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Post by bc2ca on Mar 7, 2021 19:21:29 GMT
how do you get meat to thaw fast enough? If you put wrapped meat/fish in a water bath it will thaw pretty fast. I meal plan 4-5 days at a time and always have a couple fall back dinners for when I'm uninspired or ask the kids to take care of it. I've tried not to grocery shop more than once a week during the last year. Fall back dinners are things like frozen tortellini (buy the fresh packs and they go in the freezer immediately), paninis, quesadillas, soups or a frittata. I tend to buy the same proteins (ground meat, salmon/tilapia/tuna, chicken thighs/breasts, sliced beef/turkey, eggs), produce (broccolini, carrots, cabbage, fennel, zucchini, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, onions, radishes, peppers, green beans, Brussel sprouts, avocado) and seasonings (garlic, ginger, cilantro) every week and just mix them up in different ways. After shopping, I write the next 4-5 meals on a chalkboard so I don't forget what I plan to make and so no one ask the always irritating "what's for dinner" around here. Grilled chicken thighs burgers with a coleslaw and chopped grilled vegetable salad is up for tonight. Next week we'll have a shaved beef stir fry, fish tacos, fennel & sausages pasta and roast chicken sausage & vegetables sheet pan dinner. Ground meat might be used for Korean tacos, spaghetti sauce, burgers, meatloaf, Shepherd's pie, chili or meatballs over the month. Fish can be broiled, steamed, grilled, baked or stewed. I make at least one Asian dish and one Mediterranean dish a week. I try not to repeat a meal in a month.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 7, 2021 19:29:25 GMT
No snark, but if you don’t meal plan, how do you grocery shop? Like how do you know what to buy to make sure you have all the ingredients for dinners that week? I have a fully stocked pantry. I always have all of the ingredients to make anything that I want to. When I shop it is to replace the back up that I have to open. I don't shop because I am out of anything. But what about fresh produce? You can’t make sure that’s always in your pantry, it doesn’t last that long.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 7, 2021 19:49:46 GMT
pre-Covid I planned 3-4 meals out and shopped twice a week. I tried hard to shop two weeks at a time during covid, but have fallen back to twice a week. It just works better for us - we have a better idea of our schedule so which meals will need to be flexible so that someone can eat before robotics or swim or whether the weather will be good enough to grill. I find if I try and plan too far out we end up wasting too much produce. Things will start to go bad if I didn't use it early enough and I detest wasting food, so buying just a few times a month just doesn't work for us.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 7:20:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2021 19:55:30 GMT
Oh yes! It helps me sped less at the grocery store and it helps dd see what is for dinner.
I do it weekly.
Wednesday is soup or easy on the tummy dinners as dd has her IgG infusions
Tuesdays are taco salad nights
Fridays are fix it yourself nights
Saturdays are breakfast for dinner nights
Sometimes Mondays are meatless nights (more so in the summer)
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Post by KiwiJo on Mar 7, 2021 19:59:07 GMT
Do I meal plan? Cue hysterical laughter....... I use the Paprika app, and I have set up 8 “menus” - each one covers all main meals, and weekend lunches, for a week. That means I have our meals planned for 8 weeks, and I cycle through them .... there are only a couple of repeats, so more than 50 different main meals. I do change things to take advantage of any super specials at the supermarket, and I change a lot of the side dishes a few times a year to take advantage of seasonal vegetables and fruit. I will also swap out a meals that we don’t enjoy quite so much, and try out new recipes, so each menu is not set in stone. Each week, I use the Paprika app to generate my shopping list for groceries I need for that week’s meals. I started doing this because I realised that if I hadn’t planned our meal I would just do the quickest and easiest thing possible (we had lots of stirfries!) but when I plan the meal I am way more likely to actually make it. Even so, 80% of the meals take only a small preparation time - I don’t really enjoy cooking. Here’s this week’s main meals: Monday: Moroccan Pilaf (sautéed chicken