed for those two weeks according to "the plan"

I think the bigger problem here is the money. But I need to go back to the old way. :-/

[Katydid]

See, that's what I used to do, but then due to money, I just started using up what I had in my possession without replenishing, then again due to money I started only buying exactly what I needed for those two weeks according to "the plan"

I think the bigger problem here is the money. But I need to go back to the old way. :-/

Yeah, I think the key is to have a master list of what and how much of everything you should have in your pantry and replenish during sales, buying enough to last you until the next sale. It definitely takes some organization to keep it going.

[WingsOfTheMorning]

How do you plan for sales like that? The only time I see meat in sale is when its abôut to expire, and that's not predictable. :shrug3

[Blue-EyedLady]

I watch the sale ads for meat. Ckn breasts vary from one week to the next, but usually bottom out at $1.99/lb. When they're at that price or bettr, I'll buy 10# and freeze it.

[Chaos Coordinator]

i buy meat from the farm 80% of the time. same w/ eggs (or get them from a farmer's market, the neighbor,t he lady i babysit for, my mom, etc)

maybe that's why i stopped doing that. there's nothing that i buy that's stock-up-able on sale. nothing....:think besides maybe now the gluten free processed stuff. :shrug

[Blue-EyedLady]

I buy produce in season and process it myself (freeze, can, etc.). We use dried beans/lentils and GF flours which I buy in bulk and store in the freezer. Buying 1/4 cow is a good way to save, too.