Leveling up meal planning
January 11, 2016 11:46 AM Subscribe
Calling all meal/menu planners of AskMe! Any pro tips for planning weekly menus for your household that balance budget and diet? Especially with an eye toward low waste (i.e., better inventory management) and getting as much variety in as possible.
In the interest of 1) saving money both on groceries and eating out, and 2) keeping a better eye on what I'm eating/not being in perpetual party mode with what I eat, I'm starting to do hardcore weekly meal planning again. I'm okay at it, but I want to be amazing at it! I'm less interested in "meal prepping" where you spend Sunday pre-portioning two or three identical breakfasts/lunches/dinners for the week; I'm only planning for dinners and don't mind at all making something different every night. We're just two adults, and we eat everything (I stay low carb-ish, not trying to lose weight though and am not super strict about it).
Specific questions:
- How do you manage fridge inventory so you actually use everything you buy? I keep a rough list of "needs to be used" stuff and consult it as I plan out the week's menus but I feel like there's still a certain amount of waste; especially cooking for two there are a lot of vegetable and dairy odds and ends by the end of the week. Do you use an app, a whiteboard, just a mental list? Any go-to ideas for cleaning out the fridge that I could just plan on for one dinner?
- Any unexpected ways of saving money at the grocery store? I generally sit down with the circular, select one or two proteins that are on sale, and build a week's worth of menus around them. How else do you stretch your grocery budget, especially if you don't eat or cook with a lot of grains/potatoes/simple carbs?
- I don't love doing huge batches of stuff we'll have to eat ten times over but would love more ideas for cooking components or things that get reused in several different ways throughout the week (e.g., crock pot shredded chicken that end up in tacos; in a green curry; in white chili). Any favorite idea groups, especially for the kinds of bulk meats that go on sale most often?
- Finally, how do you do this without becoming a meal planning fascist, that is, what are some approaches to make it sustainable? Especially interested In lowering stress levels around going off-plan, like to randomly have to eat out/feeding unexpected guests/etc. Do you plan for weekdays and leave weekends open? Do you have any emergency/pantry dinners to fall back on? Do you do freezer meals?
Basically, what do you do to make meal planning extra-easy/effective/delicious? Thanks, guys, our wallets and waistlines thank you!
In the interest of 1) saving money both on groceries and eating out, and 2) keeping a better eye on what I'm eating/not being in perpetual party mode with what I eat, I'm starting to do hardcore weekly meal planning again. I'm okay at it, but I want to be amazing at it! I'm less interested in "meal prepping" where you spend Sunday pre-portioning two or three identical breakfasts/lunches/dinners for the week; I'm only planning for dinners and don't mind at all making something different every night. We're just two adults, and we eat everything (I stay low carb-ish, not trying to lose weight though and am not super strict about it).
Specific questions:
- How do you manage fridge inventory so you actually use everything you buy? I keep a rough list of "needs to be used" stuff and consult it as I plan out the week's menus but I feel like there's still a certain amount of waste; especially cooking for two there are a lot of vegetable and dairy odds and ends by the end of the week. Do you use an app, a whiteboard, just a mental list? Any go-to ideas for cleaning out the fridge that I could just plan on for one dinner?
- Any unexpected ways of saving money at the grocery store? I generally sit down with the circular, select one or two proteins that are on sale, and build a week's worth of menus around them. How else do you stretch your grocery budget, especially if you don't eat or cook with a lot of grains/potatoes/simple carbs?
- I don't love doing huge batches of stuff we'll have to eat ten times over but would love more ideas for cooking components or things that get reused in several different ways throughout the week (e.g., crock pot shredded chicken that end up in tacos; in a green curry; in white chili). Any favorite idea groups, especially for the kinds of bulk meats that go on sale most often?
- Finally, how do you do this without becoming a meal planning fascist, that is, what are some approaches to make it sustainable? Especially interested In lowering stress levels around going off-plan, like to randomly have to eat out/feeding unexpected guests/etc. Do you plan for weekdays and leave weekends open? Do you have any emergency/pantry dinners to fall back on? Do you do freezer meals?
Basically, what do you do to make meal planning extra-easy/effective/delicious? Thanks, guys, our wallets and waistlines thank you!