in moroccan spices, and broccoli ‘rice’ with currants, dried apricots, and capsicums (bell pepppers) Tuesday: Chinese pork meatballs with cauliflower ‘fried rice’ (just like regular fried rice, but cauliflower instead of rice) so plenty of diced vegetables included. Wednesday: Thai Chicken Satay (with vegetables mixed in) and Thai Cucumber Salad Thursday: Lemon Mustard Chicken (grilled) with silverbeet/bacon/pumpkin and roasted zucchini Friday; Fish chowder with 90 second keto ‘bread’. Saturday: corned beef, mashed potato, salad (made from pretty well whatever vegetables are left) Sunday: roasted lamb chops, broccoli with parmesan crumb, cherry tomato/grape/cucumber salad (note, we eat low-carb because of DH’s diabetes, hence broccoli and cauliflower ‘rice’. The mashed potato is the week’s indulgence
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psiluvu
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,217
Location: Canada's Capital
Jun 25, 2014 22:52:26 GMT
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Post by psiluvu on Mar 7, 2021 20:11:29 GMT
I have meal planned since DH and I got married 24 years ago. We live close to 5 grocery stores. Pre pandemic we would go through the flyers on Friday night and shop together Saturday morning at as many or few that had the best deals. During the pandemic we go through the one flyer of our favourite store on Saturday and I go alone first thing Sunday morning.
This week's plan Sun. - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn Mon. chicken fingers and roasted potato wedges Tues - French onion chicken, with rice and broccoli Wed. - sausage, pierogies, Ceasar salad Thurs - sausage and tortellini soup with garlic bread Fri. - takeout ds's pick this week Sat - homemade burgers and pasta salad
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 7, 2024 7:20:29 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2021 20:22:28 GMT
Oh and this week's menu is...
Saturday: pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs
Sunday: oven roasted chicken wings, baked beans, stir fry vegetables
Monday: meatballs, zoodles,pasta, salad
Tuesday: chicken taco salads
Wednesday: vegetable soup and muffins
Thursday: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce
Friday: FIYS
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Post by Merge on Mar 7, 2021 20:31:29 GMT
Yes, weekly.
Tonight we’re having burgers (beef for them, black bean for me) and fries and grilled mushrooms/onions/peppers.
The rest of the week, in no particular order - pasta with marinara and sautéed zucchini, grilled chicken with broccoli and rice, lentil tacos with sweet potatoes and poblano peppers and avocado salad, grilled cheese with tomato soup.
Nothing very inspiring, but you know what a grind this time of year is.
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Post by mollycoddle on Mar 7, 2021 20:37:25 GMT
No snark, but if you don’t meal plan, how do you grocery shop? Like how do you know what to buy to make sure you have all the ingredients for dinners that week? I have a fully stocked pantry. I always have all of the ingredients to make anything that I want to. When I shop it is to replace the back up that I have to open. I don't shop because I am out of anything. This is me too. I eat very simply during the week to keep my weight down. Just (white) meat and a vegetable. A lot of vegetable. Or a salad. Or soup. I always have a couple of alternatives.
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Post by ~summer~ on Mar 7, 2021 20:46:23 GMT
Before I planned....You buy stuff you fancy, ideas come to you as you ‘walk around the store’ as we used to do. Oooh, pork steaks...haven’t had those for a while, that’s one, a chicken ...that’ll do for roast and then risotto etc. Most basics are already in the fridge or cupboard and the worst that happened was that I either popped out because I didn’t have any spinach (or whatever) or I picked a different recipe if I was missing an ingredient. Ok. It sounds like the people who don’t meal plan do all the things I would saw off my pinky toe to avoid - walking around the grocery store or shopping multiple times per week 🤣🤣 Having to shop for produce on the way home every day sounds like the third circle of hell 😬 For me, if I shopped only once a week my meat and produce wouldn’t be fresh enough. And I actually used to enjoy walking home from work and popping into the corner store to pick up the basil, or can of coconut milk or whatever the one thing was that I needed for dinner that night.
