Meal Planning

wandajune6

We meal plan every week. If we're not careful, we end up buying dinner too many nights. We're trying to keep spending under control so this is a big thing for us.

My favorite pork chop recipe is this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/crunchy-pork-chops-with-garlicky-spinach-and-tomato-salad-recipe.html. While it doesn't fit your guidelines, I'm betting there are substitutes for the panko that would be just as good.

By the end of the week, I make fritattas. Basically, I chop leftover meats and veggies, sautee them until I can get rid of a lot of the liquid, cover it with eggs (I usually throw away a bunch of yolks), and bake it off in the oven with a bit of cheese on top. Everyone loves it and it reduces our waste. Last week we had one with pulled pork, a bit of steak, zucchini, red pepper, and shredded cabbage. It was pretty amazing.

larrygaga

FI is on another business trip which means I eat frozen food and sandwiches and salads. I can't be bothered to actually make a real meal when he is not home. I usually lose some weight if he is gone for awhile, lol. 

But when he is home, I usually make a list of all the dinners I would like to eat for a few days and make a list of all ingredients I would need. Plus all the staples I keep around. 

theartistformerlyknownas

wandajune6 said:

We meal plan every week. If we're not careful, we end up buying dinner too many nights. We're trying to keep spending under control so this is a big thing for us.

My favorite pork chop recipe is this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/crunchy-pork-chops-with-garlicky-spinach-and-tomato-salad-recipe.html. While it doesn't fit your guidelines, I'm betting there are substitutes for the panko that would be just as good.

By the end of the week, I make fritattas. Basically, I chop leftover meats and veggies, sautee them until I can get rid of a lot of the liquid, cover it with eggs (I usually throw away a bunch of yolks), and bake it off in the oven with a bit of cheese on top. Everyone loves it and it reduces our waste. Last week we had one with pulled pork, a bit of steak, zucchini, red pepper, and shredded cabbage. It was pretty amazing.

I could actually use some more recipes using breadcrumbs, because I made a loaf of honey whole wheat bread last week that's getting a bit stale (it's a HUGE loaf). I could grind/toast some of that up for breadcrumbs for this really easily. I think I'll also cube some to put in breakfast egg muffins once my giant batch of steel cut oatmeal runs out.

theartistformerlyknownas

larrygaga said:

FI is on another business trip which means I eat frozen food and sandwiches and salads. I can't be bothered to actually make a real meal when he is home. I usually lose some weight if he is gone for awhile, lol. 

But when he is home, I usually make a list of all the dinners I would like to eat for a few days and make a list of all ingredients I would need. Plus all the staples I keep around. 

Come over for dinner!  

Oops except not tonight. I forgot to start the roast chicken. Shit. >.<

amelisha

I'm no help because we are super high-maintenance with food. I do two and sometimes three dinners every night - one for me, and either a big portion of something else or two separate dinners for FI as he eats a lot, usually once at around 6 and once at around 9. I also don't eat anything he eats, pretty much, because he needs high-calorie, high-in-protein-and-fat stuff and I try to go high-volume, high-micronutrient-density, low-calorie as much as possible. I'm also not adverse to eating the same thing all week sometimes for my own meals.

I don't eat starches or sugar, really, either, but most of my meals are so boring I'd hate to suggest them. I eat a lot of broiled fish, salads with veggie ground round (lentil based and not too processed,  but I feel kinda guilty about it anyway), and roasted vegetables, with the occasional 3oz sirloin if I think I need the red meat.

We did just get an Actifry for Christmas, though, and it is AMAZING. I have been throwing every vegetable imaginable in there for FI and he loves it.

I don't really meal plan either, at least not in advance. I just look at what we have that should be used up next and go from there, and it works for us as I very, very rarely have to throw out food.

lyndausvi

 DH's job is basically meal planning and he refuses to do it at home.      Neither one of us are big fans of leftovers (depends on the item), which doesn't help.

I did decide over the weekend to semi-meal plan for this week.  DH was actually on board, but I threw in stuff he likes and hasn't had in a while.   

Tonight - ravioli and tomato sauce. 