This only addresses part of your question -- but I tend to stock up when I see stuff on sale (chicken and fish) and freeze it, especially when it's individually portioned and can just be defrosted a couple pieces at a time. I've started meal planning 3-4 days ahead instead of a week, and it leads to less waste as its more real-time on what needs to be used and as plans have changed or we've eaten more/less of certain things than I thought. Then I just have seasonal veggies and pair them as the mood strikes. This week I've made baked fish topped with sautéed spinach and with a sweet potato and cranberry sautée; chicken and pancetta roasted with red pepper and apple and served with sautéed spinach and red pepper; roasted fish with sautéed spinach and cauliflower soup; and tonight I'm making southwest chicken salads and/or tomato soup. It's a more fun way for me to cook because I have the palate and the paints and can combine however I see fit at the moment. It might lead to more grocery store trips, but I have a very strict shopping list that I will not add to and is primarily veggies and specific recipe ingredients.
posted by DoubleLune at 12:11 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by DoubleLune at 12:11 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm trying to be better about this kind of thing too. For the random veggie odds and ends, I throw them in a ziplock in the freezer and use them when making stock (maybe once per month or so) - both whole veggies that didn't get used up and the ends/scrap pieces from veggies I used (like carrot peels and ends, or the bottoms of bok choy, or whatever).
Instead of planning meals around a protein, I plan the meals around the veggies. Eat more protein at breakfast or lunch, so there isn't as much pressure to have dinner be protein and vegetable and healthy and cheap and and. I'm not remotely vegetarian, but removing proteins as the focus of dinner has been really helpful in reducing stress around meal planning and executing. I usually go to the farmers market on Saturday morning and buy what looks good, then sit down and plan meals around that for the week. Then on Sunday, I go to the store and buy the other stuff I need for those meals. At first, I was buying WAY too many veggies and had a lot of leftovers, but I'm getting better at it. I always have onions and garlic on hand, as well as ginger and scallions (I do a lot of Chinese cooking). Then, I buy (usually) some kind of greens, and then 2 other veggie options at the farmers market. So, e.g., kale, carrots, and radishes or spinach, broccoli, and bell peppers. Those are our veggies for the week. You could also do this at the store based on what's on sale.
I plan in 2 "easy" nights - might be going out or making a frozen pizza or whatever. I tentatively schedule these for Thursday and Friday nights, but it's flexible. I also balance out the work between the vegetable and the main. So, if the main part of the dish requires more work, then the vegetable might just be spinach tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Or, if the main dish is a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing, I might make a more intense veggie starter.
Go way more simple than you might think. Lightly steamed [most veg] with lemon is delicious. A make-ahead thing that is useful in a bunch of different preparations is caramelized onions.
My emergency plan is basically: make something, anything, and put baby spinach on it. Scrambled egg sandwich? add baby spinach. Frozen pizza? Throw some baby spinach on it. Pasta with olive oil? Baby spinach. It's not fancy, and it's not the healthiest, but at least I'm getting some kind of vegetable.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2016 [10 favorites]
Instead of planning meals around a protein, I plan the meals around the veggies. Eat more protein at breakfast or lunch, so there isn't as much pressure to have dinner be protein and vegetable and healthy and cheap and and. I'm not remotely vegetarian, but removing proteins as the focus of dinner has been really helpful in reducing stress around meal planning and executing. I usually go to the farmers market on Saturday morning and buy what looks good, then sit down and plan meals around that for the week. Then on Sunday, I go to the store and buy the other stuff I need for those meals. At first, I was buying WAY too many veggies and had a lot of leftovers, but I'm getting better at it. I always have onions and garlic on hand, as well as ginger and scallions (I do a lot of Chinese cooking). Then, I buy (usually) some kind of greens, and then 2 other veggie options at the farmers market. So, e.g., kale, carrots, and radishes or spinach, broccoli, and bell peppers. Those are our veggies for the week. You could also do this at the store based on what's on sale.
I plan in 2 "easy" nights - might be going out or making a frozen pizza or whatever. I tentatively schedule these for Thursday and Friday nights, but it's flexible. I also balance out the work between the vegetable and the main. So, if the main part of the dish requires more work, then the vegetable might just be spinach tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. Or, if the main dish is a set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing, I might make a more intense veggie starter.
Go way more simple than you might think. Lightly steamed [most veg] with lemon is delicious. A make-ahead thing that is useful in a bunch of different preparations is caramelized onions.
My emergency plan is basically: make something, anything, and put baby spinach on it. Scrambled egg sandwich? add baby spinach. Frozen pizza? Throw some baby spinach on it. Pasta with olive oil? Baby spinach. It's not fancy, and it's not the healthiest, but at least I'm getting some kind of vegetable.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2016 [10 favorites]
We cook for two adults and one toddler and use an ad hoc sort of meal planning technique.
Protein: we buy large packs from Costco when it's on sale and store in the deep freeze. If you vacuum-seal single-meal portions and flatten them well before freezing, they'll thaw in hot tap water in 10-15 minutes, so you can choose a protein as you begin making supper. You can also thaw two packs if you have unexpected company.