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scrappinmama
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,021
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Mar 7, 2021 20:49:45 GMT
I meal plan every week. I pick my menu the night before I go grocery shopping and write each meal in my planner. I have a few cookbooks that I use, but also have several Pinterest boards for recipes, divided by type of recipe. I'm on a flexitarian diet, so most dinners are vegetarian. My meal plan this week: Tomato Carbanara, Boracho burrito, chili mac, sweet potato al pastor tacos, quinoa nachos.
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Post by freecharlie on Mar 7, 2021 20:53:41 GMT
Ok. It sounds like the people who don’t meal plan do all the things I would saw off my pinky toe to avoid - walking around the grocery store or shopping multiple times per week 🤣🤣 Having to shop for produce on the way home every day sounds like the third circle of hell 😬 For me, if I shopped only once a week my meat and produce wouldn’t be fresh enough. And I actually used to enjoy walking home from work and popping into the corner store to pick up the basil, or can of coconut milk or whatever the one thing was that I needed for dinner that night. I'm guessing you live in a large city or Europe? Do you have a small fridge/freezer That sounds pretty cool and fun. I live one town away from the closet store and 25 minutes from the larger "city" store. I do work closer than I live to the small store
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Post by Linda on Mar 7, 2021 20:59:55 GMT
just dinners except for special occasions - lunch/breakfast are fend for yourself here.
I plan weekly - usually Friday morning and shop Friday evening or Saturday morning (menu runs Saturday -Friday)
This week? we're still in the moving process so I've planned quick and easy for the most part.
Saturday - Cuban bread, Havarti and Edam cheeses, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, and carrot sticks
Sunday - salad with chicken tenders
Monday - vegetable-bean soup with homemade bread
Tuesday - snitzel, mashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini
Wednesday - crockpot chili, cornbread
Thursday - cashew chicken, cauliflower rice, broccoli stir fry mixed veg.
Friday - fish sticks, root vegetable fries, whatever frozen veg. the girls pull out of the freezer
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Post by femalebusiness on Mar 7, 2021 21:13:59 GMT
I have a fully stocked pantry. I always have all of the ingredients to make anything that I want to. When I shop it is to replace the back up that I have to open. I don't shop because I am out of anything. But what about fresh produce? You can’t make sure that’s always in your pantry, it doesn’t last that long. I make a run for produce every 10 or 11 days but I don't wait until I am out of everything.
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Post by KikiPea on Mar 7, 2021 21:20:52 GMT
We do a weekly plan. We always have a couple meals each wwwk that makes leftover like a soup/chili/stew. Then, we usually have turkey burgers and make one new recipe. We almost always go out for chicken tacos on Tuesdays and never plan out the weekend days as we do not know what our plans are, unless we are going out to eat.
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Post by femalebusiness on Mar 7, 2021 21:25:15 GMT
I have a fully stocked pantry. I always have all of the ingredients to make anything that I want to. When I shop it is to replace the back up that I have to open. I don't shop because I am out of anything. But what about fresh produce? You can’t make sure that’s always in your pantry, it doesn’t last that long. Now that I've thought about it, what does planning all my meals have to do with shopping at all? myshelly you also have to go to the store (whether you pick up or shop in) for produce. I'll bet I go to the store less than you do. I'm not getting why you think meal planning is dependent on a shopping schedule.
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Post by Yoki on Mar 7, 2021 21:27:26 GMT
I’ve done everything from no plan at all and just cooking from what I had in the pantry to paying for a weekly menu plan that was different every week. I’m the only one in my family that eats a full-time whole food plant based diet (if my husband & son don’t want to eat what I make they make their own food) and I don’t mind eating the same thing several times a week. What’s working best for me right now is to make two different recipes that each have several servings. Some are new, some are favorites I’ve made several times. I’ll eat those all week and round out the rest of my meals with things like salad, soup, avocado toast, hummus snack plate, etc. I’ll figure out what recipes I want to make (I save ones I like and want to try to Copy Me That), cross off ingredients I have on hand & go shopping from there.
