How many of you plan what you are going to eat each day ahead of time?
I know we don't do it too far in advance. A perhaps little known fact about us is that we (beyond the basics*) plan everything we eat around what is on sale. For example: whole chicken was on sale for 79 cents a pound? We roasted a chicken. How much in the way of leftovers we get effects what we eat the rest of the week.
So, for those of you who are better planners, does it work? Do you stick to it?
*Like flour, cocoa, milk, sugar, yeast, chocolate chips, butter, eggs all of which we stock up on as much as we can when they are on sale.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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9 comments:
I try to plan a menu a week in advance. I need the structure for keeping my grocery budget in check. That said, I will vary items based on sales.
I shop with a list, but I don't plan my meals. Sometimes while at work I will think ahead to what I'd like to eat when I get home, but that's about it. I don't think I would stick to the plan, which would inevitably end up with wasted food.
We don't plan out for each day -- instead we make a list of meals that equals the number of days we know for sure we're going to cook and eat at home, usually based around what we know is on sale. Then we pretty much decide what we feel like having from off that list.
That's the theory, anyway. It doesn't always work, with two totally random schedules plus my frequent distaste for anything involving effort. We're trying to get better about it.
I plan a few dishes I'd like to cook during the course of the week, and shop on the weekends accordingly. I try to be flexible, though, and stick meat in the freezer mid-week if it looks like it isn't going to get used, or use something perishable up in a hurry if I don't think I'll get to cook what I was thinking of originally because of time constraints or what have you. And I reserve the right to say to hell with it and order pizza at least one day out of the week.
My pantry is stocked pretty well at all times. I keep it that way with sales, as you do.
I do however, plan the week in advance. Each saturday I sit down and write out a menu and a list of items. I do it because it helps me not overbuy or waste food... and because I really enjoy it.
I wish I was a better planner. I'm a huge fan, though, of seeing what the freshest produce is available at the grocery store and then going from there. It probably also helps that I only cook for 2 so I can fly by the seat of my pants more.
I plan the week in advance. I love going through my cookbooks and Cooking Light Magazines on the weekend to plan out dishes for the week.
I've also found that Costco shopping trips really help. Since we've been going to Costco to stock up on staples, we don't have to buy as much at the grocery store anymore (or spend as much time there).
I plan the week ahead, based more on "what looks good" than what is on sale - sometimes it's the same thing! We don't decide what will be eaten on a particular day unless unless the groceries are extra perishable. Usually anything fancy is only attempted during the weekends.
I actually plan my meals for two weeks and then go grocery shopping. I usually make a schedule, and then as the sale adds come out, I might adjust accordingly. Most of the time I stick to each day's meals, using my crockpot on really busy days, and using my extra time on the weekends to do more work intensive recipes. If we do have something unexpected come up, I usually just skip that meal, continue on, and add that day on at the end of my menu weeks. That makes an extra day before I have to go shopping again. My mother taught me her system, and generally it works really well, with of course being flexible.
I do also coupon clip like crazy and that helps once you get a good collection going.
I've tried other ways, but this seems to work best for us, especially because we tend to have a busy schedule during the week. Structure keeps my sanity, even if its only in the food department :)
Rachel
rlynn.wordpress.com
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