Vegetables: we buy them roughly a week at a time based on what's cheap. We don't plan what meal will go with what ahead of time, just have about five nights' worth of veggies in the fridge and grab whatever looks good each night. We also keep a couple of bags of frozen veg around in case of emergency.
Starch: we just keep rice/potatoes/pasta/etc. on hand.
This system works really well for simple meals; i.e. a basic starch, one or two veggies steamed or boiled, and a protein cooked by itself (pan fried chicken, glazed roasted pork tenderloin, sous vide steaks, shake & bake, grilling in the summer, etc.) It's also a good way to use up whatever's lying around, since you can adjust your plan based on what you see in the fridge.
posted by pocams at 12:16 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Protein: we buy large packs from Costco when it's on sale and store in the deep freeze. If you vacuum-seal single-meal portions and flatten them well before freezing, they'll thaw in hot tap water in 10-15 minutes, so you can choose a protein as you begin making supper. You can also thaw two packs if you have unexpected company.
Vegetables: we buy them roughly a week at a time based on what's cheap. We don't plan what meal will go with what ahead of time, just have about five nights' worth of veggies in the fridge and grab whatever looks good each night. We also keep a couple of bags of frozen veg around in case of emergency.
Starch: we just keep rice/potatoes/pasta/etc. on hand.
This system works really well for simple meals; i.e. a basic starch, one or two veggies steamed or boiled, and a protein cooked by itself (pan fried chicken, glazed roasted pork tenderloin, sous vide steaks, shake & bake, grilling in the summer, etc.) It's also a good way to use up whatever's lying around, since you can adjust your plan based on what you see in the fridge.
posted by pocams at 12:16 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Do you have an extra freezer room? I know people who toss vegetable odds and ends (after chopping for something else or right before they go bad) in the freezer and use them when they're making stock. If you wanted to save them for eating later, you'd probably want to blanch, shock, then freeze, but do it when they're at their peak, so earlier rather than later.
If you have the room, it's also nice to buy a lot of whatever generic protein you like to use when it's on sale, that way if you don't feel like the pork tenderloin you see in the circular, you can take out some chicken. I find that can make meal planning a bit easier: you figure out some standards that you like it'll be more automatic. It may get repetitive, but I'm OK with that.
I like doing wraps with chicken (frequently left over roasted whole chicken). Vary the additions: hummus and veggies for Mediterranean, sautéed peppers and onions for fajita, ranch and lettuce, tzatziki and cucumbers, barbeque sauce and cole slaw etc. For low carb, convert to salad or lettuce wraps.
Can you stop by the grocery store mid week? That helped me with using all my produce: but I literally walked by it on the way home, and had the time to make two trips a week. Obviously ymmv.
posted by ghost phoneme at 12:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you have the room, it's also nice to buy a lot of whatever generic protein you like to use when it's on sale, that way if you don't feel like the pork tenderloin you see in the circular, you can take out some chicken. I find that can make meal planning a bit easier: you figure out some standards that you like it'll be more automatic. It may get repetitive, but I'm OK with that.
I like doing wraps with chicken (frequently left over roasted whole chicken). Vary the additions: hummus and veggies for Mediterranean, sautéed peppers and onions for fajita, ranch and lettuce, tzatziki and cucumbers, barbeque sauce and cole slaw etc. For low carb, convert to salad or lettuce wraps.
Can you stop by the grocery store mid week? That helped me with using all my produce: but I literally walked by it on the way home, and had the time to make two trips a week. Obviously ymmv.
posted by ghost phoneme at 12:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
My best go-to meals for using up leftover odds and ends in the fridge are:
--fritatta/omelette/scramble
--whole grain salad -- cook up a batch of quinoa, add in odds and ends, and finish with a fun dressing
--pasta
--soup
All of those can usually be made with your leftover bits + having one key pantry staple on hand (eggs/quinoa/pasta/chicken or veggie stock).
Cooking Light has a "cook once, eat 3 times" feature (http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/cook-once-eat-three-times) that we really like. I'm not sure if those specific recipes would fit with your dietary preferences, but maybe it could be inspiration/a place to start?
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
--fritatta/omelette/scramble
--whole grain salad -- cook up a batch of quinoa, add in odds and ends, and finish with a fun dressing
--pasta
--soup
All of those can usually be made with your leftover bits + having one key pantry staple on hand (eggs/quinoa/pasta/chicken or veggie stock).