Today I made a “stuffed cabbage stew” with tofu, lentils & rice and BBQ lentil sloppy joes. (I’ve been trying not to overlap ingredients too much but failed this week. Oh well - very different flavors and both are quite tasty!)
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Post by Skellinton on Mar 7, 2021 21:33:02 GMT
I plan and shop once a week. I do FM pick up for what we consider staples and get produce and certain items from our produce market. Takes about 45 minutes from start to finish to do grocery pick up and shop. Once a month I go to Costco. When I am working I don't have time to stop at the store during the week so I have always shopped once a week.
This week we are having Swedish Meatballs with green beans Chicken philly sandwich with squash and potatoes Spaghetti pie Lentil soup Chicken Gyros with greek salad. Chicken and rice with zucchini as a side Saturday we get take out.
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Post by LisaDV on Mar 7, 2021 21:44:20 GMT
Yes. I just list out possible meals for 1-2 weeks at a time. I take requests from the family (which I only occasionally get). I keep a fully stocked pantry, freezer, so I'm usually only shopping for my fresh fruit/vegetables and what I'm replacing. Using a loose list helps give me flexibility as to when we have things. If the fridge is getting logged with leftovers, leftovers become the next meal or two. The current meal selection, quinoa bowls (greek: spinach, artichoke, cucumber, halved grape tomatoes, sprinkle of feta, kalamata olives, red wine vinaigrette) (other: spinach, halved grape tomatoes, slice/diced avocado, salt & pepper, sunny side up egg). The latter makes a great breakfast, the other is an easy lunch since the quinoa is made in a large batch at the beginning of the week. DS doesn't eat quinoa so he usually fends for himself that meal. Grilled chicken legs (DS is making these as it's finally getting nice here - yippee - currently brining so he'll be doing these tomorrow), corn on the cob, ?? Italian Tuna Melt Sandwiches (Rachel Ray)https://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/italian-tuna-salad-melts I use spinach. Chicken and rolled Dumplings I've already made: Italian Pork Loin www.allrecipes.com/recipe/71555/italian-pork-tenderloin/ I precook my pork and remove from pan. This is good if you have the pork in medallions or bite sized pieces or strips. I add basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, frozen peas, and 1/2 6oz can of tomato paste while cooking prosciutto (DD can't have onions so that gets left out). I also use 2 c broth, 2 c cream. Then I thicken it with arrowroot in a bit of broth. Add the pork back in to heat through. I serve over pasta. Baked Chimichangas (DD had roasted a chicken earlier in the week) I used the leftovers up with this. Italian Baked Chicken - www.allrecipes.com/recipe/52005/tender-italian-baked-chicken/ - I made this today because I had leftover chicken breasts from another meal my DD prepared. Served with leftover brown rice/quinoa, green beans, fresh fruit. Everyone loved it. I added just a bit of flax seed into the panko mix. I can't remember the rest of the list off my head.
