Need help Meal Planning for fun and profit

[itnithand]

Some background: A colleague introduced me to the MMM blog last year but at the time I was busy making (really) stupid decisions with my then girlfriend- eating out nearly every meal, frequent vacations with airtravel in less than modest accommodations, etc. After what I'll call a "personal situation change", I find myself with one less mouth to feed and significantly higher than desirable rent. For me, this was the exact awakening I desperately needed. I'm stuck in my lease til at least spring but knowing I'd cause some of the senior mustachians to faint with my old food "budget" (a pretty generous term when ordering wine by the bottle at dinner), I set to work.

[Cranky]

Do you like to cook? Do you know how to cook? Do you have kitchen equipment? What do you like to eat? Do you get home late?

There's a big continuum to meal planning. In general, I suggest that you start by cooking something big on the weekend, whether it's a pot of soup or a roast chicken, and using it up during the week, plus thinking of some fast stuff to make during the week - omelets or stir fry or pasta.

[Dances With Fire]

I have often told friends and family who don't cook to become very good at 4-5 meals and then rinse and repeat during the week. Hey you still can go out once in awhile still. (I was fortunate to work with a very good chef/restaurant owner in high school. Also my grandmothers were excellent cooks and bakers and one even baked professionally.
I still enjoy cooking today and have saved a lot of money doing so over the years.

Those 4-5 meals should be something you truly enjoy making. Basic ingredients should be the name of the game here. Think Asian dishes, Italian, Mexican, etc. Once you get those basic meals mastered, then try something new.

Cheers! and welcome to the forum.

[WhiteTrashCash]

I bought a used bread machine off Craigslist for $30 and I've used it over the past five years to make literally thousands of dollars of very low-cost food, including all kinds of freshly made bread, homemade pizza dough, and homemade donut dough. This spring, I'm planning to use it to make homemade preserves as well. I also bought a FryDaddy used from Amazon for $16 and I've used that to make homemade empanadas, donuts (with the dough from the bread machine), french fries, and more. Super easy and cheap.

Check Allrecipes.com for easy cheap meal ideas and you can cut your food budget tremendously. We rarely ever eat out anymore because I've gotten so good at cooking that my meals taste better than what we can get in restaurants. And the savings are incredible.

[MrThatsDifferent]

I can make this very simple for you, buy a George Foreman grill. They’re the best. Grill your meats and vegetables, it takes 2-6 minutes generally.

Now, read the thread on the sub $200 food budget, get lots of ideas from that. Just keep things simple.

Here’s simple and healthy, modify as it fits your food interests:

Breakfast:
Oats or muesli, fruit, 1 egg or 2 egg whites

If snack: can of tuna or rice cakes with peanut butter

Lunch:
Grilled meat, 2 cups of vegetables, 1 cup of basmati rice (any healthy carb)

If snack: nuts or fruit

Dinner:
Grilled Meat, 2 cups of green vegetables and no carbs if trying to lose weight or 1 cup of healthy carbs if maintaining weight

[Villanelle]

I hate cooking.

What I'e found works well is picking a day every few weeks and spending several hours doing batch cooking.  In 2-3 hours, I can have more than a dozen meals ready to go (minus being thrown in the oven or crock pot). 

For recipe suggestions look for "once a month cooking" cook books.  Many have set plans with meals grouped together for maximum efficiency.  I mostly ignore that and just look for recipes I like.  I might make 3 lasagnas, 3 chicken and broccoli casseroles, 3 Mexican bakes, 3 egg noodle chicken casseroles, and enough ground beef and onions for burritos/tacos 3 times.  (And really, for my household of two, each of these is more than one night of dinner).  It's not my favorite way to spend an afternoon but I feel profound relief to have it done and it's so nice to not have to think about dinner beyond grabbing something out of the freezer the night before. 

[Imma]

I am a really big fan of budgetbytes.com for cheap and easy recipes. She also has meal prep plans and videos for many recipes. On Pinterest you can also find tons of ready-to-go meal plans and meal prep guides.