Cooking Light has a "cook once, eat 3 times" feature (http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/cook-once-eat-three-times) that we really like. I'm not sure if those specific recipes would fit with your dietary preferences, but maybe it could be inspiration/a place to start?
posted by rainbowbrite at 12:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
I have friends who swear by emeals. They put in what they like to eat, and the stores they shop in, and they get customized menus and shopping lists. There's no guess work, and it's budget friendly.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:37 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:37 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Something I did for a while when I had a two-person household was use a meal planning service -- I used EMeals and liked them a lot; I still use some of their recipes that I have saved. The plan that I had was great -- it gave me a grocery list for my grocery store for 7 substantial meals (we often stretched one meal to two days without a problem), and often you would use parts of one meal for a second meal, like making a full chicken and then using it two different days. We cooked about three times a week and bought only the supplies for those meals, so it worked out pretty good so far as flexibility goes. I really liked this because then I didn't have to spend time deciding what I was going to eat this week or making sure I had enough variety, and it got me to eat more vegetables. So I want to throw that out there.
posted by possibilityleft at 12:38 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by possibilityleft at 12:38 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm no expert and would actually like to improve in this area, but I do create an actual meal plan each week, and rarely end up with leftovers I have to throw away...so here's what I do.
Throughout the week I read recipe blogs/websites and whenever I see a recipe that looks good, I bookmark it. I also occasionally tear out recipes from magazines or swap recipes with friends. (One tip: know your limitations - I only bookmark things that take 40 minutes or less and that I know I can make. Anything that looks super involved, I put in a separate folder and do those as weekend cooking projects or dinner party food). At the rate I bookmark, I end up with about 30 recipes in the folder at any given time.
On Saturday morning, I look at our calendar and see how many meals I'll need to make that week. Like "hmm, I already have something for tonight, and we're going to that party on Thursday, and [husband] will cook on Tuesday, so I need four dinners." I usually subtract one day per week for an unplanned going-out meal or to eat leftovers/takeout - that's just something I've figured out over time based on our lifestyle. Then I go through the recipes and pick out four that are balanced (i.e. not all meat-based or not all a particular cuisine) and that seem like they can use up similar ingredients. Usually I have enough recipes to choose from that this is doable. I also take stock of what we have in the fridge/freezer to see if there's anything we can use up. At that stage, I don't assign meals to particular days - I usually wait to see what groceries we get and then decide each day based on how things are ripe/wilting.
On not wasting: picking meals that use complementary ingredients, and substituting where necessary, is key to this. I know from experience that one butternut squash, even the smallest one they have available at the store, is too much for two of us unless it's the main ingredient in the meal, so if I plan to make a butternut squash meal I pick another meal that week that I can also use that ingredient in. I also don't have recipes for sides - I just always make a vegetable side, usually a vegetable that was in a recipe another day that week (i.e. kale in a soup on Monday, kale as a side to chicken on Wednesday). Before I start dinner each night I look at the vegetables in the fridge, which helps because I can usually add an extra one in to whatever I'm making (mushrooms or spinach into pasta sauce even if the recipe doesn't call for it, etc). It also helps to know the shelf life of what you buy, which comes with experience. For example, I know that if I buy parmesan cheese I can keep that in the fridge for a while, whereas if I buy a block of feta I better have two recipes that can use a feta-type cheese that week or else I'll end up throwing it away.
Other tips: I always divide and freeze meat as soon as I get it. I always check the recipe's portion sizes and scale down as needed. I also check the amount the recipe is calling for (two sprigs of parsley? just don't use it or pick another herb I already have...) and why. I hate eating the same thing two nights in a row, so if I do have too much of an ingredient, I keep it as-is instead of making extra of the meal - that way, we can have a kind of smorgasbord of various small items instead of another big portion.
I highly prize a) variety and b) inspiration/not having to think of meals out of thin air, so my method works for me, but on preview a lot of people have given good advice about more impromptu and budget-friendly meal planning.
posted by cpatterson at 12:53 PM on January 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
Throughout the week I read recipe blogs/websites and whenever I see a recipe that looks good, I bookmark it. I also occasionally tear out recipes from magazines or swap recipes with friends. (One tip: know your limitations - I only bookmark things that take 40 minutes or less and that I know I can make. Anything that looks super involved, I put in a separate folder and do those as weekend cooking projects or dinner party food). At the rate I bookmark, I end up with about 30 recipes in the folder at any given time.
On Saturday morning, I look at our calendar and see how many meals I'll need to make that week. Like "hmm, I already have something for tonight, and we're going to that party on Thursday, and [husband] will cook on Tuesday, so I need four dinners." I usually subtract one day per week for an unplanned going-out meal or to eat leftovers/takeout - that's just something I've figured out over time based on our lifestyle. Then I go through the recipes and pick out four that are balanced (i.e. not all meat-based or not all a particular cuisine) and that seem like they can use up similar ingredients. Usually I have enough recipes to choose from that this is doable. I also take stock of what we have in the fridge/freezer to see if there's anything we can use up. At that stage, I don't assign meals to particular days - I usually wait to see what groceries we get and then decide each day based on how things are ripe/wilting.