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Post by Skellinton on Mar 7, 2021 22:22:13 GMT
Ok. It sounds like the people who don’t meal plan do all the things I would saw off my pinky toe to avoid - walking around the grocery store or shopping multiple times per week 🤣🤣 Having to shop for produce on the way home every day sounds like the third circle of hell 😬 For me, if I shopped only once a week my meat and produce wouldn’t be fresh enough. And I actually used to enjoy walking home from work and popping into the corner store to pick up the basil, or can of coconut milk or whatever the one thing was that I needed for dinner that night. I just plan my produce around which to eat first. Broccoli gets eaten the day we buy it, zucchini or cauliflower is next. Squash can be eaten the last day of the week. Same with spinach. Tomatoes and lettuce easily last a week. Peppers and carrots can last until the middle of the week. Would be fine if I soaked them in water though if I needed them to wait until the end of the week. We always have frozen colored carrots and corn for soups and stuff. Most produce can last one week, those special containers really help keep them fresh.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Mar 7, 2021 22:36:10 GMT
Not really. I just have a system. Sundays are always something that will have leftovers for monday. So I do usually a roast chicken, pork, beef, OR a crockpot soup. Mondays are leftovers. Tues-wed-thursday I have to plan things, but it's usually something that will have leftovers for one night. Then the other night is something really simple like grilled cheese and tomoto soup, breakfast for dinner. Then friday night is pizza night and saturday night we go out, or do take out.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 7, 2021 22:44:54 GMT
But what about fresh produce? You can’t make sure that’s always in your pantry, it doesn’t last that long. Now that I've thought about it, what does planning all my meals have to do with shopping at all? myshelly you also have to go to the store (whether you pick up or shop in) for produce. I'll bet I go to the store less than you do. I'm not getting why you think meal planning is dependent on a shopping schedule. It sounds like the people on this thread who don’t meal plan pop into the store every day or two. The people on this thread have said they wake up, see what they feel like, and then go to the store, or stop at the store on the way home from work. They shop more often because they don’t plan in advance and buy it all at once. I can see how you could always have dry ingredients, canned foods, etc. on hand if you don’t meal plan, but if you don’t meal plan, how do you always have the right produce on hand.
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craftykitten
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,304
Jun 26, 2014 7:39:32 GMT
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Post by craftykitten on Mar 7, 2021 23:21:44 GMT
We don't plan for each day. I say we, because DH does all the cooking in our house. We get a grocery delivery every 2 weeks, and fresh vegetables and milk once a week from the greengrocers. We're vegetarian, so there's no meat to worry about defrosting or using up before it goes off. We use beans, quorn, sometimes tofu.
There's a list of meals that DH cooks, and he makes whatever he feels like. Its rare that he wants to do something that needs a specific ingredient we don't have.
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Post by ntsf on Mar 7, 2021 23:25:03 GMT
I make dinners from what I have.. so I look in fridge.. if there is cauliflower, I may roast it or make a curry with it.. and there is always black bean tacos.. I have a can of black beans which I roast, some lettuce or cabbage, some pepper, maybe a bit of roasted chicken and done. I may plan the main protein but the rest is freestyle. I almost always have peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli around.. like last night's dinner was sauteed mushrooms and left over chicken breast chopped, steamed broccoli, then a couple of mandarin oranges for dessert. tonight is take out bison ribs. tomorrow will be something with the chicken breast i have left in fridge.. maybe mexican cause I have lots of avocados..
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,677
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:55 GMT
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Post by Elsabelle on Mar 8, 2021 0:04:04 GMT
I always meal plan. I try to shop on Wednesday or Thursday. I find that there are less people out on those days rather than Monday or Friday. I shop for a week. DH is a meat and potatoes kind of guy so he likes to cook things on his smoker on the weekends. Tri tip and steak. One DD likes pasta so we usually have that once a week. She likes bolognese and Alfredo sauces. We also like pasta aglio e olio but I add some chicken and broccoli. During winter we like soups and stews. Chicken and dumplings, beef barley, chicken tortilla, and baked potato are some of our favorites. The past two weeks in a row I've had DH smoke some salmon for me and I made cheesy zucchini rice and a spinach salad for sides and some dijonnaise for the salmon. It was so good that I think we'll have it again next weekend.
