Meal Planning

curlimama05 · #1 July 29th, 2009, 02:43 PM

Do you plan out your meals? If so, how far in advance do you plan them?

Amy B. · #2 July 29th, 2009, 02:52 PM

I make about a month's or at least two week's worth of meal ideas out before I go grocery shopping each month (or every two weeks depending on my mood). I then make my grocery list from those meals. After I have the big list on my fridge, I make out my weekly plans. I generally do dinners, but I sometimes do lunches too (particularly in the summer when DH and I are both off work...teachers). I like to even plan my daily menu (snacks, breakfasts, beverages included) on here on the food and exercise thread early in the day if I can. I find I can stick to my plan better that way.

Oh, I also keep a running list of the meals I make or want to make to choose from. My list is at 130 meals right now, and it grows as I find more recipes I like or want to try. This keeps me from always making the same things every week or month.

becky_mommyof4 · #3 July 29th, 2009, 03:05 PM

i try to the day befpore or the morning of the meal

ladyjill · #4 July 29th, 2009, 05:30 PM

No.. This is something that I really would like to start doing though!

peacoxx · #5 July 29th, 2009, 06:58 PM

I usually do it the night before or in the morning BUT I am gonna try to do it a few days in advance to start.

#6 July 30th, 2009, 04:55 AM

I know mostly what I'm going to eat ahead of time, but I have been making 3-4 days of food ahead of time. ie cutting and prepping fresh fruits and veggies so I wont have to do that as I go, cause I wont! LOL Today is my last day off for the week, then I work loooong hours over the weekend. I will prep my breakfast, lunch, snacks and probably figure out what I will do for dinner today. If I'm really good, I will have at least part of monday set and ready to go too, but that makes me nervous as I don't want my food to go bad by that day...

TeresaSuperMama · #7 July 30th, 2009, 05:18 AM

When I am on the ball I will plan out a week at a time. With my kids all home for summer I have been sucking at it. Hopefully, we'll get back into a better routine with meal planning in the fall.

TrainingWithTonya · #8 August 1st, 2009, 10:03 AM

I plan meal choices for a week when I'm making my weekly grocery list, but I don't usually plan when we will eat them, except maybe like something simple for nights when we are all super busy. But I know what all I will eat for a week, just not the order I'll eat it in.

MamaAshley · #9 August 1st, 2009, 11:01 AM

nope, I stink at meal planning and only know maybe tha tmonring what we'll have for dinner...I'm terrible at this and want to plan better to save more money, we're always running out for forgotten stuff, I hate that!

TrainingWithTonya · #10 August 1st, 2009, 11:27 AM

What works best for me is to plan out the main dishes for a week but mix and match the veggies. Like I'll plan 7 different meats/sides but just buy veggies randomly, as long as I get enough for 2 at each dinner. For breakfast, lunch, and snacks, I'll buy enough for those meals, but don't plan it down to the specific days. So, I'll write out 7 days worth of meals and make my grocery list from the required ingredients for each of those meals. Then the day or two before we decide Breakfast A, Lunch C, Dinner F, etc. from those lists of meal options. It really makes it easier with our crazy schedule since we never know who is actually going to be home first to make dinner. At least we know we have all the ingredients so we don't have to make any last minute trips to the store.