On not wasting: picking meals that use complementary ingredients, and substituting where necessary, is key to this. I know from experience that one butternut squash, even the smallest one they have available at the store, is too much for two of us unless it's the main ingredient in the meal, so if I plan to make a butternut squash meal I pick another meal that week that I can also use that ingredient in. I also don't have recipes for sides - I just always make a vegetable side, usually a vegetable that was in a recipe another day that week (i.e. kale in a soup on Monday, kale as a side to chicken on Wednesday). Before I start dinner each night I look at the vegetables in the fridge, which helps because I can usually add an extra one in to whatever I'm making (mushrooms or spinach into pasta sauce even if the recipe doesn't call for it, etc). It also helps to know the shelf life of what you buy, which comes with experience. For example, I know that if I buy parmesan cheese I can keep that in the fridge for a while, whereas if I buy a block of feta I better have two recipes that can use a feta-type cheese that week or else I'll end up throwing it away.
Other tips: I always divide and freeze meat as soon as I get it. I always check the recipe's portion sizes and scale down as needed. I also check the amount the recipe is calling for (two sprigs of parsley? just don't use it or pick another herb I already have...) and why. I hate eating the same thing two nights in a row, so if I do have too much of an ingredient, I keep it as-is instead of making extra of the meal - that way, we can have a kind of smorgasbord of various small items instead of another big portion.
I highly prize a) variety and b) inspiration/not having to think of meals out of thin air, so my method works for me, but on preview a lot of people have given good advice about more impromptu and budget-friendly meal planning.
posted by cpatterson at 12:53 PM on January 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
--I don't want to get all Martha Stewart but this is one area her brand used to do well. I subscribed to the now defunct Everyday Food magazine from MS for just this reason: every issue it had a section devoted to an entire week's worth of meals with an included shopping list which made use of those odds and ends. A few of them are still available on the website here and here. When I see magazines I'm not aware I have I grab 'em - your local library might have some. Many of the recipes are also included in the cookbook from the magazine, which is also conveniently separated into seasonal sections - and buying seasonal is a great way to save money.
--We have about 5 meals we rotate (~2 each week) that are just guaranteed to be on the menu made with pantry goods like canned beans or couscous. Whenever there's a sale on those items we grab as many as we can. We also freeze bulk sale items like meat to be used later. The bonus of those meals is that if we go out we can just swap that night's pre-planned meal for the night that pantry meal was planned with no loss.
--My favorite way of using up veggies is sheet pan roasted vegetables with some olive oil and herbs - it's pretty much a guaranteed meal around our house one day of the week. You can slice up and combine most of them.
-I try as much as possible to double the meal if I'm cooking in a crockpot and freeze half. This really helps with recipes that call for things like half an onion.
--That all said, one day a few years ago - using all of that - we sat down and came up with about 30 meals that are just our go to meals. All relatively simple to cook and shop for, and easy to add to or substitute seasonal variations. We put together all the ingredients from all those meals into one document with a space for quantities by each, printed up a bunch, and then we take about 20 minutes to put together our meal plan using those go-to meals according to sales and our needs for the following week (at our house it's on Wed.). So that's the way pulled pork one day can become pulled pork sandwiches the next. It took some time to build to this point but now that we're here we recognize the ingredients needed for them when looking for sales and planning ahead for the week. Although we both love cooking and variety, we save that for weekends. In addition, a lot of the ingredients on the list are used by lots of our meals, so if we buy butter I know it will get used.
--We have 2 freezer meals ready to go for guests. We also have a few freezer meals that can just be popped in the microwave because not wanting to cook is the biggest reason we go out, and that's much easier on our wallets.
posted by barchan at 12:54 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
--We have about 5 meals we rotate (~2 each week) that are just guaranteed to be on the menu made with pantry goods like canned beans or couscous. Whenever there's a sale on those items we grab as many as we can. We also freeze bulk sale items like meat to be used later. The bonus of those meals is that if we go out we can just swap that night's pre-planned meal for the night that pantry meal was planned with no loss.
--My favorite way of using up veggies is sheet pan roasted vegetables with some olive oil and herbs - it's pretty much a guaranteed meal around our house one day of the week. You can slice up and combine most of them.
-I try as much as possible to double the meal if I'm cooking in a crockpot and freeze half. This really helps with recipes that call for things like half an onion.