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Post by femalebusiness on Mar 8, 2021 0:18:55 GMT
Now that I've thought about it, what does planning all my meals have to do with shopping at all? myshelly you also have to go to the store (whether you pick up or shop in) for produce. I'll bet I go to the store less than you do. I'm not getting why you think meal planning is dependent on a shopping schedule. It sounds like the people on this thread who don’t meal plan pop into the store every day or two. The people on this thread have said they wake up, see what they feel like, and then go to the store, or stop at the store on the way home from work. They shop more often because they don’t plan in advance and buy it all at once. I can see how you could always have dry ingredients, canned foods, etc. on hand if you don’t meal plan, but if you don’t meal plan, how do you always have the right produce on hand. I use what produce I have at any given time. If I want something other than what I have on hand, I buy it next time I go to the store. If I don't have broccoli on hand (I usually do) I don't make anything that requires broccoli. I always have onions, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, green onions, jicama, fresh garlic, lettuce and a few frozen veggies. It also helps that I have a great produce store one stoplight from my house. I shop about every week and a half. I still don't see what meal planning has to do with a shopping schedule. I do not run to the store every day. I don't like grocery shopping enough to do that.
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Post by fruitysuet on Mar 8, 2021 0:22:03 GMT
I do on Friday for shopping on Saturdays.
The meals may get moved around a bit or omitted totally if I'm not in the mood to cook (ie everyone fends for themselves).
This week
Pork loin medallions with a creamy paprika sauce, boiled rice, broccoli and sautee'd carrot/courgette with thyme (Sundays I do tend to make more of an effort).
Teriyaki turkey rice bowl, stir fry veg - sugar snap peas, peppers, baby corn.
Swedish meatballs with mash, broccoli and green beans.
Parmesan crusted chicken with spinach orzo, sweetcorn.
Sausage, mashed potatoes, broccoli, peas and carrots.
Friday chicken fajita wraps (but DS will cook himself something different as he doesn't like spicy food). It could easily be a visit to the chip shop though because this is another crazy busy week at work and I've usually run out of steam when it comes to cooking on Friday!
I use Pinterest a lot when it comes to meal planning. If a recipe has been well received by everyone it goes into a 'Love It' section so I can find it more easily. Anything I have planned for the week using a Pinterest recipe goes into a 'This Week' section, then moved out again the following week.
ETA broccoli appears a lot as it's one of the few veggies everyone will eat, and I prefer rice and pasta over potatoes.
ETA again one of the main benefits of working from home is that it doesn't matter if I forget to get something out of the freezer before I 'go to work' and no commuting means more time/enthusiasm for cooking.
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Sarah*H
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,015
Jun 25, 2014 20:07:06 GMT
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Post by Sarah*H on Mar 8, 2021 0:38:50 GMT
I do meal plan and normally spend a lot of time on it, mostly looking through recipes. A month ago my DH suggested we try emeals which is basically like Hello Fresh except you have to take the extra step of ordering the food you need. It creates a shopping list and hooks up to whichever online shopping platform you do your grocery orders through (Instacart, Walmart, etc.) and you just click on those items you need. This has simplified my meal planning significantly; now it's down to about 5 minutes a week but I realized mid-week last week that I'm already bored with it and want to start throwing in some of my own ideas again. We also keep a fully stocked pantry and freezer so if I decide I want to switch things up, it's easy.
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Post by maryland on Mar 8, 2021 1:06:06 GMT
No, I hate to meal plan and cook, the most stressful part of my day is figuring out what to make for dinner and cooking it. I think because there is no appreication from family. I would rather do any chore than cook. So I can't wait to read the thread and get ideas!
The grocery store is a few miles away, so I go every other day.
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Post by busy on Mar 8, 2021 1:14:48 GMT
I make a meal plan for the week on Saturday morning, and then go shopping. I use Paprika for recipe management, meal planning and grocery list - I have about 700 recipes in there, so I don’t repeat very often.
I arrange the meals so things that require being extra fresh - delicate vegetables, etc are Sat/Sun/Mon and things that will be fine longer - say Brussels sprouts - are later in the week. Thursday is leftovers and Friday is often takeout.
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