How do you plan your meals and food shop?

I use a notepad and pen to write down that week’s menu and then I make the shopping list on the opposite page of the necessary things to buy. I take the notepad with me. This method has the added benefit of if undecided what to have, I can look back over previous menus and shopping lists.

I have never planned in my life and my food caddy is always empty except for fruit and veg peels. I eat what I like when I like, and shop when I feel like. I only have lunch and dinner and often don't cook a full meal. I mainly live on veg & fruit, cheese, yogurt and a little Rye bread, but often spoil myself with a cake or dessert when I go out. Never buy meat just for myself, but will cook it if I entertain, which is very seldom these days. I obviously live alone. I couldn't bear to give so much advanced energi and thought to my food intake. I love food incidentally but eat on the spur of the moment.

Not a planner either, though I know that we’ll have fish and chicken every week at some point. I usually know, though, what we’re having the next day. Always have basics in the cupboard, fridge and freezer. I’m lucky that I have shops nearby.

I don’t plan meals in advance, apart from when we have family to stay, just decide the day before, depending what is in the fridge/freezer. I usually do a supermarket shop each week, plus a visit to our local farm shop. Each to their own, whatever fits in with their lifestyle. We’re all different, thank goodness. 😊

Don’t plan daily but have a fair idea of what we usually eat so go with the flow! My mum made the same meals on the same day each week didn’t plan to live like that!😂x

i don't meal plan, never needed to even when i had my son and dh to feed as i lived with a fruit shop on the corner and a butchers/supermarket, i had a lot less waste back then as i just bought what i needed that day. i got an iceland delivery this morning, mainly because i can't get out as the lift in my building has been out of order for 3 weeks, i have plently of food but will probably end up making a sandwich. i think meal planning is great for busy families but i don't always feel like eating what i had intended to and as i only have myself to please i don't bother.

I put this on the 'frugal' thread but I'll put it on here as well in more detail.
My son and I made a list of all the meals we like to have about ten years ago. He does most of the cooking. We wrote the meals out on small pieces of paper and arranged them on a four week grid. There are some repetitions because we have some favourites and We try to plan to use certain foods up over a couple of days e.g. Sunday roast chicken, Monday chicken and mushroom pie, Wednesday soup. We also included a takeaway once on the four week grid. We don't always stick rigidly to the plan but mostly we do. It's on a whiteboard on the kitchen wall so it's easy to make changes.

It works really well for me as the main shopper. It's taken the daily/weekly decision making pressure off me and we've wasted far less food than we used to when I shopped randomly. I'm ten miles from the nearest big name supermarket so shopping is a trek. We have a corner shop for odds and ends but frequent shopping isn't my favourite thing to do.

I was told about an app called Supercook (if I remember rightly) where you put in whatever ingredients you have available and it suggests a meal with instructions. Haven't tried it myself but could be useful.

I plan our meals for the following week on Sundays. Sometimes days may get swapped around depending on the availability of ingredients. We have Ocado on alternate Wednesdays. Other times we go to Tesco and M&S. Meals are written out on the menu planner from Amazon which I’ve found to be invaluable, not least because DH can see what’s on it without asking me several times a day what’s for dinner.🥴

I must be the exception here...I don't plan at all, just cook something from fridge or freezer on the day. I always have meats etc in the freezer and basics such as eggs and cheese and large selection of veg and fruit. But the actual menu is decided on the day..usually at around 5pm when I walk into the kitchen!
BTW I eat healthily, always go back to basics meat,fish and so on with vegetables and fruits( no ready meals or snack meals)
I do tend to do a boring shop with similar on the list each week,!! Topping up fresh food and freezer if needed..
It suits me 😀😀

I plan meals only when having guests, and cook as much as possible in advance.
Otherwise, I have a few meals in the freezer for days when it's impossible to go out. Normally, I cycle to the shops nearly every day and get something for that day.