--That all said, one day a few years ago - using all of that - we sat down and came up with about 30 meals that are just our go to meals. All relatively simple to cook and shop for, and easy to add to or substitute seasonal variations. We put together all the ingredients from all those meals into one document with a space for quantities by each, printed up a bunch, and then we take about 20 minutes to put together our meal plan using those go-to meals according to sales and our needs for the following week (at our house it's on Wed.). So that's the way pulled pork one day can become pulled pork sandwiches the next. It took some time to build to this point but now that we're here we recognize the ingredients needed for them when looking for sales and planning ahead for the week. Although we both love cooking and variety, we save that for weekends. In addition, a lot of the ingredients on the list are used by lots of our meals, so if we buy butter I know it will get used.
--We have 2 freezer meals ready to go for guests. We also have a few freezer meals that can just be popped in the microwave because not wanting to cook is the biggest reason we go out, and that's much easier on our wallets.
posted by barchan at 12:54 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Unexpected money saver:
Kale is expensive, not quite as insanely good for you as we have been led to believe, and honestly doesn't really stand out in taste versus other greens. Chinese/napa cabbage and the Southern foliage triumvirate of collard, mustard, and turnip greens are all dirt cheap and better for you.
Take a few slices off of the top of a napa cabbage and it's self-shredded to add to any kind of soup or put on any kind of sandwich.
Chop and steam or boil the Southern greens, spread them out on a cookie sheet, freeze them, break them apart and keep frozen in a freezer bag or whatever. Toss that into any kind of soup, or reheat with a splash of vinegar.
A big batch of rice n' beans n' greens is hard to beat. It's tasty, nutritious, cheap, easy, and freezable.
posted by cmoj at 1:01 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Kale is expensive, not quite as insanely good for you as we have been led to believe, and honestly doesn't really stand out in taste versus other greens. Chinese/napa cabbage and the Southern foliage triumvirate of collard, mustard, and turnip greens are all dirt cheap and better for you.
Take a few slices off of the top of a napa cabbage and it's self-shredded to add to any kind of soup or put on any kind of sandwich.
Chop and steam or boil the Southern greens, spread them out on a cookie sheet, freeze them, break them apart and keep frozen in a freezer bag or whatever. Toss that into any kind of soup, or reheat with a splash of vinegar.
A big batch of rice n' beans n' greens is hard to beat. It's tasty, nutritious, cheap, easy, and freezable.
posted by cmoj at 1:01 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Also, keeping veggie ends frozen to make stock will stretch vegetables and up your soup game, but don't use anything from the cabbage family (Brassicaceae) because they will develop sulfurous compounds with long cooking.
posted by cmoj at 1:04 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by cmoj at 1:04 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Another freezer-based tip: buy less than you'll actually need and get okay with some occasional freezer eating. Instead of throwing out two days of food every week i routinely buy groceries to cover 4 or so days with the probability that one or both of us ends up eating out and when i have too little we make dinner from basics from the freezer (i keep a couple pounds of grass fed ground beef and a variety of green veg in there- theres also no shame in eating eggs for breakfast occasionally).
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:13 PM on January 11, 2016
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:13 PM on January 11, 2016
We're still fairly new to the meal planning thing. Here's what we found works out for us.
Every week, usually on Saturday morning:
* Check what's in the fridge that needs to be used up. Put those things early in the week.
* Round it out to Wednesday or Thursday night's meal, keeping in mind what ingredients are in season.
* Go shopping and buy the stuff, plus whatever's on sale that looks delicious.
We cook the "large" meals on the weekend. This is usually something that takes a long time or something new that is pretty involved. If there isn't something like that, then I usually make a cake or two. (We enjoy cooking and baking.)
Cook smaller meals during the week.
If the leftovers/meal is not enough food, we'll cook some eggs (over easy, poached, or scrambled) to add to it. If that's still not enough, we have some dessert.
If we know we have a guest coming, we'll usually ask them to bring bread and we'll make garlic bread to round out the meal. If one meal is particularly fun, we'll switch the days around.
We'll also switch meals around if one or both of us is feeling particularly tired/lazy/busy and there is an "easy" meal later in the week.
Neither of us drinks milk. But we make kefir. So we keep fresh milk in the fridge regularly and make sure to use it up for kefir. If we have too much kefir, we'll make mango lassi, or tzatziki sauce, or some baked good that uses it. (Use it in place of buttermilk and/or sour cream.) Making kefir is a lot cheaper than buying yogurt from the store. It also probably has more probiotics. And I think it tastes better.
Usually, even though we plan for the meals to be done by Wednesday/Thursday, we have enough leftovers to last us until Saturday. This is due to a combination of events that come up, not feeling as hungry as expected, cooking larger portions than expected, etc. If we don't, these are our stand-bys:
* Spinach salad. We almost always have spinach in the fridge for morning smoothies.
