How do you plan your meals and food shop?

I moved in with DD and DSiL for several months while I was selling my house and relocating. I was happy to take over the cooking of the evening meals as a way to repay their generosity.

DSiL is a meticulous planner and would write down a list of meals for the week and the food delivery matched it.
I’d always planned my meals around what was already in stock and would shop accordingly, replacing what had run out. I still can’t get my head around planning in advance but then I only have myself to please and as I love cooking I like being inventive.

It was a learning curve! 😂

" quite "

Another here that doesn't plan meals, seeing as though I'm Billy no mates there is only myself to please.

For instance I bought ingredients on Tuesday to make a dish that night (mushrooms which don't keep very well) other bits n bobs, but I am not in a mushroom mood.

So I tend to buy on the day or next day and seeing as though I work in a Supermarket 3 days then it is quiet convenient.

I did try meal planning but it just did not work, I do always buy the basics , milk tea, bread etc.

Very little fresh food lasts for ten days in my experience, especially if on offer. And shopping every ten days with no meal plans in mind must surely lead to waste?

Galaxy

I couldnt do it FP, it's too relaxed. It's my problem not yours!

Oh, I see. Yes, thank goodness we are all different.

Germanshepherdsmum

You must have a lot of time on your hands FP!

To go shopping once every 10 days or so? And to make up easy quick meals? LOL. I spend most of my time gardening, walking in the woods, and cultural activities and friends. Thanks.

When I’m out shopping for my meal plan I will often see a bargain, half price beef sirloin joint in Waitrose recently and last night in Booths I scooped up loads of post Xmas bargains!
They go in the freezer to be incorporated into future meal plans.

I think 2 or 3 days ahead, according to what I’ve got and what needs using up. I hardly ever do a big shop though and don’t have deliveries - I have a couple of supermarkets a fairly easy walk away (and a bigger one a bus ride away) but will get the bus back, not least because it’s uphill.

Bus service here is v good, though, besides being free. Dh uses my car far more than I do!

Fleurpepper. Few weekly plans are immutable, mine constantly change and are adjusted to meet changing weekly plans, but they provide a basic framework.

I do not really enjoy shopping and have many other things to do, weekly plans are an efficient way of eating a wide range of foods with minimum shopping time.

I couldnt do it FP, it's too relaxed. It's my problem not yours!

You must have a lot of time on your hands FP!

I wake up in the morning and contemplate what I fancy eating for dinner. Sometimes there are bits and pieces to finish up and they may be incorporated into what I cook. But otherwise I walk into town and get what I need for the day.
The freezer is well stocked with fish and meat so I’m never stuck for ideas. I usually make an ottolenghi main course which takes an hour or more and is fun to cook and delicious to eat. This sometimes lasts for a couple of days.
Cooking and dining should be a pleasure not a chore.

Galaxy

That way madness lies FP

Not quite sure what you mean here? I do not like routine, and love to seek out great bargains and use a bit of flair and imagination. The idea of planning for a week, never mind weeks- is just not for me. Madness? Ah well, why not.

These meal plans remind me of holidays in Scarborough we took as a family many years ago . I persuaded my childen on each holiday to keep a diary of the events of each day . Going back to the same hotel a second time the children found that the owners kept to the same meals on the same days as the year before so they could tell what was for the evening meal each days. These were the days before a choice of meals but I sure enjoyed the fact that I did not have to cook .

That way madness lies FP

Looking for great offers and cooking accordingly, I find fun.

Well this is going to be embarrassingly neurotic but I have a 17 week meal plan and I shop online each week based on what week it is.

I don’t plan in the conventional meal planning sense, because I’d hate knowing what I was going to be eating a week ahead. I buy fresh fruit and vegetables, and meat to batch cook whatever I’m doing that week, fresh meat for the weekend, and fish etc. for the freezer, I also freeze my own chillies, garlic, and vegetables so there’s a good choice. I have a good store cupboard and we eat a lot of meals from Jamie’s Five Ingredients and the similar Ainsley book. We don’t waste food by doing it this way, my freezer is my friend.

I have revolving repertoire of meals so I stock the freezer and the store cupboard accordingly. I shop for meat and chicken at the farm shop and have a weekly Ocado shop and top up if I need to from the market if there is one (they don't come in very bad weather)or occasionally Sainsbury. I plan a day or two but change it if we are going to be in or out.

I have a block of eight weeks' worth of meals, with accompanying shopping lists, with everything that is needed to make the meals, right down to salt and pepper. We don't have to have the same meal twice in an eight week cycle if we don't want to.

I look at the week's list, then go through the shopping list, crossing off everything that we've already got, so we're not stockpiling (I got away from the habit of following the meal plans for a while, hence me having four unopened bottles of sesame oil!) I put the menu list on the fridge door, so we know what meals are being proposed for the coming week.

There is usually at least one portion left over from each meal to go in the freezer and so we end up being able to eat for free, from the freezer for a week or two.

I add things to my Tesco basket on the app on my phone, so if i'm in Tesco (or anywhere else for that matter) I can pick things up, and delete them from the basket, before I press for the click and collect.

It's not cast in stone, and there is the occasional takeaway, but on the whole, it works well for us, and keeps cost and wastage down.

Grannybags

I plan meals for the week and make a shopping list for what ingredients I need for the recipes.

I have to also make note of what we’re eating on which days otherwise I forget which recipes I’ve chosen!

Snap!

I try to plan from a different cookery book each week so we don't get into the 'cold meat on Monday, cottage pie on Tuesday' trap.

I shop for items just used/empty, buy what we'll use.

No waste, no plans, no lists. Easy.

During covid I got into the habit of meal planning, I have kept it up.
It saves me money and we don’t waste anything.
Wish I had been as organised when I had 5 mouths to feed!

A hang over from my working days, I do a big shop every month for all those foodstuffs in tins and packets - tomatoes, rice, pasta, herbs and spices etc and then plan my menus each week around what is waiting to be used plus any other goods, plus things like cheese, yoghourt etc. This means short quick shops most weeks. As the week progresses things do get changed and swapped around, but the start of any week's plannig starts with a survey of what is inthe fridge and needs consuming.

I shop in person because it means if I get to the shop and something I want isn't available, I can make menu adjustments on the spot, similalry if something is particularly cheap I can change again. This is particularly important as most of my fruit and veg come from a stall in our local markeet. This always has a good range of exotic fruit and veg for the local ethnic population and, as I spent part of my childhood in South east Asia, If I see any fresh okra or a pomelo, that gets popped in my basket and menus replanned. I buy meat online as I only buy Pasture for Life beef and lamb.

Germanshepherdsmum

I plan the week’s meals after considering what I already have in the fridge and freezer and then book an online delivery for what else I need. It’s much quicker than going to the shops and I’m not sidetracked by something that would perhaps mean I ended up wasting something else. No food waste here.

I do exactly this

Though I buy my dogs food from a local wholesaler, a whole months supply when I get paid (because it is cheaper)