I plan my dinners for the week so that when I get home from work I know exactly what to do. I have lunches mostly planned knowing sometimes leftover dinner will be lunch.
Kathleen
OH and I wish we had an Aldi’s here in northern California. I can’t believe you can get boneless chicken so cheap. I think the lowest I’ve seen is $3.99 a lb on sale.
Jessica Fisher
Good job!
Sharon
One of the best things I did was buy a 7 pound package of ground beef and cook it all up with onions and salt and pepper. I let it cool and then packaged it in 2 cup portions and froze it. Super easy for any casserole, tacos etc.
Jessica Fisher
Great strategy!
april
I plan but i dont assign. I only do dinners also. I shop every 2 weeks, buying what i need and then choose from my list based on what sounds good or works for that day. As for breakfasts, the kids get their own box of cereal(onefor the month) and they can choose from poptarts, granola bars, oatmeal, fruit, bagels, or carnation indtant breakfast. Weekends are for big breakfasts…waffles, pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns etc. snacks are never planned out either, they can find something from what i have on hand
Jessica
Sounds like you have a great system!
The Groundskeeper @ See You In The Garden
I do and love it. The methods have changed over the years, but it is now a necessary part of my life. I used to do just Supper (when we both worked outside the home), then lunches and suppers (when I was no longer working and DH could come home for lunch), then for all meals with snacks (when our kids were smaller). Now I do the 3 main meals and wing snacks.I actually posted about menu planning today on my blog, and gave some visuals of different way to do it.
There are times when I convince myself that I don’t have time to do menu plan, then kick myself for it later when our grocery bill is huge because I just winged it and ended up having to always run out for this or that. I tend to plan a month at a time, though the meals don’t always get eaten in the original way planned. It at least gives me something to go off of and an idea of what is in the house. Last week one meal was changed three time due to various reasons. It is okay. The meal plan didn’t burst into flames or anything. Life went on and we all ate. And this weekend when we were sick and at home, I didn’t have to worry about thinking up meals – they were already planned and the stuff was in the house.
Lisa
I definitely meal plan! As a teacher this saves my life during the school year when I come home wiped out and deciding what’s for dinner is not on my radar. During the summer, I “test drive” some new recipes to add to the mix. I am so happy I have stumbled on your fabulous blog! Grilled chicken for dinner last night that was cooked and frozen last week. You could almost hear my sigh of relief as we sat down to the table! I usually just meal plan dinners but the 3×7 idea is interesting!
Jessica
Yay! So happy to hear that!
Angie
I plan most of the 21 meals we eat in a week. . .I usually leave one or two spots blank because I know I’ll end up doing some shuffling when life happens. 🙂 We eat better (and cheaper) when I take the time to write out a menu before the week starts.
The Groundskeeper @ See You In The Garden
I find that if I plan “leftovers” one night, this does the same thing. You’re right, something always seems to happen and there is that one meal you didn’t get to.
Jessica
My shuffling looks like a football play diagram, lots of arrows and Xs.
KimH
Nope.. I definitely dont plan every meat for the week but when I had a bunch of kids at home I did.. We’re in our 50s and have an empty nest and Im not working right now so my approach is much more lackadaisical.
Different times in life call for different approaches.
Jessica
Exactly! I’m just tired of hearing, “what’s there to eat?”
Sandi
I do not plan out every meal of the week. Our schedules are too hectic, frequently change with less than 24 hours notice, and are not conducive to solid meal plans. If I wrote one out and followed it, I would actually have MORE food waste rather than less. I generally have a concept of about 3 meals at any point in time. I can then decide which ones I have time and energy to prepare when it gets closer to meal time. There is pretty much always at least one meal of leftovers hanging out in the fridge for when plans change and cooking time is not an option. When I’m not focusing on using up stuff I already have (like the pantry challenge which is continuing here) then I definitely shop the sales for meal ideas.
Kathleen
I plan my dinners for the week so that when I get home from work I know exactly what to do. I have lunches mostly planned knowing sometimes leftover dinner will be lunch.
Kathleen
OH and I wish we had an Aldi’s here in northern California. I can’t believe you can get boneless chicken so cheap. I think the lowest I’ve seen is $3.99 a lb on sale.
Jessica Fisher
Good job!
Sharon
One of the best things I did was buy a 7 pound package of ground beef and cook it all up with onions and salt and pepper. I let it cool and then packaged it in 2 cup portions and froze it. Super easy for any casserole, tacos etc.
Jessica Fisher
Great strategy!
april
I plan but i dont assign. I only do dinners also. I shop every 2 weeks, buying what i need and then choose from my list based on what sounds good or works for that day. As for breakfasts, the kids get their own box of cereal(onefor the month) and they can choose from poptarts, granola bars, oatmeal, fruit, bagels, or carnation indtant breakfast. Weekends are for big breakfasts…waffles, pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns etc. snacks are never planned out either, they can find something from what i have on hand
Jessica
Sounds like you have a great system!
The Groundskeeper @ See You In The Garden
I do and love it. The methods have changed over the years, but it is now a necessary part of my life. I used to do just Supper (when we both worked outside the home), then lunches and suppers (when I was no longer working and DH could come home for lunch), then for all meals with snacks (when our kids were smaller). Now I do the 3 main meals and wing snacks.I actually posted about menu planning today on my blog, and gave some visuals of different way to do it.
There are times when I convince myself that I don’t have time to do menu plan, then kick myself for it later when our grocery bill is huge because I just winged it and ended up having to always run out for this or that. I tend to plan a month at a time, though the meals don’t always get eaten in the original way planned. It at least gives me something to go off of and an idea of what is in the house. Last week one meal was changed three time due to various reasons. It is okay. The meal plan didn’t burst into flames or anything. Life went on and we all ate. And this weekend when we were sick and at home, I didn’t have to worry about thinking up meals – they were already planned and the stuff was in the house.
Lisa
I definitely meal plan! As a teacher this saves my life during the school year when I come home wiped out and deciding what’s for dinner is not on my radar. During the summer, I “test drive” some new recipes to add to the mix. I am so happy I have stumbled on your fabulous blog! Grilled chicken for dinner last night that was cooked and frozen last week. You could almost hear my sigh of relief as we sat down to the table! I usually just meal plan dinners but the 3×7 idea is interesting!
Jessica
Yay! So happy to hear that!
Angie
I plan most of the 21 meals we eat in a week. . .I usually leave one or two spots blank because I know I’ll end up doing some shuffling when life happens. 🙂 We eat better (and cheaper) when I take the time to write out a menu before the week starts.
The Groundskeeper @ See You In The Garden
I find that if I plan “leftovers” one night, this does the same thing. You’re right, something always seems to happen and there is that one meal you didn’t get to.
Jessica
My shuffling looks like a football play diagram, lots of arrows and Xs.
KimH
Nope.. I definitely dont plan every meat for the week but when I had a bunch of kids at home I did.. We’re in our 50s and have an empty nest and Im not working right now so my approach is much more lackadaisical.
Different times in life call for different approaches.
Jessica
Exactly! I’m just tired of hearing, “what’s there to eat?”
Sandi
I do not plan out every meal of the week. Our schedules are too hectic, frequently change with less than 24 hours notice, and are not conducive to solid meal plans. If I wrote one out and followed it, I would actually have MORE food waste rather than less. I generally have a concept of about 3 meals at any point in time. I can then decide which ones I have time and energy to prepare when it gets closer to meal time. There is pretty much always at least one meal of leftovers hanging out in the fridge for when plans change and cooking time is not an option. When I’m not focusing on using up stuff I already have (like the pantry challenge which is continuing here) then I definitely shop the sales for meal ideas.