* Eat something from the freezer. We usually have homemade pesto, ravioli, etc in the freezer. Or just a couple of scoops of ice cream. (We have no kids so we usually just wing it if we're really lazy.)
* Eat something canned. Usually pasta and marinara sauce, or something with canned beans.
* Eat out.
posted by ethidda at 2:08 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Every week, usually on Saturday morning:
* Check what's in the fridge that needs to be used up. Put those things early in the week.
* Round it out to Wednesday or Thursday night's meal, keeping in mind what ingredients are in season.
* Go shopping and buy the stuff, plus whatever's on sale that looks delicious.
We cook the "large" meals on the weekend. This is usually something that takes a long time or something new that is pretty involved. If there isn't something like that, then I usually make a cake or two. (We enjoy cooking and baking.)
Cook smaller meals during the week.
If the leftovers/meal is not enough food, we'll cook some eggs (over easy, poached, or scrambled) to add to it. If that's still not enough, we have some dessert.
If we know we have a guest coming, we'll usually ask them to bring bread and we'll make garlic bread to round out the meal. If one meal is particularly fun, we'll switch the days around.
We'll also switch meals around if one or both of us is feeling particularly tired/lazy/busy and there is an "easy" meal later in the week.
Neither of us drinks milk. But we make kefir. So we keep fresh milk in the fridge regularly and make sure to use it up for kefir. If we have too much kefir, we'll make mango lassi, or tzatziki sauce, or some baked good that uses it. (Use it in place of buttermilk and/or sour cream.) Making kefir is a lot cheaper than buying yogurt from the store. It also probably has more probiotics. And I think it tastes better.
Usually, even though we plan for the meals to be done by Wednesday/Thursday, we have enough leftovers to last us until Saturday. This is due to a combination of events that come up, not feeling as hungry as expected, cooking larger portions than expected, etc. If we don't, these are our stand-bys:
* Spinach salad. We almost always have spinach in the fridge for morning smoothies.
* Eat something from the freezer. We usually have homemade pesto, ravioli, etc in the freezer. Or just a couple of scoops of ice cream. (We have no kids so we usually just wing it if we're really lazy.)
* Eat something canned. Usually pasta and marinara sauce, or something with canned beans.
* Eat out.
posted by ethidda at 2:08 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
We always struggled with the odds and ends, so I ended up putting a little bin in the fridge that we can put the half an onion and the partially used lemon or lime, and all the little chiles that get bought and then lost at the bottom of the crisper drawer in. It has worked wonders.
Each week I sit down and inventory the fridge, writing out the leftovers and any produce that's in there, then making my meal plan for the week based on using that stuff up with recipes (either from online or from our cookbooks) and then basing my grocery list off that. We do a similar mental calculation based on our schedules for the week and work on the assumption that every time we cook we are making enough food for two dinners, and stuff like the big Sunday dinner that we do each week tends to get made into an element of one to two dinner during the week, usually something like tacos or burritos. Our meal planning mostly focuses on dinners, but also make sure we get stuff to make our lunches 4 out of 5 days a week, including 8 servings of soup that I usually make on Saturdays or Sundays.
This approach seems to work well for us and we've stuck to it for a year now. We waste FAR less food than we used to and get to limit our grocery shopping to one sensible trip per week. In the beginning I wrote the meal plan out each week, using this template, but now I tend to just do it mentally.
posted by urbanlenny at 2:15 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Each week I sit down and inventory the fridge, writing out the leftovers and any produce that's in there, then making my meal plan for the week based on using that stuff up with recipes (either from online or from our cookbooks) and then basing my grocery list off that. We do a similar mental calculation based on our schedules for the week and work on the assumption that every time we cook we are making enough food for two dinners, and stuff like the big Sunday dinner that we do each week tends to get made into an element of one to two dinner during the week, usually something like tacos or burritos. Our meal planning mostly focuses on dinners, but also make sure we get stuff to make our lunches 4 out of 5 days a week, including 8 servings of soup that I usually make on Saturdays or Sundays.
This approach seems to work well for us and we've stuck to it for a year now. We waste FAR less food than we used to and get to limit our grocery shopping to one sensible trip per week. In the beginning I wrote the meal plan out each week, using this template, but now I tend to just do it mentally.
posted by urbanlenny at 2:15 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I don't know if you're aiming so low-carb that you're avoiding legumes, but one of the ways we dealt with odds and ends of vegetables at the end of our grocery cycle was to throw them into some sort of tomato passata-based veggie skillet stew anchored by a legume and maybe served with a grain. It's something we were able to throw together on auto-pilot, but it gets tiresome after a while.
