How do you plan your meals and food shop?

Our meals for the week are fitst planed on what needs to be used up the the fridge/veg plot, on Mondays. Then l will get my husband to check what Sale Meats we have in the large standing draw freezer we have in the garden sunroom. we only have a tiny kitchen but the freezer is perfect out there to keep my 'on offer' produce.
l have a large index recipe Box that l can quickly pull out for easy, fast thrifty recipes that l like that are also freezer friendly. He does nearly all the cooking but l like to direct what our meals will be.
l usually sort my online shop out on a Monday for del on Fridays, after lv done the above. We have very little food waste and out food shop as quite low compared to other couples. l keep a well stocked storecupborad/pantry.
l try to make a special cake or teabread on Sundays for a old fashioned high tea , served on the coffee table in the living room.l have to have the sofa made into a sort of sofa bed, for myself as disabled, but its the highlight of our week as im mostly bedbound, and l wont let anyone interfer with it. We switch off the phones, we dont answer the door etc lol and we put on our afternoon favorite DVD's. from our collection.
My children and grancdhildren all accept Sundays is 'gran and grandads' day lol.
We do have them Visit for teas/meals, summer bbq's etc but it has to be Satudays, which they says is fine.
Im a stickler for setting bounderies and l wont let anyone try to manipulate us ( be it friends or family) whats in my husbands or myselfs best interests.

Your routine of shopping first and planning meals later works well for you. While your grandson's gift of a meal planner is thoughtful you find joy in your own method. This week, you filled in the planner for appearances, but the list remains empty because you've already done your shopping. Everyone has their own unique approach to meal planning, and the key is finding what works best for you.

I don't plan anything, or write shopping lists.
Each day I just cook whatever I fancy based on whatever is in the fridge, freezer and cupboards.
Shopping is basically the same, I wander around the supermarket and pick up whatever I fancy along with bits I know I've run out of.

Crikey ….what an impressive lot of OCD’s. I Live alone …so …never plan anything . Live on the hop …open fridge door and see what’s there…retreat to freezer if fridge empty. Eat whatever is there….hate food….hate eating ….hate shopping for it ….and after setting a good example of buying/cooking and eating fresh veg for 51 years of kids and grandkids…..Now I don’t go near it!😂…..some days I eat and others I don’t. I’m fit as a fiddle …9st wet …walk everywhere…swim three times a week!
We all eat too much and spend too much time thinking about it.

I had covid last October and my husband managed to keep us alive for a couple of weeks by foraging in the freezer, supplemented by an occasional ready meal! I was off-colour for about six weeks and even then didn't manage to run the freezer right down to nothing.

tanith

I jot down things I’m running out of and take that list with me. I usually have fish, chicken, mince, sausages, pizzas, braising steak etc in the freezer so I go to the supermarket to buy a mixture of veg, salad, fruit, milk and bread there’s not a lot of planning involved I mainly decide on the day and what I fancy.

Yes, this is exactly what I do - unless I need something particular for a family meal at the weekend. Like tanith I usually have enough stored food to make what we fancy in the evening. On Thursday night we have a "fridge" meal to clear out left over and odds and ends before our Friday shop arrives.
When I was working I did have to make more effort to plan meals as I had four children and a couple of lodgers. I didn't often have the time to shop when I found I'd run out of something so tended to have a well stocked fridge and larder all the time.
Now I have an online shop every Friday with all the boring essentials on it, and add anything that I fancy if it is on offer.

We only plan for a few days ahead. We go out most days anyway so on our way home check out the deals in any supermarket nearby and get fresh/chilled stuff if we need it. There are usually pasta sauces, chilli, soups, etc in the freezer, and eggs, so if we haven't planned anything we won't starve for a week or so.

I don't plan either.. just have a range of foods in my kitchen and choose whatever taste I fancy on the day..

Romola

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.

Sounds like me. I live in town centre, and the weekly market is 100m away. I plan (just for me) when I walk into the kitchen. Or else I walk down to Co-op or M&S
When DAC visit to eat, I plan about a week in advance.

BluebellGran

I’d love to see some of these meal plans!

So would I. I use Gousto each week so I choose from their menu 4 meals a week which makes my life alot easier. Sometimes there is enough left over for the next day. I cook for two.

Oh the joy of having a husband who is compulsive shopper you never know what arrives
Remember the old TV program “Ready Steady Cook

The joy of living alone is that you don’t often “plan” your daily meals. I love creating my eating (alone) experiences based on what I feel like having and what’s available in my cupboards and fridge/freezer. “Lunch for breakfast/breakfast for lunch” approach.

If I’m entertaining friends or for a family holiday, then I plan weeks in advance… curating, culling that list day-to-day.

I LOVE to food shop and have various sources for certain things, looking for items on weekly sales or seasonal.

I approach eating as a joy (not as a requirement) and am relaxed in my cooking/baking. Nothing too rigid and planned here. I go with the fresh food flow. I also have noticed I am more economical in my food shopping than most of my friends.

If you come here to eat, bring a bottle of wine!
USA Gundy

🤣🤣🤣

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.

The food wouldn't dare Germanshepherdsmum[fearful]

I’d love to see some of these meal plans!

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.

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!

I don’t plan at all.

Have what we fancy on the day.

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 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 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.

merlotgran

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

Poached, fried or coddled? 😂😂😂

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. 🙂

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 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.