Meal planning ideas

I just try to cook an extra big meal that will yield 1 or 2 extra serves. This means I have something for lunch the next day, but I don’t get bored of having the same thing 5 days in a row.

I do one shop/prep for the week, and as i do I prep some for busier weeks into the freezer: lasagna, burritos, stir fry currently occupy space. If I make a roast for just the two of us, 2 portions go into the frezer and we will have also 2 more for leftovers later in the week.

Well stocked pantry helps: minced garlic & parsley in oil (store in fridge) mince ginger, garlic, scallion (I freeze these on a sheet pan/paper, then put in a bag in the freezer tonuse when needed for stir fry/curries) stocks & bullions for easy soups/braise marinades for meats/chix/pork

[when shopping, buy extra for the freezer: throw some meat in marinade, freeze flat in a bag, so when you finish cooking the meal for dinner today, you pull the meat to defrost for tomorrow dinner]

I meal prep for 2.5 people, so if I’m not getting 6 meals in the freezer it’s pretty redundant.

These days it’s mostly based around what’s on special. If I can get the veg cheap it’s bolognese. if not, chicken straganoff or Dahl. Pumpkin soup is popular, as is sausage rolls and quiches. Breakfast burritos are a hit too. A lot of my meal prep inspiration comes from YouTube. A lot are bullshit, but some of the shorts arnt bad. There’s a buffalo chicken rice bowl one of them makes that is amazing.

I do things a little differently to others I think. I will go to the fruit & veg shop and butchers (it's handy that the are next to each other) and buy whatever looks good or cheap for the week. Then I meal plan.

I always buy an extra meat product like sausages or mince to stick in the freezer. I always have frozen veg and a frozen stirfry mix in there.

Once every six months, we eat what's in the freezer so I can defrost it. I do the same with the pantry so I can clean it out.

For you, I'd recommend batch cooking a soup that you can freeze for those days when you cbf then all you have to do is pick up a nice bread.

Here's a website you might like

https://www.healthyfood.com/healthy-recipes/

I tend to cook in batches of around 12 serves. Currently curried rice, taco beans, Dahl, roast veggies w/spicy peanut sauce. Once I've got enough Tupperware for another batch I make the next meal. My next meal is chicken and veg soup w/pasta, mostly because I've got things to use up.

E: Just finished the chicken veg pasta soup. I recently bought an instapot cheap on amazon (the 8L duo $153), it's been great for speeding up my meal prep. I tend to get distracted with how long some beans take to cook, the pot only works on a timer so it's great for set and forget.

Potatos - cooked potato doesn't freeze well. When I microwave potato to go with the taco beans and gravy beans, I'll do a few serves worth and store the cooked ones in the fridge. Similar with roast veggies, they don't thaw well. I do a batch and keep them in the fridge for a half hour re-roast to get them ready for dinner.

We keep a list of possible meals. Just favourites we've gathered over time. Once a week we sit down as a family and work out a series of meals for the upcoming week. Then it's simple to work out what we need to get vs what we have already and do a shopping list on a whiteboard we keep for the purpose. Easy enough to mark items for purchase later (eg buy fresh closer to when we need them), or add staples as we run out. Whoever is doing the shopping just copies down what's on the board before they go.

Takes maybe an hour to do as a family, gets everyone involved in and involves the kids in family decision making.