Weekly shopping do you make menus for the week?

I do Children2,but only when on holiday.
Me and dh have said we are going to start doing it on a regular basis at home,not got around to it yet though.

Menus?they're for restaurant visits.?

I can’t imagine trying to think what I fancy eating in several days time. My partner always asks first thing in the morning about what we are having for dinner. My reply is usually “I haven’t a clue” I then spend a delightful hour perusing cookery books, checking to see what we have and what we need. I then while away more time pottering around town buying fresh fruit, herbs, meat (maybe) and vegetables. My little town has a fab deli, Coop and 2 Asian specialty food shops as well as a market.
I’m a great ottolenghi fan and love spending hours concocting feasts. We do have a regular delivery of basics but I really can’t imagine a weekly or monthly plan.
However my partner who loves her fine dining and wines and isn’t always here in the UK and is planning to go back to the Canary Islands soon. So my menu planning for just myself may become a bit more organised.

I do and then the world laughs!!

I’m afraid not. We just buy the things we fancy and then make up what we’re going to have on the day.

No never, we buy what we need and then make on different days, apart from when we call for takeaway

Always.
It means we eat a varied diet and is so economical.
We decide on a Wednesday and shop on Thursday.
I try to do 2 new recipes each week.
I love the Waitrose recipe cards.
If the butcher/fishmonger has special offers I buy and freeze.
This weeks new recipes are a chicken and peach panzanella and a different recipe for Thai fish cakes.

No just decide on the day, if I did it all in advance I might not fancy what’s planned.

I do now, I didn't used to. It helps me shop and avoids waste.

Well, I try.
I made soup yesterday, DD loves it, DH says it’s too ‘carrotty’ and now wants a salad and the lamb chops that I defrosted yesterday, that he wanted for tonight?
He now wants an omelette instead, I said that he could have the chops tomorrow and he said ‘maybe’.......... grrrr.

Yes because we have a weekly delivery. Wouldn’t know what to order if I didn’t know what we plan to eat. So every meal for a week is planned.

It is flexible though. Today a fish tray bake was planned, but instead I’m doing an aubergine and Parmesan bake with fried Brill, because I had an aubergine that needed eating up.

I definitely make a weekly plan/menu. It means I don't waste food and can keep my shopping trip to once a week only. The menu will have fish on it, chicken usually and often a veggie dish. I try to vary it though.

Missfoodlove I could have written your post. I love food, love exploring new ingredients and new recipes. Today we are having a Nigel Slater recipe for chicken and leeks from The Observer a week or so ago, and we had an Indian style potato recipe on Sunday.

I decide on the plan on Tuesday, go to the market on Wednesday, then adjust the menu based on what I could or could not get there, then Waitrose on Thursday.

Like most people I have a freezer so the menu can be adjusted if need be.

I have done meal plans since I left home to live in a bedsit in London in 1965. Saturday morning I would trundle down to the market (in, I think, Prince of Wales Road on the borders of Chalk Farm and Kentish Town), buy all the fresh food I wanted, and then the supermarket on my way home on Monday evening.

You just plan, buy and forget until it is time to cook. Time saving.

I have made a special meal once a month with candles and sparkling wine. I do enjoy planning the meal but on an everyday basis no don't have menu. I have cupboard full of tinned and dry foods freezer full (if a war broke out we would be fine). I have been like this since I left home my upbringing I think. I make soup and chopped herring or chopped liver for lunches. If I buy chicken I make a casserole for DH for a couple of nights and use the leftovers for a rice or pasta dish.
I am struggling with meals lately I don't have much appetite but I eat a lot of fruit.

Always have. Years ago I used to have an Ocado delivery every Friday when I worked full time. I worked out a shop for 7 meals in full. For example if we were having lamb chops I’d ensure mint sauce, cauliflower and potatoes were on that list. No ? moments when I came in from work to prepare dinner (whilst enjoying a glass of wine!).

Now we are retired we do similar but it’s easier to shop because of where we now live.

Planning definitely cuts out waste. I can say hand on heart that I never ever throw food out from the fridge.

DH and I share the cooking/catering, week and week about. Throughout lockdown I have printed out a form showing each day of the week and we fill in what we want to cook. This makes shopping easier, so we don't need to go so often. What is Food Waste? It certainly doesn't happen in this house.

I usually plan the menu around 2pm on the day. We do have a lot of stocks of food, though, since this Covid business. One small positive I suppose. Sometimes I will get out a piece of meat or fish the day before to allow it to defrost but I decide what to do with it on the day. I have a huge range of spices etc so that helps. Lately I am in a Thai phase but sometimes Indian, sometimes plain old Aussie. Yesterday was Spanish (seafood paella) Oh the joys ....

More or less I know what we are having from my enormous(not) repertoire. I usually switch the days about a bit for variety - e.g. roast dinner midweek, shepherds pie Sunday.

Monica So funny, I have just returned from the market where I get my super fresh fruit and veg!
Tomorrow is Waitrose, butcher and fishmonger.
I love to plan prepare and eat food.

We eat so well for very little money, Sunday’s chicken also did a stir fry and the stock went into a cauliflower cheese soup.

I would love to see a proper domestic science curriculum in schools where, planning, budgeting and nutrition were taught.

When I worked in a school they made pizzas with shop bought bases and Baileys cheesecake. Yuk.

Both DH and I are on Slimming World so yes, we do plan our meals in advance. It really helps us - not just to loose weight and eat healthy meals but also means we can budget and very rarely waste food.

I have some idea what we will be having, but change it if I have something that needs using up. Always have basis for a meal in freezer and fridge so go from that.

I did plan a week at a time when the children were at home and I was working. Nowadays it’s a case of what do we fancy today? is it in the fridge / freezer? or do we need to pop down the road?

I usually love cooking and baking, but since the first lockdown I have become increasingly underwhelmed with anything kitchen related!! Have already told DH that once restaurants are allowed to open that we are going to be visiting all our local ones PDQ.

Being on my own I plan day to day after I've scanned the cupboard and freezer. It saves time standing gormless for an hour each day wondering what to eat
I knew yesterday what I'm having today and so on. I'll be organising tomorrows meal later. It'll probably be a few rounds of Welsh Rarebit.

Missfoodlove. You must be my doppelganger!

More seriously, I think cooking and enjoying food starts in the home. No matter how good the lessons in school, if home is all ready meals little will happen.

My mother (and father) both liked good food well-cooked, and both cooked, so I set off in life with high standards that ready meals and takeaways didn't meet. Because I have always cooked from scratch, both DS and DD do. Now DS has had to give up his key role in the family as Head Cook and Bottle washer to his 13year old D, who cooked Christmas lunch last year with a little help and has used her time off school to extend her repertoire.