What’s for dinner? I remember asking my mother this countless times. There were six of us so I can only imagine how irritating it must have been to get the same question six times daily.
Now it’s my turn. My five year-old keeps asking what the evening meal will be. It’s a new thing. Pretty cute until he sighs and says it’s not his favourite.
Here’s the math running through my head: three kids asking from age 5 to 18 what’s for dinner. I will be asked about the evening meal 14325 times by my children. Let’s add on another 16425 times for my husband should we be blessed with 45 years of marriage (we started late) and assuming I am still either making the meal or have corralled the ingredients for him to make the meal.
So I’ll be asked what’s for dinner more than 30000 times in my life.
Glad I have an answer.
Task #3: meal plan.
Meal planning sounds like a lot of work. I get it. I found the idea of meal planning dull and boring just a few years ago. My preference was to go to the store without a list and find things that sounded good. I’d leave with the ingredients for guacamole, vegan fruit bars, fancy Greek yogort and a roast chicken. Not only would I have forgotten that we needed toilet paper but I wouldn’t have enough in the fridge to go more than a day or two without being back at the store. This was before I had three kids.
Meal plan. Just do it. If you’re overwhelmed don’t over think it. Don’t try new recipes. Don’t get ambitious and aim for fresh pasta on a Thursday.
Write down 10 meals everyone likes that are easy to make and have relatively inexpensive ingredients. Half the list is week one and the other half is week two. The other two nights of the week you eat leftovers or takeout or a frozen pizza.
Still stumped on meal planning? Consider outsourcing.
Fresh20 provides a weekly meal planning service: 20 ingredients that make 5 dinners. They provide the recipes, a shopping list, a cost breakdown of the meals and the nutritional breakdown of the meals. Easy.
The Fresh20 service really gets the job done. Less food waste and less time stressing over what’s for dinner. The recipes are straightforward and my only complaint is that being in a small British town means there are usually a few ingredients I can’t find (black beans are hard to come by here).
Have dietary restrictions? The Fresh20 provides gluten free, vegetarian, Paleo and a few other specialty plans.
More on meal planning here on the blog:
Any Fresh20 fans out there? What has your experience been? And anyone get into meal planning recently? It’s a game changer. I also use this magnetic meal planner thing on my fridge (it’s really helped my husband stop asking what’s for dinner + identify meals he wants to make).
First, let me say that I really enjoy reading your blog.
I’ve always used a meal plan, its my way to ensure that the grocery money stretches to cover the month, to take advantage of lower priced larger packs of meat, and reduce daily mental effort! Meals are not always completely planned out but I know that chicken, minced turkey, vegetarian pasta/rice, a casserole/roast will be listed. We have our favourites and I try new recipes if I have the energy! Also I cook 3 different chicken/turkey/beef casserole meals, serve 1 and freeze 2 for later in the month for busy days: energy and effort saving. I seem to run out of energy by Thursday, and knowing that all I have a meal ready to defrost makes life much easier and much sweeter!
Funny because there’s no way I could cook meals without a meal plan! I’m not the type who can wing a meal on the fly so I need to find recipes and follow them. I LOVE meal planning because it also saves me money from only buying what I need and not forgetting that I had bought something that’s expired in the fridge.
Having a menu board posted on the wall makes my life so much easier! Then everyone can just READ what we’re having for dinner instead of asking me eleventy billion times (the asking makes me feel stabby.)
I made one out of a super ugly Goodwill print, using chalkboard paint and stain, and I love it so much, especially given how awful the original item looked!
Here’s a link to it, if that’s ok: http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/make-ugly-framesprints-into-chalkboards/ Please feel free to remove the link if it’s not ok (I try not to leave links in comments often at all.)
I love an online app and android/iphone/ipad app called http://pepperplate.com. I love looking for new recipes and this sites sucks them into my online recipe file. And then I can plan my meals and create a shopping list that syncs to my iphone. Changed my world – as I love just looking around and buying stuff at the store. But realized I was wasting money and buying duplicates of things I already had.
eMeals is also an excellent service. If you have a well-stocked spice cabinet, it doesn’t usually involve a lot of purchases. There are many different plans to choose from and you can get breakfast and lunch menus as well. I bought the 3 month paleo plan figuring I can just repeat the menus after that!
There have been some new family favorite recipes out of it for sure!
I started using the meal planner when I went back to work part time when my son was 1. It works well for me as I shop based on the plan then during the week I can come home from work and just start cooking without wasting time. I even get a little obsessed sometimes, insisting on cooking what’s on the plan even when there’s leftovers. I’ve also try to cook one meal for everyone, to also save time. I listened to a very good pod cast by Louise Fulton Keats (grand daughter of famous Australian food author – Margaret Fulton), who is also an advocate for the meal plan and family meal. I enjoyed hearing about her tips so much I’m planning on buying her cook book for some inspiration. http://www.louisefultonkeats.com/books/
We have had a set meal plan for 8 years now with the same foods being served the same day of the week. My children still ask what’s for dinner. Our middle boy started asking nightly around 3 years old because our oldest, then 12, was asking what’s for dinner nightly. Now I just direct them to the menu on the fridge and they can read it. Our youngest is 3 and doesn’t ask what’s for dinner because she doesn’t care, she’ll eat anything.
