Planning weekly meals...

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-09-2008
Planning weekly meals...
3
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 9:43am

I'll be going back to work after a long period off the job market, that I spent being a SAHM. Before having kids I was a student so had not really bothered planning my meals ahead. Now that I have 2 little ones, a FT demanding job, a bunch of drop-offs and pick-ups, I feel like I need to start planning a weekly menu to save time.

Please share your tips and tricks - where do you get the menus, when do you do the actual planning, when do you do grocery shopping, do you try to incorporate slow-cooking, how do save time on cooking?! Any tips would be great! Thanks!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2008
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:18am

I plan my meals for the week once the weekly sale flyers for the local stores arrive and I try to do my food shopping early on Saturday morning or later in the evening - to avoid the crowds (my local stores run their weekly sales Friday - Thursday).


On Sunday I try to pre-make/assemble as many things as I can, such as making/freezing meals, making a big pot of oatmeal, dividing it up into individual servings, egg cups, chop my veggies for the various meals and bag them.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-04-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:28am

I went back to school full time last fall after being a sahm for 10 years. I've been taking 16 units, which means I spend about 50hrs per week on school, so its the equivalent of a full time job. My dh doesn't usually get home by dinner time, so he can't help out then at all and its all up to me.

I've always meal planned though, its just be come more vital in the last year.

Where do you get the menus: I get the recipes from in my head, from my huge collection of cookbooks, off this board, off the internet. I kind of have a structure for the week: 2 chicken, 2 fish, 1 beef, 1 pork, 1 no cook night. Then I just fill them in with recipes I see or suggestions from the family. I have 1,000s of recipes on my computer, all broken down by category (chicken, beef, fish, etc.) So I just open and scan that folder to see what sounds good to fill that blank. Some weeks I put each of the kids in charge of planning one meal, they love that and are both really into cooking (they are 7 and 10). Ds actually made last night's dinner almost completely by himself. We do this planning Saturday morning as a family, then Saturday afternoon go to the grocery store as a family. We've done this for as long as I can remember, originally it came about because Friday is payday, so Saturday is the perfect day for shopping. I print out all the recipes and stick on the fridge in a magnetic clip with each page labeled for the day of the week. This is helpful incase the kids or dh needs to start dinner - they know what is supposed to be that night and they have the recipe.

I go back and forth on crock pot stuff - sometimes I do a lot, sometimes I kind of forget about it. In the last 2 weeks I have used the crockpot 4 times, before that it had been months since I used it.

We do a lot of cook-ahead and freeze meals. On Sunday afternoons, dh and I crank up the stereo, open some wine and spend a couple hours hanging out together in the kitchen cooking things to freeze for the week. This is a big help so that on some nights all we have to do is just pop it in the oven, plus it is great couple time for us.

And then of course we end up going out about 2x a week. But we've always done this, its something we like to do from a social stand point.

Then I keep "back-up" stuff for the kids - soups, SB pizzas, we always have sandwich fixings, etc. just in case I can't cook.

















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Edited 9/18/2008 11:00 am ET by firebird_mom


belizesig1
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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-09-2008
Fri, 09-19-2008 - 9:47am
Thanks so much to all who answered! I'll keep your tips in mind once I start planning menus and devise my own system.