meal planning

[katiedidldle]

Hi all,

i was wondering if maybe people could share their meal/food/shopping planning techniques on here .

im not to bad at the moment , but would be great to here how other people do it and maybe pick up some tips

 

[Princess_Stevie]

I don't usually plan my meals weekly, but I know a lot of people using this forum do, so will be able to provide you with some great inspiration.

What I do though, is stock up weekly on the basic staples for meals - chopped tomatoes, baked beans, mushy peas, jacket potatoes, veg, etc etc. Then I usually plan my meals daily.

My mornings are easy - I almost always have a yogurt and a piece of fruit, or a piece of fruit and a HiFi bar.

9 times out of 10 lunch will be a jacket potato - topped with cheese (HExA) and baked beans with a huge side salad.

Dinners are what take the most 'planning' - even then it's nothing strenuous. For instance, tonight I know I'm having a jacket potato with mushy pea curry and veg. I made a batch of mushy pea curry on tuesday night, and have some left over which I can't wait to have :drool: I basically just try and think what ingredients I have in, and what I can make with them. I'm quite creative, so I'll often through in a load of spare ingredients and see what I come up with.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, but this is how I 'plan'. Hope you find some inspiration from other members. Also you could check out some food diaries for inspiration/meal ideas xx

 

[katiedidldle]

I don't usually plan my meals weekly, but I know a lot of people using this forum do, so will be able to provide you with some great inspiration.

What I do though, is stock up weekly on the basic staples for meals - chopped tomatoes, baked beans, mushy peas, jacket potatoes, veg, etc etc. Then I usually plan my meals daily.

My mornings are easy - I almost always have a yogurt and a piece of fruit, or a piece of fruit and a HiFi bar.

9 times out of 10 lunch will be a jacket potato - topped with cheese (HExA) and baked beans with a huge side salad.

Dinners are what take the most 'planning' - even then it's nothing strenuous. For instance, tonight I know I'm having a jacket potato with mushy pea curry and veg. I made a batch of mushy pea curry on tuesday night, and have some left over which I can't wait to have :drool: I basically just try and think what ingredients I have in, and what I can make with them. I'm quite creative, so I'll often through in a load of spare ingredients and see what I come up with.

Probably not the answer you were looking for, but this is how I 'plan'. Hope you find some inspiration from other members. Also you could check out some food diaries for inspiration/meal ideas xx

tbf im abit like you, my breakfast and lunch is always the same,

in regards to dinner its hard as my bf is a REALLY fussy eater , i would love to just throw things together and make a meal out of it , as i will try and i do eat nearly anything lol but my bf on the other hand will only eat certain foods so its a nightmare if i havent planned stuff that he will eat to

 

[ermintrude]

I tend to plan a menu for 7-10 days ahead.

Breakfast and lunch are pretty easy as they're always pretty similar (toast & coffee or fruit & yoghurt for breakfast - plenty of fruit for throughout the morning - then Ill make a salad or whizz up some hummus or eat some leftovers or beans or cheese & crackers or whatever for lunch)

Dinner I usually try to pick a couple of new things a week from websites such as uktvfood, slimmingeats, bbcgoodfood or some magazine or here or whatever to keep stuff new and interesting. I usually save those for the weekend to give me time to cook them as they're new.
Then Ill also have a couple of days where its something staple such as chicken & veg/chips, curry, chilli, or whatever.
And the other two days Ill pick something from my list of 'favourites' - basically every time I try a new recipe and like it I adapt it and email it to myself and keep it in a 'faves' folder so Ive always got plenty of ideas to look back on for inspiration.

I also take pics of my food and store it in my food diary as I find it more useful to look at a photo of something to remember whether it was any good than read words of ingredients/titles that I dont really remember eating.

So once Ive got my 7-10 days of meals planned (very roughly) I do an online shop to get all the stuff I need for it.

I also ALWAYS have stuff like fruit, mini veg, yoghurts, frozen fruit, Quorn-type stuff to snack on and a massive supply of veg and salad to serve with EVERYTHING.

Planning ahead is key for me, both to keep it interesting and to make sure theres always healthy food around so I dont eat stuff I 'shouldnt'. Same for shopping online - I always used to begrudge the delivery charge but tbh I save way more than 3.50 in planning what I need and not buying cr@ppe I dont on impulse

 

[Mirrakel]

I tend to pick 7 SW meals I like and buy all the necessary ingredients for them, that way I know I'm sorted for the entire week. For me planning is the BEST way to stick to the SW plan. When you wing it, it can tend to go wrong! In my experience anyways.
Hows about you ask your bf what his favourite meals are, and then try to find SW versions of them so you can both eat the same thing. I'm lucky I suppose in that my husband will eat whatever I put in front of him! And he actually prefers the SW curry that I make over the takeaway one we used to get!
I tend to have one of about 5 different things each day for lunch - whatevers easiest to make in the office kitchen i.e. beans on toast, jacket potato, mugshots and toast etc... Sometimes I have leftover tea from the night before.
In summary - planning is the way forward

 

[katiedidldle]

ye i totally agree about online shopping, i think im going to start doing that from now on. thank u

 

[Stitchy]

I do pretty much the same thing as ermintrude . My breakfasts are fairly similar each day, cereal with milk or eggs/beans on toast.

