Totally newbie to meal planning

[Radiance]

I have post this question in countless places and asked all my friends. But people don't grasp how challenged I am on this topic and talk to me like I already know what to do and all I need is to organize myself.

So here I go one more time, maybe you can help me break the code.
Please consider I was never allowed in the kitchen or any where near, when I was involved in shores I was not explained what was I doing or why.

So, all these tasks are very challenging to me:

Grocery Shopping
Store the groceries
Prepare food
Store the prepared food
Ensure I eat the food I prepared

I begin fine, with my grocery list based on a weekly menu, but then getting things spoiled in the fridge all the time, both raw and cooked. End up eating out or not eating at all but maybe some bread. I am a disaster.

This is affecting my budget, my health and my sanity. This is the number one problem I need to fix in my life right now, I have tried for almost 2 years. My last resort would be to spend $350+ in a personal coach, which, clearly I want to avoid.

Any insights?

[jeffrey]

A good resource for some of these is grocery coupon guide - for example, they have a guide to food shelf life so you can determine how long the food you buy will last to help solve the spoil problem. It probably won't answer all your questions, but should be a good place to start to solve some of those issues.

[ActYourWage]

Try emealz.com My wife and I signed up for this last night. It is $15 every 3 months. They give you a detail grocery list and how to cook the food. It is really cool.

[zakity]

I have a four day rule about things in the fridge. If it has been in my fridge for four days, it get eaten or frozen.

As for preparing, that is trial and error until you learn to cook, well, that is how it was for me. Watch cooking shows on tv really helped me also. After 10 years, I still tend to bake meats because that is the one way I know I can cook it and it comes out well.

As for actually eating what you have on hand, that takes self-discipline and I can't help you with that. But, I do know that knowing that I was coming home to a cooked crockpot meal has kept us from going out a ton of times. No sense in going out when you already have a meal cooked at home.

[Cassandra]

One thing that was a trouble for me was figuring out what days to eat what. If I don't write down a dinner for each day of the week, chances are I won't eat all of what I bought for the week.

So every Sunday (I do grocery shopping on Mondays) I it down and look at my schedule for the next week: homework load (I'm in college), my work schedule, and anything I planned with friends or family. And then I plan what I'm eating each night. More complicated dinners (or recipes I haven't tried) I plan for days when I have very little going on. Recipes I could do in my sleep I plan for the days when I know I'm busy.

And then I make sure I eat what I planned. Often I'll change the side dishes at the last minute, but unless I have a very good reason, I won't change the dinner plan.

As for grocery shopping, I go to one store. I could probably lower my grocery bill if I went to a few stores and bought what was on sale at each one, but that takes too much time and effort (for me at least). So I stick to one store. It also helps when I'm making my grocery list. I write down all the ingredients I need for the recipes, compare that list with the contents of the pantry and fridge, and take off everything I already have.

Then I organize what's left by section in the grocery store. I know the layout of my grocery store really well and where everything is. Fresh fruit/veggies is at the front of the store, so fruit/veggies are on the top of my list, whereas milk and eggs are at the very back, so those items are last on my list. I like to organize my list by item location in the store because I don't have to keep back tracking and looking at my list every aisle to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[Radiance]

Wow, Thank you everybody, good stuff.
This is not the first time I hear crockpot, I'll look it up!
I like the planning what to eat when idea.

Any of you do bulk cooking? I think it would be so cool to cook only once a week. but that contradicts the crockpot idea...

And how about raw food? No cooking, that sounds like a plan too!

I think I am starting by researching into crockpot...will keep you posted.

[Radiance]

I am so frustrated!
I am back to food spoiling on the fridge, no discipline to prepare lunch boxes and spending money eating out!
What is frigging wrong with me?

I think my problem is really the need for better habits. That is a tough one, I guess.

Any advise? I am 6 days from payday and I will need to start charging to eat till then! This is driving me insane.

What is a typical meal planning week for you?
Do you cook daily? Do you prepare lunch boxes at night or first thing in the morning? please, very please help!

[Fizgig]

I don't know if you live alone or not, but I do and this works for me.

I eat the same basic breakfasts every day, and they're both very easy to grab. I either eat yogurt with a handful of frozen berries thrown on top, or a small bowl of oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter. Find something easy that you can grab and go.

Lunch and dinner is the same thing. I only plan and shop for TWO meals per week, but I make enough for plenty of leftovers. I choose what to make based on the specials posted at my local store on CouponMom - saves a ton of cash.

Sometimes I do the bulk cooking thing and stash food in the freezer - usually stews and curries. Those freeze very well. I keep a stash of frozen vegetables because they're very easy to add to leftovers and a bring-to-work lunch.

[Granite]

What type of meals do you like to eat ? What are your favorite foods? Do you snack ?

How many people are in your household?