No planning meals..choose on the day ,usually at 5pm when I walk knto the kitchen! I eat healthily, back to basics, meat,fish,cheese and loads of veg and fruit and yoghurt.
I also shop at random when stock of fresh foods are getting low. I get a sense of urgency if I can't see lots of fruit and veg in my kitchen!
Works for me but I can see that planning works for others 😀😀

Sorry I posted twice by mistake!

greenlady102

BlueBelle

I don’t ever plan, meals Why would I ? I might not fancy a, b or c on a particular day
I buy in stuff in a weekly or sometimes fortnightly shop that I eat and like, and then chose at the time of hunger what I fancy.

Me too!

I do so agree, don’t all these planners look at their menus and think sometimes “omg it’s * chicken pie day AGAIN,”. I really fancy a Beanburger?

Bluebell - I'm with you, never plan meals. Always plenty in to knock up a tasty meal and make a decision an hour beforehand.

I do so agree, don’t all these planners look at their menus and think sometimes “omg it’s * chicken pie day AGAIN,”. I really fancy a Beanburger?

I don’t have set days for set meals, for a start. I know what I want for 5-7 days worth of meals, which are not the same every week, and what I eat on any day depends on freshness, what I’m doing that day, what mood I’m in…

And if I want something I hadn’t planned, there’s no reason I couldn’t either make that (I’d certainly always have the ingredients for a beanburger!) or go out for dinner and have it.

If doing so meant something planned was getting a bit close to a use-by state, I could freeze it, raw or cooked.

I don’t plan either. Some days we just fancy certain things and I would hate to fancy, say, smoked haddock but only got minced beef in.

I often plan a meal at about 10 am.
How will I know what I feel like eating on Thursday when it's only Sunday?

DD's cooking tonight, it could be a bit late. Something complicated with chicken, I think. 🙂

merlotgran

I haven’t the heart to tell him he’s teaching his granny to suck eggs! 😂😂

Poached, fried or coddled? 😂😂😂

I plan for 7 days mainly because I cook veggie one night a week, fish at least once, & not more than 2 red meat. Also I'm coming up to retirement & burned out, & there's nothing worse than finishing work at 3.30( having been working since 7.30), having to take the dog out & clean him up & then - what are we eating? I have a supermarket 2 mins away & shop every 2-3 days, strictly for what's on the meal planner or housekeeping essentials we're low on.

I only buy food that I enjoy eating, so I never think I don’t fancy xxx today. I may think I don’t fancy cooking, so I will defrost one I made from the freezer. It might depend how much time I have. I try not to eat too much before I go to choir as I am always hungry afterwards.

I don't waste much either. I generally plan meals for the week around what I have. Usually soup for lunch.. Just made pea and ham last week with left over gammon joint. Just enough gammon left but not enough for a meal.

I don’t plan at all.

Have what we fancy on the day.

When I was working I used to shop daily on my way home so I could look at the offers and yellow sticker items. Then I retired and shopped less often, but for just over a year I have been on the Ozempic injections for my diabetes. This has badly affected my appetite and the foods I like/can tolerate. I hate wasting food and found myself buying stuff then not fancying it and throwing stuff away. Now I'm back to frequent shopping based on what I fancy eating on the day. I shop for the regular stuff I like keeping a careful eye on the use by dates, then top up when I have an appetite for a specific item. It's more expensive this way as I often walk to the Tesco express rather than drive to the bigger supermarkets but as I eat so much less it balances out a bit anyway.
Upside = I've lost loads of weight. Downside - Have had to buy lots of new clothes or alter existing ones, and I feel queasy much of the time!

This thread has been a bit of an eye opener for me.

I would have said "I plan ahead". But it has dawned on me that I dont any more. And I hadnt realised I had changed!
I may have an idea about one meal I am planning. And may plan another based on whatever is still left in the fridge, but that is it!

I did think recently that it is time to clear out the freezers again. I used to do it regularly once a year, but realised a few weeks ago, I hardly go anywhere near the bottom any more. So need to do it twice yearly.

We seem to have a lot more meals now that are fridge based, and not freezer based.