Planning meals??

[NMAmy]

DH and I go to the grocery store on Saturday morning and I plan meals by what is on sale and looks good. There's just the two of us so we usually cook some big meals in quantity on the weekend. Sometimes I freeze the leftovers but most times we just eat them throughout the week. I also have a huge storage area in my basement for canned goods and dry goods so if we run out of ideas, we can grab something from down there.

For instance, last weekend I bought chicken breasts, hamburger, and a backup ham in case we couldn't get to my niece's for Easter dinner.

Saturday: DH made chicken curry. He makes this by the vat but it's delicious and gets better as time goes on when the flavors mingle in the fridge.

Sunday: Easter dinner at my niece's.

Monday: I was going to make spaghetti but DH REALLY wanted curry again. We heated that up while I fried hamburger to make spaghetti on Tuesday.

Tuesday: Spaghetti

Wednesday: This is the night I usually work late so DH will throw something together or we'll have leftovers or sandwiches.

Thursday: Pork chops from the freezer. I either bake them and we have them with baked potatos and a veggie or I brown them, throw in a can of low sodium beef broth, some cut up potatos, onions, and red peppers and a bit of dried onion soup. So easy and very tasty.

Friday: Leftover Day. The choices will be curry, spaghetti, or pork chops.

Saturday: Ham. A do over of Easter dinner.

Sunday: Bean soup or pea soup with homemade bread.

It works for us--I have a general idea of what's in the fridge and usually think about what sounds good on the way home from work. I'm lucky in that DH likes everything and usually has no strong preference. Except for curry last night.

 

[azgal81]

Usually a week in advance. We usually go to the grocery store friday night because we hate going on the weekends because it's so crowded. I generally look though cookbooks to see what looks good and always keep something simple in the freezer for one of those too tired to cook days.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I make a list of 5-6 meals and make the grocery list off that. So, when I get home, we know we have 5-6 meals we can choose from.

I do not want to plan each day's meal. The night before, we usually decide what we want (so we can thaw it in time if frozen) Or the next day at work we'll decide what we want.

When we run out of meals, I know it's time to hit the grocery store again =)

This is pretty much what I do, too. Ideally, I'd love to shop for weeks at a time, but somehow that never happens. When I do shop, I plan at least 5-7 days worth of meals on that list, and get everything I will need to avoid extra trips during the week.

This week I baked some pork chops that I got on sale, grilled some chicken for a salad last night, left the rest of the chicken to toss in an asian-type noodle and broccoli dish later this week, and tonight we'll probably have some burgers. Oh, and I got a bag of beans to use with the ham bone from Easter.

 

[disneymom3]

I do a combination of things mentioned here. I do plan loosely what meals we are going to have. For instance right now I know that we have the ingredients for pork loin(with the marinade we like, sides etc) lemon chicken with brocolli, tostadas, and spaghetti pie. Not sure what day is what meal, but we have those ones available to make depending on timing of schedule etc.

Then I also go to a place called Get Cookin' it is a place like other posters have described. What I really like about this one is that at least some of the sides are included. Generally bread or vegetables. If an item usually includes rice then you still get another bread or vegetable. So, with enchiladas, for instance, you have your rice but then you can also choose vegies. I do 8 meals at a time and it takes me about 1.5 hours. They include more meat than I normally do in meals, and I cannot tell you how awesome it is to look at the recipe they give you and say, "Oh. I need 1/4 tsp of sage." You look up at the shelf above the counter and there is the little container of sage with a 1/4 tsp resting on the lid. I LOVE that. It is sooooo easy.

 

[Piffle]

I usually do kind of a plan, kind of not (during weeks when I cook, so it's been a while)

Ususally my grocery list consists of
ground beef (lean)
steak (usually cheap round steak)
pork (usually boneless loin chops)
chicken (Frozen chicken breasts)
salmon (frozen)
other fish (frozen)

6 green veggies
6 orange veggies

Dinners end up being one of the meats, one green veggie, one orange veggie on the most basic of nights. Depending on how inspired I feel, I'll cook the meat with salsa or sauce.


In addition, for those night's i'm feeling energized and creative, I'll keep in my pantry & fridge pasta, beans, rice, curry paste, sauce, salsa, soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger, onions, carrots, chicken & beef broth, tortillas, corn bread mix, peanut butter, frozen spinach & peas, plain yogurt, lots of spices...

If I have something specific to make in mind, I'll pick up the special stuff for that, but most of the time these basics work.

From just the stuff I have listed, I can make different kinds of tacos-tostadas-enchiladas-burritos, many kinds of pasta marinara-florentine-salsa-peanut noodles w/pork or chicken-lo mein, a bunch of different soups & stews chicken-hamburger-taco-chili-pistou-curry, casseroles chicken & rice-dirty rice-tamale pie, vegetarian dishes-rice and beans-saag choley-bean burritos, crock pot meals...and the list goes on and on.