Thanks so much for the link to fresh20 – it looks like just the thing for me this year – trying to minimise food waste and plan ahead. I enjoy cooking but after years of large family meals now there is just 3 of us – I would like a more paleo diet but our daughter (17) is thinking vegan ……….think we need to work out a compromise although after a week of a lot of bean based recipes she is at least adding some cheese to her meals so I’m not thinking this will last too long!!
I hate the “what’s for dinner question’. After starting more hours at work, I made a meal plan, but before that I told the kids – Don’t ask me what’s for Dinner ask me “How can I help you with Dinner” That is much more enjoyable! Then I tell them that shortly they will be in charge of at least one night a week for making dinner!
I can’t imagine not meal planning. I work part time and have 2 toddlers and ensuring I have a plan ready to go each night without having to stop for one ingredient or defrost is a lifesaver. One tip I have to share is making a list of all your meals by type (chicken, beef, easy, crock pot – whatever categories you like) – ideally on one page. Then when you sit down to make your meal plan you can just pull out your list. I also make my husband choose some meals – that way it’s not all on me. You can also track what you’ve planned in one month and simply repeat the next month (or the same month next year). Good luck mamas.
I need to get back into meal planning. I did Fresh20 a couple of years back and it was great. I loved getting the kids and hubby trying new things that I would not normally eat. The next time I see a deal I will probably do the annual plan again. I did find it to be some work and had to do some serious prepping.
After a few failed attempts I started meal planning again this autumn. And, it’s working! My pantry, freezer and fridge have less stuff that I don’t seem to use, our grocery bills are consistent, and there’s less waste. I’m not so great at keeping Taco Tuesday on Tuesday and have been known to write “some sort of leftovers” as a plan, but it works. What I love most is the stress of dinner is gone and I can enjoy being with my kids after school.
recipe book
I am also a fan of meal planning. At times, however, I am too lazy to plan, and on those weeks by day two my stress level rises. 🙂
We tend have 2 poultry days, a minced beef day, a leftovers day, a fish/seafood day, Friday pizza night. The Sunday dinner varies depending on what we do, who we are with. I also make at least one large pot of soup a week.
At the moment I am in the process of reducing the amount of recipes I have to the ones we like and actually cook.
Cannot wait to have just one, hand-written recipient book of mine which has all my family’s favourite foods. 🙂
I like the idea of writing a personal cookbook. This month I think I will make this a priority. I find meal planning essential to household management. I feed animals daily and have an elderly mother close by so my time is well spent and I never have an appetite especially at 5pm. So, I use my weekly menu guide to move me into the dinner time. I think of it as my personal chef and I am the helper. I always have the ingredients in my freezer and pantry for my 10 main meals. This past quarter I started shopping sales and keeping a pantry. The one area where I seem to lack is the unexpected guest meal.
Since having my girls and deciding to stay home to care for them, I have always meal planned. I use the supermarket flyer and coupons that I have to plan out what we will have. Saves me a lot of stress, but also some money too! And, as I keep the “menu” for the week on the fridge, my husband could cook dinner should he decide to take it upon himself *snicker*.
I definitely hate the “what’s for dinner” conversation! To get around it we’ve been meal planning a month at a time. I really hate that question! (because when I’m tired the answer is always take out instead of something satisfying at home!)
Always love reading your posts! I have not commented in a while but this post struck me as I have my own simple meal plan . I am the mother of 4 …. 18, 17 , 16 and 13. As long as I can remember we have used a very simple meal plan so the kids were never in the dark about “what’s for dinner”. Here goes:
Monday : meatball Monday
Tuesday : taco Tuesday ( chicken or beef .. hard or soft)
Wednesday : vegetarian Wednesday ( usually pasta with veggies , olive oil and lots of Parm cheese)
Thursday: chicken Thursday ( chicken with rice and steamed veggies)
Friday : takeout pizza with caesar salad
Saturday and Sunday are reserved for trying new dishes or eating out. Often times on Sundays we have a meal from the crockpot during the winter such as chili or beef stew and in the summer we grill
I know it seems so boring , but my kids have come to count on this plan and have never complained!! It saves me such headache at the store and at 5pm when everyone is starving !
Hope someone finds inspiration from my super simple meal planning!
oops.. after I read my comment I realized my typo:
My children are 18, 17 , 15 and 13….
Love this!! Thanks for sharing. I don’t think it’s boring at all. And I can see that kids would love it: even my young ones love routine. We have pancakes and sausages on Saturday mornings and they really look forward to it.
You have totally inspired me!! I love this idea and am starting it right away. I’m currently on my second maternity leave (2 girls ages 2.5 and 6 mos) and have been struggling to meal plan and was dreading the thought of returning to work without a solid plan. I think this will be easy to maintain and very realistic for our family. The only change I’m making is “under water Wednesday” instead of vegetarian because we love fish once a week. 🙂 Huge thanks!