What does your meal plan look like?

Canada
June 22, 2011 10:59pm CST
We just started having a weekly menu. We're going to have a "theme" for each day of the week so it is easy to think of something. So it////'ll go like this?; Mondays: soup or sandwiches Tuesdays: chicken and vegetables Wednesdays: pasta Thursdays: casserole or stew Fridays: fish Saturdays: pizza or tacos (homemade) and on Sundays we go to my mom's for dinner. how do you decide what to make? Do you have a meal plan?
2 people like this
8 responses
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
24 Jun 11
I wish I had a meal plan that I would stick to. I go through the supermarket circulars and coupons each week and plan what to buy, but have not been successful at adhering to a week's worth of meals. Kudos to you for so doing. We usually have Caesar Salad once a week. I do enforce leftovers of all meals when we have them, e.g. meatloaf sandwiches the next day, soup made from leftover veggies, etc. I do pasta once a week, but am trying to restrict carbs just now. Now that warm weather is here, I want to work out a salad menu for some weeks. I do eat out maybe once a week. I hope to follow your good example re planning and actually executing a "themed" meal plan! I think it's great.
1 person likes this
• Canada
25 Jun 11
Oh! we should have more salads. We usually just have cut up veggies or steamed or grilled veggies, but I am trying to expand what I do. We try to have leftovers, but they tend to get used up for lunches. At least that's moneysaving because my husband doesn't have to buy lunches.
• Canada
27 Jun 11
Yes, they're nicer because you don't have to turn on an oven or stove. Heehee, for me, anything is less work because my husband does most of the cooking. I do things like roasts because he doesn't know how to yet, but I think I only cook about once a week. I bake muffins and things to take for snacks in lunches though.
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
25 Jun 11
Hearty, substantial salads and cold meat and veggie platters are great for hot summer days, and, hopefully "less work for mothers".
@jameygc (452)
• United States
23 Jun 11
I like to try to new things on the kitchen all the time, but I never though about a meal plan. This sound like a great idea. I should try it to see how it's going. Yours looks great! Let me know how it goes!
• Canada
23 Jun 11
So far it's worked out well. We've been using the leftovers for lunches. One of my friends suggested a leftovers day, but I don't think it will work because between the 3 of us, everything gets eaten by lunchtime the next day.
1 person likes this
• Canada
24 Jun 11
It does save money, as less food is wasted. And it feels better too, because we know what we are going to do.
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@jameygc (452)
• United States
24 Jun 11
I totally understand you. Here we never have leftovers neither. But is good to know is working. You inspired me! I think I definitely try it! And maybe that help you to save money with the grocery shopping right?
1 person likes this
@LadyDulce (830)
• United States
2 Jul 11
I've never really been able to stick to meal plans... we'll shop for what we need, using a list and occasionally picking up something interesting, then go from there. I usually have no idea what's for dinner until an hour or two before I start cooking. Depending on my mood, we might have mandu and rice or squash stew or meat pies or lasagna or curry or BBQ. Just depends on my mood and the season.
• Canada
2 Jul 11
We would do that, except we were finding that we were wasting a lot of food because we would buy things intending to cook them and then never getting around to it.
• United States
2 Jul 11
Lol, I can see that happening. My husband and I are paranoid about wasting food, even the "scraps". I love the idea of meal planning though, so I might have to buckle down and try it one of these weeks.
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
24 Jun 11
My husband works usually 4 days a week and off 3. so on the weekends I usually make a ham, or roast, something that will have good amount of leftovers so I get to relax when he is. I love cooking but never seem to have enough meat. My husband would prefer all meat to any veggies On the otherhand I am rice, potatoes, veggies and stuffing girl. But usually we have chicken a couple nights a week, hamburger one night, beef (for kabobs, or roast) and pork once a week. Then we go out one night a week. We usually do seafood or chinese, or mexican when we go out.
• Canada
25 Jun 11
That sounds like you are organized and have a good variety. Neither of us eat very much meat. We like pasta and other grains. We are trying to eat more healthfully though, so more meat, more veggies, that kind of thing.
@moneywinner (1864)
• Brazil
24 Jun 11
I really liked your idea, I think I'll try to do the same thing. Now, I don't have a meal plan since I think it's to difficult to me to follow because it's not everyday that I have time to cook. I usually have some meals on the freezer that I made on the beggining of the week (usually pasta) or I have to order chinese food to delivery.
1 person likes this
• Canada
25 Jun 11
We have a few meals stockpiled in the freezer as well, because some days we just get busy. That's the way life is though. It's a good thing there are restaurants, isn't it?
• United States
23 Jun 11
I don't have a meal plan, but I usually eat out on the weekends. Your meal plan sounds good to me :). I make chinese chicken teriyaki once every two weeks and it comes out delicious! I'd really recommend you try it if you haven't already.
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• Canada
23 Jun 11
Hey, we hadn't thought of that. For chicken dishes we just have roast chicken and grilled chicken. Teriyaki chicken would be great, and my mom taught me how to make it. Thanks!
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@drasnian (548)
16 Jul 11
This is a really cool idea. We plan the meals at my house too, but we don't have theme days like you do (I may have to steal that idea). We're trying to lose weight and eat more healthily, and so planning means there's no chance of someone saying "Oh, lets just have takeaway"! Every week we tend to have a stir fry, a pasta dish, fish, a homemade curry and a roast on sundays. The rest tends to depend what we fancy as we're planning, and what new recipes we've found during the week but include things like tacos or fajitas, a lasagne or shepherd's pie, a thai-style curry or something more traditional like sausages and mash (or sausage casserole, one of my personal favourites). I hope your meal plan's still going well, and I hope you don't mind if I steal the idea of theme days!
• United States
8 Nov 15
I wish I could plan ahead, I just do it by the day whatever sounds good to me! Hehe!