Tomorrow - Meatball sandwiches.  I'm out of meatballs and red sauce in the freezer.  So I'm making some up tomorrow, having it for dinner.   Then vacuum seat the remaining in individual packets to meals when DH is gone.    (it works really well.  I just take out the packet throw it in boiling water for 15-20 minutes.   Just boil up some pasta or throw the meatballs on a roll and boom I have a meal with little work)

Wednesday - not sure.  I'm going to try for something simple like salad and pizza.   Depends on DH's mood

Thursday - Sunday - I'm on my own as DH works.  I do not have a specific schedule, but dinners may included salad, soup, chicken pot pie, tuna fish sandwich, potato and veggies,  maybe even a grilled cheese.  I try and just empty out the pantry and/or freezer.     We only have one car and DH takes it those nights so it's easy not to grab take-out or something.

I made chicken pot pie this weekend. The leftovers will be some of my lunches along with salad this week.

sarawifenow

I love putting pork chops in the crockpot with frozen veggies and then adding soy sauce, hoisen, rice wine vinegar, and scallions. SO GOOD!

 

This week is all planned out for H and I mealwise:

Today--bacon wrapped chicken breast with rice and veggies

Tuesday--Spaghetti

Wednesday--Roasted sausage and spanish rice

Thursday--Guys night at our place, so I will be making them chili and cornbread and I will then take my portion to my room for a relaxing night...there will be wine.

Friday--Date night! We are going to go to our favorite Thai place.

theartistformerlyknownas

sarawifenow said:

I love putting pork chops in the crockpot with frozen veggies and then adding soy sauce, hoisen, rice wine vinegar, and scallions. SO GOOD!

 

This week is all planned out for H and I mealwise:

Today--bacon wrapped chicken breast with rice and veggies

Tuesday--Spaghetti

Wednesday--Roasted sausage and spanish rice

Thursday--Guys night at our place, so I will be making them chili and cornbread and I will then take my portion to my room for a relaxing night...there will be wine.

Friday--Date night! We are going to go to our favorite Thai place.

I spy a drunken Knottie girls' night! I think Thursday is H's guys' poker night too!

pinkcow13

I'm on the Paleo diet now, so I have been meal planning since the new year. I also want to make it a point to eat out less, as well as order take out less. We used to do so at least twice a week, and I want to drastically reduce that. Tonight I am making lean pork loin cutlets with roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Tomorrow I will probably make turkey meatballs with a side of avocado and brocolli/carrot slaw. I'll probably go to Trader Joe's tomorrow for more stuff for the rest of the week.

[Deleted User]

This is something I'm working on for 2015 too.

I did my meal planning Saturday and went shopping Sunday; I think I got more food than I need, but almost everything can be frozen if there's leftovers and eaten again as a "new" meal in a few weeks.

kat1114

pinkcow13 said:

I'm on the Paleo diet now, so I have been meal planning since the new year. I also want to make it a point to eat out less, as well as order take out less. We used to do so at least twice a week, and I want to drastically reduce that. Tonight I am making lean pork loin cutlets with roasted broccoli and cauliflower. Tomorrow I will probably make turkey meatballs with a side of avocado and brocolli/carrot slaw. I'll probably go to Trader Joe's tomorrow for more stuff for the rest of the week.

I usually eat Paleo, but between the holidays and traveling, I haven't been. My goal is to get back on the wagon today. Anyways, my friend got me the NomNomPaleo cookbook for my bridal shower and I highly recommend it! She has tons of recipes on her blog too, but the cookbook definitely had a lot of new and different ones.

mrsk616

holyguacamole79 said:

We are on the Advocare 24 day challenge right now, so I feel ya. We are doing chicken kabobs later (H is determined to get on the grill despite the weather). We haven't meal planned too much because I'm headed to NYC on Tuesday, so H is fending for himself for a few days.

that cleanse killed me. i was always hungry even though i ate everything i could. im going to try something else in a few weeks. 

as for meal planning i might do theme days and switch it up week from week

ohannabelle

lolo883 said:

climbingwife said:

You could also use the turkey to make turkey meatloaf. I do that often. It's so easy and it comes out great.

H will also not eat meat in loaf form. I'm determined to break him of that though, I make the best turkey meatloaf with apples and curry AND we got a fancy meatloaf pan at the shower!

I don't eat loaf shaped meat, either. I get that.

I plan differently. I plan more by budget and availability.