I second the advice of learning to prepare a few simple dishes and get into the habit of cooking dinner before expanding your repertoire. There's also nothing wrong with not completely cooking from scratch. If buying ready made pasta sauces will help you get into the habit of cooking, it's totally fine to buy them (or any type of boxed/canned item). It's still healthier and cheaper than eating out. You can always discover the world of from scratch cooking later on.

[Noodle]

The upside of a ridiculous food budget is that it's not hard to turn it around, and still eat very well!

Three questions:

1. Do you like leftovers, or do you prefer something different/fresh at each meal?
2. Does your meal planning need to provide for lunches as well as dinner?
2. How good a cook are you?

Personally, I love getting home from work and knowing that Past Me has graciously provided dinner so all I have to do is fire up the microwave. I cook a couple big meals over the weekend and typically that takes care of meals for the rest of the week. (I am a single person who eats relatively small portions). That does mean picking food that stores well--casseroles, soups and chilis, and grain salads are good examples...so are a lot of bowl meals. For salads with greens, you have to keep the greens separate and dress an individual portion each day.

If you want something fresh every day, stir-fries, breakfast for dinner, grilling are all pretty quick and simple methods (cost depending on ingredients). If you like a pre-determined rhythm to the week, you can use the old-fashioned method of a set theme for each meal of the week (pasta Monday, chicken Tuesday, salad Wednesday) or get even more specific with a pre-determined recipe you use weekly. (That really streamlines grocery shopping.)

I ask about the skill level because for beginners, I actually recommend a cookbook over blogs--the How to Cook Everything series, or the old women's magazine stalwarts--Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping--they aren't fancy but they are reliable. America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated are also very well tested.  Some bloggers are good at writing reliable recipes that work every time, and some aren't--I am thinking of one in particular I read who admits she is a self-taught cook. She comes up with some really interesting combinations and ideas, but I know going into it that I will probably be fixing the recipe as I go.

[billy]

Lot's of good suggestions so far. I think people that stick to cooking at home long term is that they enjoy/prefer to, as there food does not suck. Why not try to list the health benefits of making your own food. Ultimately, I love cooking at home (outside I saving a ton of money)  because it's healthy and a hobby of mine (and beer making:). I have a little bit of formal training in kitchens, and if you have the time later I would look into taking a community college class for basic food pred and a food safety class. I'm also a huge fan of jacques pepin, www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episodes.html, happy cooking!

[ketchup]

It doesn't have to be fancy, but non-fancy/non-timeconsuming doesn't have to mean boring, crappy, or unhealthy. 

Throw a few bone-in chicken thighs in the oven with some frozen broccoli florets.  Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and whatever tickles you fancy.  Bake at 400F for 45 minutes, done.  Total active work: 2-3 minutes tops

1/2 cup oats, 1 cup water/milk/cream, pinch of salt.  Microwave in a bowl for 3 minutes.  Scoop out a giant blob of peanut butter with a spoon, add to bowl and mix.  Sprinkle cinnamon liberally and mix again.  5 minutes including microwave-fu.

Throw an avocado, banana, and a can of full-fat coconut milk into a blender with a splash of vanilla extract.  Blend and drink.  Total time involved depends on how fast you can peel an avocado and how long it takes to clean your blender.

[big_slacker]

I'm a 44 year old 'always been fit' dude and meal planning is of course part of that.

My advice for fitness and health is to go get the semi-old school plan by Tom Venuto, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. It has the formula you need to figure out calories and macros, it has advice on proper mindset and finally it has meal planning advice.

Or if you want to go it alone it works like this:

Switch to identity based mindset. "I'm a fit person so I eat like this." "Donuts? No thanks, I'm an athlete."

Know your calorie and macro targets (the internet can help) Use an app like cronometer to plan out the meals in advance.

Go to the grocery store once a week and buy the stuff you need to make those meals.

Meal prep twice a week, cooking 3 days worth of meals. Note that the number of meals might vary. I really only prep dinner myself because I make fresh breakfast/lunch or buy from the work cafeteria.

Keep the meals NATURAL. That means beans and rice is better than spaghetti and canned sauce. Chicken, veggies and a sweet potato is better than a processed veggies patty and whitebread bun.