I don't go out to eat at all. I cook from scratch. I make my own morning coffee, pack lunch for myself and spouse the night before work and put it in the fridge so it's ready to take to work in the morning.

I love the crockpot because you can literally put a frozen piece of marked down steak or roast in it and cook it on low all day and you have cooked beef when you get home from work. You can make hot beef sandwiches, tacos, pasta with beef or whatever for dinner using that crockpot beef.

[RedThunderBird]

Originally Posted by Granite

What type of meals do you like to eat ? What are your favorite foods? Do you snack ?

How many people are in your household?

I don't go out to eat at all. I cook from scratch. I make my own morning coffee, pack lunch for myself and spouse the night before work and put it in the fridge so it's ready to take to work in the morning.

I love the crockpot because you can literally put a frozen piece of marked down steak or roast in it and cook it on low all day and you have cooked beef when you get home from work. You can make hot beef sandwiches, tacos, pasta with beef or whatever for dinner using that crockpot beef.

wow I wish my fiance were to read this ===== actually I will make sure she does , she won't allow me to cook , but she wont cook either at least not edible any way ==== now I read this , and I want to cry ==== you deserve a medal seriously

[Radiance]

Hello

It is just me and my baby boy.
Only two meals a week sounds tough for me. Maybe I can do three otherwise I get tired and I just won't eat it. I am talking about a 7 day week.

SO, maybe I can cook Mondays and eat that Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Then Cook on Wednesday and eat that on Wednesday Sunday and Monday
Maybe Pizza on Fridays?

I guess I can prepare the night before and leave a sticky on the door to ensure I don't forget.

I do snack, tipically fruits and veggies.
So, it it breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner
My son does the same plus a glass of milk before bedtime, he is 15 months.

His dinner is easy since it is either Egg or whole grain pasta.

Gosh, this should not be this hard.

I like chicken and fish, accompanied with salad, but my son doesnt do salads yet, he does blended cooked veggies.

His morning snack is baby food, since it is cheaper than me preparing it, 90c when they are not on sale 50c when they are on sale and then i buy as much as i can.

His lunch is typically chicken/pumpkin/beets or lentinls/eggplant or broccoli/green beans/chicken, he is supoused to eat beef once a week for the iron though...

His afternoon snack is another baby food, or sweet potatoes, or (when he doesnt have a cold) cottage cheese.

When I am sick he eats only baby food all day $$$, poor thing.
As you can see i have him more figured out than me.

Being Latin lunch is the biggest meal, my dinners could be just cereal...
How do I put all this together? maybe I can pick up some meal planning books at the library?

Let me look again in the crockpot idea, they are not even that expensive., what a drag!

forgot to mention, I am lactose intolerant and recommended by my dr not to eat much soy, no so yogurt

[Granite]

ok, you are latin so you like rice, beans, tacos etc? Those are very inexpensive to cook.

Here are some tips I use:

I buy rice and keep it in the freezer so no bugs get into it.

As far as meat for tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches you can buy beef and pork marked down at the grocery store (look for the clearance section). Freeze it right away. When ready to cook, put the meat in the crock pot (still frozen) with some pepper and spices, a little bit of liquid (water) and beef bouillon if you like that. In the morning, the meat will be cooked. you can cook it all night and the meat will be done in the morning (Note: some crockpots are hotter than others so you might be able to cook it on low all night). Stick the crock pot in the fridge in the morning. when you get off work that night, take the meat out of the crockpot and you can use the meat for beef sandwiches, taco filling, nachos, etc. There will be liquid which you can use to make gravy (buy some cornstarch to make the gravy) Then just make some instant mashed potatoes or nuke a baked potato and you have a good meal. Make your own tv dinners with the extra left overs to freeze for when you are tired and don't want to cook.

Save the little trays from TV dinners or buy some glad ware so you can have some frozen meals. If you make enchiladas or lasagne you can freeze the extra into meal sized portions and freeze. The freezer is your friend as you are too busy to cook chasing after a 15 mo. old.

I'm not sure if you can eat bread but I bought a bread machine at a thrift store for $8 and I make some killer bread. It only takes 10 minutes to assemble the ingredients and the bread cooks on its own while you are doing your doing mom stuff.

I pre boil pasta noodles and store in zip lock gallon bags in the fridge. When you are ready to eat, just add jarred sauce when you are in a hurry or need to pack lunch for work.

I also make my own soup. You can make it on the stove or in a crock pot. This is super cheap meal. Just add chopped chicken or beef, water, boullion, frozen vegs, a can of diced tomatoes, some left over rice and let it simmer. You have soup ! I also add the pre boiled pasta noodles at the end if I am not adding rice to the soup. The noodles get soggy so you don't want to let the soup simmer with the noodles.

Hope this makes some sense and helps you. there are lots of tips online !