Every day, the grocery store up the street marks down the meat that will hit it's "sell by" date in the following two days. That is almost exclusively when I buy meat. Because 30-50% off, which is pretty substantial, long term. Huge savings, actually. It frees up my budget to upgrade to better quality stuff on other things. 

So my plan is determined by what looks good at a great price. It's kind of fun, like Iron Chef. Your ingredients for tonight are.....except not really bizarre things like octopus eyes and pickled moose liver. It's kind of fun. Forces me to break routine.  

theartistformerlyknownas

ohannabelle said:

lolo883 said:

climbingwife said:

You could also use the turkey to make turkey meatloaf. I do that often. It's so easy and it comes out great.

H will also not eat meat in loaf form. I'm determined to break him of that though, I make the best turkey meatloaf with apples and curry AND we got a fancy meatloaf pan at the shower!

I don't eat loaf shaped meat, either. I get that.

I plan differently. I plan more by budget and availability.

Every day, the grocery store up the street marks down the meat that will hit it's "sell by" date in the following two days. That is almost exclusively when I buy meat. Because 30-50% off, which is pretty substantial, long term. Huge savings, actually. It frees up my budget to upgrade to better quality stuff on other things. 

So my plan is determined by what looks good at a great price. It's kind of fun, like Iron Chef. Your ingredients for tonight are.....except not really bizarre things like octopus eyes and pickled moose liver. It's kind of fun. Forces me to break routine.  

That's how I used to meal plan - whatever's on sale is what I'm eating. But H is such a stickler for his routine that it's a little harder to work within that. And to get him on board with sticking to the plan once I make it... otherwise he'll run to Costco on lunch and come back with a big box of cut up butternut squash and I have to figure out where to fit it in. Or I'll make a suggestion and get "eeehhhh why don't we get broccoli again." Come onnnnnn. Eat the eggplant! EAT IT!

lurkergirl

ohannabelle said:

lolo883 said:

climbingwife said:

You could also use the turkey to make turkey meatloaf. I do that often. It's so easy and it comes out great.

H will also not eat meat in loaf form. I'm determined to break him of that though, I make the best turkey meatloaf with apples and curry AND we got a fancy meatloaf pan at the shower!

I don't eat loaf shaped meat, either. I get that.

I plan differently. I plan more by budget and availability.

Every day, the grocery store up the street marks down the meat that will hit it's "sell by" date in the following two days. That is almost exclusively when I buy meat. Because 30-50% off, which is pretty substantial, long term. Huge savings, actually. It frees up my budget to upgrade to better quality stuff on other things. 

So my plan is determined by what looks good at a great price. It's kind of fun, like Iron Chef. Your ingredients for tonight are.....except not really bizarre things like octopus eyes and pickled moose liver. It's kind of fun. Forces me to break routine.  

Yes to the sales!  My meal planning is typically around the Publix weekly add.  They are also really good about putting things on sale that go together like ground beef, pasta, and jarred sauce.  Having things like that on hand is really nice for nights when I get home later and don't want to wait another hour to eat.

flyingfoxes

I'm gonna have to do some of this meal-planning here in a couple of weeks when FI goes out of town and I'm gonna need to keep his kids alive while he's gone.  He does 99% of the cooking at our house. 

wandajune6

We meal plan but it's all around sales and couponing as well. We're eating a lot of pork this week because there was a killer sale at our local shop- we'll be eating "carnitas" tonight and pulled pork sandwiches another night this week- and I'll likely end up with some in my lunch. When salmon's on sale, we'll have it for dinner one night, on a salad in my lunch, then perhaps a night of salmon patties.

We do the same thing with veggies.

RosieC18

I meal plan on weekends for more efficient shopping and to cut down on meat (most of my go-tos are meat and I'm still learning a repertoire of vegetarian meals). I aim for 2 full vegetarian days a week, and I don't eat beef at home.