Supplements are supplements, keep it under control. :D

[Raenia]

My first advice is don't try to go all-in all at once, especially if you're not confident with your cooking skills.  If you make a meal plan for the week that has you cooking every night, and then you get home tired and just want takeout, it's going to be much harder to stick with it.  Some basic advice:
 - Each weekend (or day off, if you work weekends), make a large pot meal.  Chili is great, or soup, lentil stew, etc.  Have it for dinner that night, then freeze the rest in single or double serving sizes (I use quarts, which provides about 3 servings for my family - 2 of us for dinner, plus my lunch next day)
 - Build at least one 'easy' night into each week's plan, preferably something from your freezer from the previous step.  That way if you have a really bad day, you can decide to shift that meal to that night, and all you have to do is throw it in a pot on the stove.
 - Build in some repetition of things you really like.  For instance, we have Pizza Friday (with home-made crusts made ahead and frozen, so it's also an easy day).  You can also go for Taco Tuesday, Spaghetti Wednesday, or whatever food you enjoy.  This gives you something to look forward to every week, and you will get very good at making it.
 - Build in Leftover days, once you get a feel for how much leftovers you generate.  I usually have one Leftover day during the week, depending on what I'm planning to make the other days.  We'll have more leftovers from lasagna than from fish+rice.
 - Plan to shop for fresh fruit and vegetables at least once a week, and don't buy more than you think you can eat (or buy things that freeze well)
 - Write down your meal plan on the day before or day of when you will do your grocery shopping.  Check the fridge and freezer first to plan around using up ingredients you have or that might go bad.

Add new recipes to your rotation slowly, as you get more confident cooking.  A basic meal will usually include a starch (rice, pasta, potato, bread), a protein (incl. beans, lentils, cheese, etc.), and at least one vegetable.  So if I see I have some broccoli in the fridge from the previous week, and some chicken in the freezer, I might make a day of baked chicken, pasta, and broccoli.

I write my weekly menus on a note on the fridge, on Sunday nights.  That way when I come home each day, I can quickly look and see what I'm supposed to be making, so there is no decision fatigue or memory issues.  I shop on Monday for any fresh ingredients I will need.  As you expand your skills, you'll find a few go-to recipes that are your favorites to make, and other things that you like more infrequently.  For instance, I love lasagna, but if I made one every week my husband would divorce me :P

If you're looking for specific recipes to try, we can certainly help with that too!  Do you have any dietary requirements?  How comfortable are you in the kitchen, and what tools do you have available?

[Dogastrophe]

+1 on the "old woman" cookbooks/magazines - tried and true, nothing too fancy, nothing too boring.  Also keep an eye out for "church" cookbooks - these are ones that church groups put out based on recipes from their members.  Again, tried and true.  In both, the recipes most often ask for easy to find ingredients - no hipster artisan unicorn cheeses required.

We will generally plan to cook enough each evening to give us each the next day's lunch.  For casserole type meals, we will freeze three or four lunch size portions.

Last evening I made a pasta (from scratch, a first for me!) with a mushroom and garlic cream sauce.  Do a youtube search for Gennaro Contaldo and watch his pasta dough videos - if this guy can't get you excited about making fresh pasta, no one will.  Downside is I think I shifted my wife into a new pasta bracket ... I'll know next time I use boxed pasta.  :)

[rantk81]

Look up crock-pot recipes.  They are generally pretty bullet-proof.  Put everything in the crockpot in the morning per the recipe, set it to Low, and then enjoy dinner in the evening, with leftovers that can be microwaved for several days.

[seemsright]

If you are use to going out to eat and ordering a bottle of wine it is going to take some grit to change your mindset.

The way I see going out to eat with wine is you got use to making your meals a event. So if you do not have nice dinner plates and what not. This would be my first step. Having a wine glass that you enjoy drinking out of will be key same with plates, a fork and what not.

Cooking. You are going to have to figure out what kind of food you always ordered out. Now try to keep in mind food out is full of sugar, fat and salt. So the food you make at home WILL NOT taste exactly like what you ordered out.

Now for the money savings. Keep it simple. I love to bake some potatoes, roast some green veggies and grill some meat. I drizzle with the best olive oil I can find and some flake salt from the bulk bin. And I have found a few $4 bottles of wine I like and if I am feeling fancy I will pour myself a glass.