[RedThunderBird]

first I like to welcome you this forum , and I hope you stay , secondly I will be learning from the posts ---- I need to

[threecrazykids]

Originally Posted by ActYourWage

Try emealz.com My wife and I signed up for this last night. It is $15 every 3 months. They give you a detail grocery list and how to cook the food. It is really cool.

I signed up for this too...I absolutely LOVE IT! I had a discount code so mine is only $12.00 I believe, but it is totally priceless for me.

As far as stuff going bad I would give the following advice:

Any produce should be used and eaten within the week.

If you feel you're getting down to things needing thrown away plan on making a big salad to eat along with your meals. If you buy only 1 head of lettuce, 1 pepper, 1 tomato, etc that salad won't go bad within the week. I WOULD however store the lettuce and vegetables all in separate containers in the fridge and only make what salad you need for that day.
Freeze any meats you are not using in your meal plan within the next 48 hours.

Once you've made the first day's meals then look at what ingredients you are going to need for just the next day. Take ONLY THAT out of the freezer and put it into the fridge the day before.

Bread can be stored in the fridge and may last a few days longer. Any bread you buy in the bakery will get moldy faster than pre-packaged loaves.

Just make sure you're buying single portions of what you need unless you are able to freeze it.

[threecrazykids]

I also use my crockpot at least twice a week. I set mine on a small timer so it doesn't overcook as I leave the house at 5:30am.

I agree with the previous poster as well...you can throw a frozen piece of meat in the crock in less than 5 mins with some sort of liquid and have a wonderful meal when you get home.

If you search Recipezaar you can find TONS of recipes for slow cookers/crockpots.

also the website crockpot365 has loads of recipes. Almost any recipe can be made in the crockpot with some minor adjusting.

I love my crockpot!

[Jillycd]

Have you considered one of the programs where you go into their store and prepare a months worth of meals/entrees in about an hour? It is great! You prepare each meal (all of the ingredients and recipes are at each work station) place it in a freezer bag with the directions to complete the meal. Then all of the items go into the freezer to be pulled out the night before to defrost. You then finish by cooking each meal. They are ready in about 30 minutes. I have found the selections to be good and the quality to be excellent. It has changed my life! I now eat a better variety and tend to try things I might not have tried before. If I don't like something I'm not stuck with all the extra ingredients/seasonings it took to make it. Also it has the time line for when each meal should be prepared by. (for example prepare within 3 months) Each recipe tag is dated so you know when you made the meal. Where I live I go to Dream Dinners. I know there are several companies around the country with similar concepts. You can look at the menus online. I have found it to be economical and I don't waste food that I never get around to preparing.

[snafu]

Do you like to cook? What do you like to eat? What 6-10 meals do you order at the restaurant? Only make meals you really like.

I suggest: start with a 5 or less ingredient type recipes available on-line Five Ingredient Entree Recipes - Main Dish Recipes with Less than Five Ingredients

Buy a 2.5 - 3 quart size crock-pot/slo cooker and cut meat and veggies to fit the pot. Most grocers will cut your meat choice to size if you can shop in the morning. You can easily adjust any recipe for crockpot/slo cooking. Basically, remember to reduce the liquid to only one cup.

Cooking for yourself is a challenge due to quantities. Whatever you make, just portion out [one serving] into zip bags, label and stack in the freezer. In a short time you will have enough entrees in your fridge freezer to limit your need to cook only three days ea. week.

[Radiance]

Just wanted you to know that I am going through your posts, I will be watching and working to put it all together. I'll report back here and there to let you know what worked.

My neigborh suggested I cook twice a week, she says that way I cook 3 main dishes and then just complement with salads and the like.

I think If I cook chicken and freeze it, that is a start... baby steps.

p.s I am latin but on a healthy/low toxine diet. So no white rice, no white pasta, no fried foods, no heavy sauces and lots of veggies, lentils, nuts etc

I am going slowly, not trying so hard this time... Will keep you posted.
I ate a lasagna from a local pizzery for lunch today Skipped breakfast because I overslept .

But I can start my day over at any time. So I bouth an apple, a peach and almonds to snack on.

[RedThunderBird]

learning a great deal , for i am beyond newbie

[snafu]

OP, FYI, breakfast is likely the most important meal of the day; make a batch of oatmeal in your crock pot, store in a covered container in fridge and portion it ea. morning. Whole grain dry flakes with a sliced fruit if you prefer something cold; stuff celery sticks with peanut butter & raisins. Whole wheat pita stuffed or wrapped around with left over fish or chicken breast are easy to eat on the run.

Lasagna in a restaurant is an expensive, high fat, hi sodium, unhealthy lunch made with white pasta, high fat cheese, ground beef and commercial tomato sauce. It would be far healthier and waay cheaper to have a bagged salad with low fat dressing.