Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I hate not knowing what we are eating and really think it's time to plan for the week and buying accordingly. Does it really help?

What do you plan for? I mean, do you plan the main meal and side dishes, too?

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

God no!! I am lucky if I remember to take something out of the freezer to defrost!

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I usually decide in my head what I am intersted in making that week, then I look at the ads and see were I can get the best sales for what I want to make that week. But, I love to cook, so I might be the exception.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

DH and I used to just wander the shelves and buy random stuff, but a lot of times we'd end up eating the same things over and over or would have to throw away things we didnt get to use, or wouldn't have the right things for sides.

We decided to try to plan for the week, at least a few meals, and make sure we have all of the ingredients and sides for them. it also helps us to make more interesting things (because we have what we need for them) and our grocery bills have gone down because we buy what we need and less that we dont.

ex: tonight i made turkey, mashed potatoes and meatloaf. DH is bringing leftovers for lunch tomorrow, I'll have leftovers too,and we'll probably have meatloaf again for dinner since we ate primarily the turkey tonight.

we also plan to make taco salad and mexican pasta the next night with leftover taco meat. also bought chicken which is in the freezer for later this week, and we have frozen fish from trader joes that we'll probably make too.

this week i made potroast w/ carrots and potatoes, chicken cordon blue, steak w/ gorgonzola cheese, and vegetable stir fry.

before i ran to the store today I asked DH if there was anything special he wanted this week so i could make sure to buy what i needed for it

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I usually assign that task to my kids. I have 3 so between them I get 6 meals. Plus I always have "emergency" meals in the freezer like chicken breasts, a lasagna or extra sauce. With 3 kids and my full-time and part-time jobs I can't waste time worrying about what I am making for dinner.

Re:

Message edited 3/20/2010 10:42:32 AM.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

Yes, I plan my meals every week at the beginning of the week. I actually look forward to it! I plan main dishes and side dishes - it makes grocery shopping so much easier!!

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I don't, because we change our minds too frequently!
What we do is buy a bunch of meat all at once from Costco and freeze it into meal-sized servings. We keep one serving in the upstairs freezer and the rest in the basement freezer.
At the start of each week, I have one of each type of meat in the freezer and I choose which one to defrost depending on my mood. So we have variety, but we're not too strict with the actual meal.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I think about it as I make my grocery list for the week. I know that one night a week is eat out and one night is at my parents' house. We also have pasta and chicken every week, so it's just a matter of throwing something else into the mix, whether it be steak, pork chops, hamburgers, chicken sausages, tacos, etc.

As far as side dishes, we have certain ones that go with certain meals (like mashed potatos with steak), other than that I get two or three pasta ronis when they're on sale and we have frozen or fresh veggies on hand.

Message edited 10/19/2008 10:44:30 PM.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I actually just started planning my weekly meals about 3 weeks ago when I joined Weight Watchers. Besides that we are eating more healthy, I am saving so much money by only going to the grocery store once a week instead of "stopping in" and grabbing a few things I need plus a few things I don't!

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

yup! we sit down every sunday morning and plan it out. make our list, then go to the grocery store.
it sounds overwhelming, but i think after you do it for a couple weeks, you get used to it. it really saves you money and trips to teh grocery store. it cuts down on the "hmm... i don't know what to have for dinner tonight- ok, we'll just go out". AND it makes one less thing to think about during the week when you're tired after work.
we stock up on a lot of stuff. we buy big packages of meat and freeze them ( we break it up into meal sized amounts, and then put it in freezer bags.) we stock up on stuff like rice, cream of chicken soup, pasta, canned tomatoes, spices. SO pretty much every week all we have to buy are any veggies we need to make the meals.
we also eat a lot of leftovers. so if we make a big pasta dish or batch of chili one night, we'll have the leftovers 2 nights later. so its not like we plan a different meal for every night...

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I don't -
A. - I hate cooking
B. DH and I don't eat dinner until usually 8 or 8:30 and sometimes we're not even hungry for a full meal ........

Soooooooo, sometimes I'll cook - other times we're eating sandwiches or cereal or whatever .....



I also don't have kids yet -

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

no, I wish we did but the reality of it is we don't have time to do that! DH works so much I never know if he's going to be around for dinner and we haven't gone grocery shopping in about a month. I usually decide what I'm making during the day and stop at the grocery store on the way home from work and pick up what I need to make it.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

No

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

No. We figure what we'll have the morning of each day depending on what we feel like having that night.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

Yes, I actually sit down. It takes a while to plan a week's worth of meals, and I don't want to stand up all that time.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

Lately, yes.

I have my lazy weeks where I kind of just go with the flow .. but those weeks are the ones where I wind up going to the grocery store more than once or ordering out a few times.

Money is tight with the holidays looming - so I need to be really careful about how I spend. I go through circulars, clip coupons and create meals based on sale items or things I happen to have 'in stock' for the week.

I deviate from time to time - but I find that I am less stressed and we eat out less when I actually have a plan.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

we plan to cook 2 dinners per week that have enough servings to get 2 meals out of each meal.
and DH makes a mean chopped salad! lol

i think it helps to have a plan.

the rest of the week, we dont plan.
it usually spagetti and meatballs or chicken nuggets.

Message edited 10/20/2008 10:36:57 AM.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

Yes - we do!

We go to the supermarkets and/or Costco on Saturdays, so in the morning I usually throw a load of laundry in and while that's going.. I make our list of weekly dinners and the shopping list.

I plan the meals for the entire week - except for 1 night because we go out to eat once per week.

I do plan main dish and a side dish.

If you need some ideas, feel free to FM me!

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I have not been lately, b/c I really haven't been cooking much. DH is starting his new job a week from today, so I've decided since I work from home that I'm going to try to cook every night (during the week anyway)- so now my plan is to do it in the most cost effective way possilbe.
That being said I'm definitely going to start to plan out my meals. I know for the first week or two at least that I'll make some of my staple recipes that I haven't cooked in a while- so I will see what's on sale when and try to base which week I cook those recipes with what's on sale that week. I also think when I have a list I don't stray from it as much- b/c I'm too busy looking for what's on the list.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I do, I find it makes grocery shopping easier and I spend less money. Also, I have a small child, so knowing what we are going to eat for dinner, just makes life easier!!!

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I do, I only buy what I need on Sundays. I hate going to the supermarket during the week. And it definitely helps being prepared.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

yes. otherwise i will roam the supermarket isles aimlessly.

i sit down, plan my meals and make my grocery list. i usually try to coordinate with what's on sale but i also figure in what we're in the mood for. i usually make a few easy meals, a more time consuming meal when i have nothing going on that night and then try to make a meal that is good as leftovers.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I try to but there are always times tha things come up during the week....like maybe I just dont feel like cooking, or we decide to go to DH moms house etc.
But for the most part I do make lists on what I am making and try and stick to it.

Re: Okay, be honest. Do you ACTUALLY sit down every week and plan your meals?

I do. I have three kids, a DH that works crazy hours, so often it is just me and the kids at dinner. After working until they get home from school, doing HW with them, and driving them to their after school activities i don't have time to plan out a menu. I sit down two or three days before i go shopping with the Shoprite circular and plan my meals around whats on sale. Like this week, they have ground turkey for really cheap, so I'm going to def be making a meatloaf with a combo of the turkey and chop meat. I know that is on sale for sure, i will check out the circular in more detail this week and then buy accordingly. I don't plan the particular day, i just buy enough to make for 7 days till i can hit the stores again.
I do usually make sauce on sunday and then we have it on a busy day that i know we'll have within the next couple of days after that.