You can do this with pasta, there are some great jarred sauces available. I also like to cook a pot of rice and have some with the random bits and bobs in the fridge drizzle with some seasame oil and I am good to go.

I do not suggest you go from eating out every night to raman noodles! This will just set you up to fail. Take this in small steps. The goal is to save money in the long run.

[Cgbg]

I’m going to give another shout out to budgetbytes. Some of her meals are similar enough to a decent restaurant meal. And you know how much you’re spending on a meal.

Several folks have mentioned that it’s kinda hard to drop down from eating at restaurants to eating at home. I used to be on a frugal living board (now defunct.) One memorable post on there talked about stepping down to savings. Let’s say you have a favorite taco/burrito place you go to every Tuesday. With your new resolve, it’s not terribly wise to go from eating out to making your own shredded chicken tacos and handmade tortillas from masa and refried beans from dried pinto beans.

So you step down. Start with a deli chicken for shredded chicken. Buy premade tortillas and canned refried beans (which don’t even compare to scratch made from dried pintos). Develop your cooking skills slowly, which will lead to less cost.

[LWYRUP]

As someone who has eased into cooking over many years, I would say the hardest part for me was the PLANNING part.  We would have a relatively full kitchen but look up a recipe and OOPS, no scallions and no sweet potatoes.  So do we pick another one?  Run to the store?  Just make basic things over and over again?  Then it starts to get late and next thing you know you are eating crap (more mac n' cheese, anyone) or ordering out. 

We tried downloading some meal planning apps but none of them do what we needed -- allow us to sync with each other and our calendar, import recipes, create shopping lists.  So we gave up and our new plan, which is working great, is as follows:

• Every Thursday or Friday night we sit down and think of meals for the next week.  We've found we only need a couple.  Breakfast can be made on hand with what's around.  Lunch is often leftovers.  We often make double or triple portions so dinner can be leftovers once or twice, and once or twice we usually will make just a really simple meal.  So we can usually get through the week with 3-4 dinner ideas.  Usually 2-3 are relatively simple things we make all the time now.  Then for 1-2 we think of something fun, so we can learn and grow.  (We usually make the new / fancy things on weekends and then just focus on getting through the workweek).  Dinners (inc. scheduled leftover / easy nights) go on a shared Google calendar, with time blocked out on Sunday for a big cook.
• We shop either on Friday (my wife doesn't work then) or Saturday morning, purposefully so we can have a load of fresh food on the weekends.  We do a big Costco shop occasionally, so the regular weekday shop is usually much smaller, for fresh veggies, milk and staples we run out of.  We shout into Alexa whenever we are out of a staple.  We have a pretty good idea of what's usually in our pantry now, so creating the shopping list is easy -- the Alexa list automatically syncs with ToDoIst, then we just see if there are any new or unusual things from our 1-2 new recipes and get those.
• In addition to normal cooking, for at least a few hours on a weekend I like do to a "big cook" where I pick one of the recipes, purposefully doubled or even tripled, and make enough so that we have dinner for that night PLUS leftovers for 3-4 lunches.  (Usually I'll take in 2-3 and my wife will keep 1-2.)  I literally will put them in tupperware right after we finish cooking, so that by Sunday night I have a stack of a few pre-made lunches, that I top up during the week with other leftovers.  We might also during this time make something fun (e.g., muffins, desert), just because.
• If we cook for a few days in a row, we end up piled with leftovers and work through those.  Then also some days we like to look through our supplies and see what may be going bad if we don't use it, what we may not have used in a while and whip something up based on that.  (This gets easier the more you cook, and also the less fussy you are.)  And sometimes we do like to be spontaneous and have gotten better at mixing and matching ingredients (and just have more fresh stuff on hand because we're in the routine).  And sometimes you do just want mac 'n cheese (hopefully with a pepper cut up or something).  So that pretty much gets us to seven. 

So pick four recipes, throw them on a google calendar with a day in between each one, make sure your shopping list covers all the ingredients, go out and and buy that plus staples.  Make the first one something you can scale up (chili, slow cooker meal, whole chicken, etc.) and cook that during the weekend.  Then you'll start the week off with all the ingredients you need, a reasonable but flexible plan and some grab-and-go lunches right off the bat.