This week is:
Sunday: Turkey tacos w. black beans & corn
Monday: mustard & panko baked pork chop w. broccoli & applesauce
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: poached eggs over spinach, baked potato
Thursday: sauteed chicken breast w. white wine sauce & spinach over couscous
Friday: leftovers, or takeout
Saturday: protein-enriched pasta with sauteed mushrooms, evoo, peas, lots of garlic and a little parmesan

lc07

I'm like you, Lolo where I don't stick to a recipe fully but this one is actually really amazing as is. It's my favorite pulled pork recipe: 

Ingredients:

3 lbs. pork shoulder blade roast, lean, visible fat removed
4 or 5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. crushed black pepper
3 oranges, juice of (1/2 cup)
2 limes, juice of

Directions:

Using a sharp knife, cut slits into the pork and stuff holes with half of the crushed garlic. 
Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the pork in the ceramic part of the crock pot, cover and refrigerate, turning occasionally so the marinade covers all of the pork.
The next day, remove the crock pot and cook on low, 8 hours.
After 8 hrs., remove pork and shred using 2 forks, removing fat.  Remove liquid and chill, removing fat that rises to top and solidifies.  
Finally, add pork and about 1 cup of the liquid back and adjust salt, pepper, cumin.  Reheat.

JennyColada

Oh, what about eggplant parmesan/eggplant "lasagna (use sliced zucchini or eggplant in place of noodles). It's tasty, gives you decent veggies (tomato sauce AND sliced veggies!) and it's a good way to use up leftover meats and veg. Plus it's hearty and filling (and you can make enough to have yummy leftovers/freeze it).

baked/grilled eggplant in Italian dishes is one of the few vegetarian meals that I am very pleased with (well, aside from salads).

theartistformerlyknownas

JennyColada said:

Oh, what about eggplant parmesan/eggplant "lasagna (use sliced zucchini or eggplant in place of noodles). It's tasty, gives you decent veggies (tomato sauce AND sliced veggies!) and it's a good way to use up leftover meats and veg. Plus it's hearty and filling (and you can make enough to have yummy leftovers/freeze it).

baked/grilled eggplant in Italian dishes is one of the few vegetarian meals that I am very pleased with (well, aside from salads).

I luurrrrve eggplant! Haven't talked the H into eating it just yet (he says it "just doesn't do anything" for him) but I need to push it. It's so good!

I love grilling it, and then topping with a slice of tomato, drizzle of olive oil, and chunk of goat cheese.

JennyColada

lolo883 said:

JennyColada said:

Oh, what about eggplant parmesan/eggplant "lasagna (use sliced zucchini or eggplant in place of noodles). It's tasty, gives you decent veggies (tomato sauce AND sliced veggies!) and it's a good way to use up leftover meats and veg. Plus it's hearty and filling (and you can make enough to have yummy leftovers/freeze it).

baked/grilled eggplant in Italian dishes is one of the few vegetarian meals that I am very pleased with (well, aside from salads).

I luurrrrve eggplant! Haven't talked the H into eating it just yet (he says it "just doesn't do anything" for him) but I need to push it. It's so good!

I love grilling it, and then topping with a slice of tomato, drizzle of olive oil, and chunk of goat cheese.

You could do it with zucchini too. Actually, you can use zucks and eggplant in place of most meat in many recipes (shredded zuck can be used in place of ground beef most of the time).

RebeccaB88

lolo883 said:

 @RebeccaB88‌ we do eat beef on occasion, but nothing from packets. I make my own taco seasoning from scratch... ground turkey tacos in lettuce wraps sound really good now. We already have turkey in the freezer.

Oh, that's easy, just use whatever spice mixes you usually use for tacos, in whatever amount makes it taste good to you. 

penguin44

I have another pork recipe for you. Actually I have been wanting to try different pork recipes, but H will only let me make pork verde with any pork in the house. It's his favorite dinner. 

This is pretty close to the recipe I use: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/salsa_verde_carnitas/

You could use tomatillos if you don't want to use jarred sauce, but I'm lazy. 

sophhabobopha

I love food threads. You ladies are awesome for recipies. 

I've recently been trying to plan our meals, but I usually work every night except for two or three, so it's kind of a bust right now. 

But I am cooking one of the meals I make really well: turkey meatballs! I eat beef, but ground beef is really gross to me, especially while cooking. 

Cookie Pusher

I used to be more fastidious about weekly meal-planning, but our schedules end up being so hectic and constantly changing lately (the perils of being involved in so many organizations and running our own business). I buy meat in family pack sizes since they're usually cheaper, then freeze them in smaller portions with various marinades so I can just pull things out of the freezer in the morning before work. I buy vegetables every 2-3 days to accompany whatever proteins I've defrosted.