For dinners I tend to try one or 2 new recipes each week, and then add in some favourites for the rest of the week. I tend to have the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I shop online too, and am convinced that I save money despite the delivery charge!

 

[katiedidldle]

I tend to pick 7 SW meals I like and buy all the necessary ingredients for them, that way I know I'm sorted for the entire week. For me planning is the BEST way to stick to the SW plan. When you wing it, it can tend to go wrong! In my experience anyways.
Hows about you ask your bf what his favourite meals are, and then try to find SW versions of them so you can both eat the same thing. I'm lucky I suppose in that my husband will eat whatever I put in front of him! And he actually prefers the SW curry that I make over the takeaway one we used to get!
I tend to have one of about 5 different things each day for lunch - whatevers easiest to make in the office kitchen i.e. beans on toast, jacket potato, mugshots and toast etc... Sometimes I have leftover tea from the night before.
In summary - planning is the way forward

hi , thing with my bf is , he likes really simple food, so if i do say a sw spag bol or cottage pie he will eat that and enjoy it, but i couldnt start cooking up currys , or anything from around the world lol .hes sooooo fussy , i think from the fact his mom never made him try any diff foods, but hey thats my opinion, but im at the stage now where im sick of eating the same SW recipes week in week out

 

[Mirrakel]

hi , thing with my bf is , he likes really simple food, so if i do say a sw spag bol or cottage pie he will eat that and enjoy it, but i couldnt start cooking up currys , or anything from around the world lol .hes sooooo fussy , i think from the fact his mom never made him try any diff foods, but hey thats my opinion, but im at the stage now where im sick of eating the same SW recipes week in week out

I know where you're coming from, my stepdad is exactly the same, basically anything that isnt pie and peas/fish and chips/cottage pie etc is classed as 'foreign muck' lol. I tell him he doesnt know what he's missing!
I feel for you though, eating the same things and getting bored is a surefire way to make you feel like giving up.
Sorry couldnt help you more, I'm sure someone on here will come up with something

 

[teddysgoldengirl]

I definitely think planning and organisation is key with SW, I plan my meals weekly MOST weeks, the two weeks that I didn't plan my meals I ended up going off track and gaining weight. Breakfasts and lunches are usually simple - weetabix; eggs/beans on toast; weekend fry up, and I have my lunch at work so it's usually either leftovers from last night's dinner, soups, salads, low fat supernoodles or mugshots. With dinners, I tend to sit down on a Saturday/Sunday and plan 7 meals for the week and then go and get everything I need so that I'm never left needing something and then saying oh sod it I'll just get a takeaway! My bf is pretty fussy as well but I'm converting him, he even eats my spicy sw curry now with LOADS of garlic

 

[katiedidldle]

before my bf met me he had never tried ... spag bol , lasagne, meat balls, omg the list is endless, hes never even tried a bananna !!!!

 

[teddysgoldengirl]

Wow I thought mine was bad! I'll never complain about him again

 

[katiedidldle]

the worse is when hel say cook it and ill try it so i cook it knowing full well he wont eat it, then he tries it and goes ergh i dont like it !!! then we end up eating diff teas

 

[Shirleen]

Why not cook say a cottage pie, freeze one portion of the mince for him, the following week defrost his and make mash and make yourself a curry, and freeze one portion for you, so each time you cook to suit him you have a back up, and each time you cook for yourself he has a boring meal to eat.

 

[Libbyloulou]

Hi

I always plan for the week and I even write out a menu plan at the beginning of the week. I then do my shopping online so that I always only buy what I need and dont get tempted.

I know that seems a bit strict but it is the only way I stick to it 100%.

What I also do as a few others have mentioned is keeping the basics in. So i always have some quorn mince in freezer, and tins in the cupboard, so worse case I can throw a chilli together in a hurry.

Also keep some mugshots in ( good for green days) and then if you are starving it is ready in a few mins.

Hope this helps you and good luck x x x x x

 

[becciharland]

Im a red girl.....

We always have the same......
Breakfast - eggs, bacon and mushrooms with a HEX B Toast
Lunch - fruit & Hi-fi/ Alpen lights

Tea time is normally chicken, gammon or steak with green veg (white cabbage, runner beans and broc) sometimes we have mash bns or bns chips and some time swede and carrot mash (all bagged int he freezer )

I dont bother with mullers anymore....the oh lunch is a chicken or mackrel salad with fruit and hi-fi's

I hope this helps.

xx