Upping my sauce game has turned out to be a good solution. I'll roast or grill whatever veggies are left behind and drizzle them with a sauce: my go-tos are lemon tahini or green goddess dressing, but I've also liked breadless romesco sauce or chimichurri. Add some protein and serve over greens or grains, and you're good to go.
I know this risks coming across as a MeFi self-parody, but getting meal planning to go smoothly takes a fair bit of emotional labour. If you split cooking duties with your partner, they have to be on board with cooking intentionally and not defaulting to cooking huge batches of things out of convenience. I'm not sure if this is an issue for you, but the other way this might break down is if someone feels that they must use the entirety of an ingredient when cooking one dish. It's hard to plan for variety if you often come home to all the tomatoes having been turned into bruschetta, or all the eggs made into egg salad. I didn't imagine that this would be a consistent issue until it happened in my household. It takes a lot of communication from everyone involved to make this type of meal prep work, and ultimately, your partner needs to get why cooking this way matters to you.
posted by blerghamot at 2:19 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Upping my sauce game has turned out to be a good solution. I'll roast or grill whatever veggies are left behind and drizzle them with a sauce: my go-tos are lemon tahini or green goddess dressing, but I've also liked breadless romesco sauce or chimichurri. Add some protein and serve over greens or grains, and you're good to go.
I know this risks coming across as a MeFi self-parody, but getting meal planning to go smoothly takes a fair bit of emotional labour. If you split cooking duties with your partner, they have to be on board with cooking intentionally and not defaulting to cooking huge batches of things out of convenience. I'm not sure if this is an issue for you, but the other way this might break down is if someone feels that they must use the entirety of an ingredient when cooking one dish. It's hard to plan for variety if you often come home to all the tomatoes having been turned into bruschetta, or all the eggs made into egg salad. I didn't imagine that this would be a consistent issue until it happened in my household. It takes a lot of communication from everyone involved to make this type of meal prep work, and ultimately, your partner needs to get why cooking this way matters to you.
posted by blerghamot at 2:19 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
We pay a little less than $7/month to CookSmarts, which provides me with a weekly shopping list, prep list (ie "peel & chop potatoes" and "make this sauce"), and recipes for 4 meals. You choose how many meals and how many servings, and the website customizes your shopping list/prep list accordingly. The meals are coordinated so that you use up all of your ingredients and don't have too much leftover waste, and the variety is fabulous.
There are two of us and we normally eat out (or eat frozen pizza or cereal) a few nights a week, so we normally end up cooking three meals and making 4 servings of 2 of them. For each meal, there is a "Traditional," "Vegetarian," "Gluten Free," and "Paleo" option, which works great for us. Finally, you can also plug in a meal from the archives if you don't like the options assigned that week (although that may throw off the ingredient efficiencies and you may end up with half a can of beans unused, or something random).
posted by samthemander at 2:31 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
There are two of us and we normally eat out (or eat frozen pizza or cereal) a few nights a week, so we normally end up cooking three meals and making 4 servings of 2 of them. For each meal, there is a "Traditional," "Vegetarian," "Gluten Free," and "Paleo" option, which works great for us. Finally, you can also plug in a meal from the archives if you don't like the options assigned that week (although that may throw off the ingredient efficiencies and you may end up with half a can of beans unused, or something random).
posted by samthemander at 2:31 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have probably about 10 or so core fresh ingredients that I always keep on hand --- peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, scallions. Aromatics, really, now that I think about it. When I do a big shop, I'll refresh my stock of those, plus pick up perishable ingredients for one or two more meals depending on what looks good/a new recipe I feel like trying--- this week, I got some bok choy, some tomatillos, and some salad greens. So now I have two or three special meals I know I have to make at some point during the week. For the rest of the time, I poke my head in the fridge, see what needs using up, and think about what I could make with it. I keep wide variety of spices and pantry stuff, so I can take my core perishables and make pasta, curry, stir fry, etc. depending on what I'm in the mood for and feel like defrosting for a protein. The basic pershibles should last ~two weeks, so I usually have some leeway.
The key I've learned for me is to not get over ambitious at the grocery store and buy speciality perishables for four or five dishes at once --- that's when I end up with a ton of bits-and-bobs leftovers that can't be used together and so go south. Most of the stuff I make on the regular tends to freeze quite well too, so even if I make a 5-6 serving dish, I'm not stuck eating that and only that for the whole week.
posted by Diablevert at 2:56 PM on January 11, 2016
The key I've learned for me is to not get over ambitious at the grocery store and buy speciality perishables for four or five dishes at once --- that's when I end up with a ton of bits-and-bobs leftovers that can't be used together and so go south. Most of the stuff I make on the regular tends to freeze quite well too, so even if I make a 5-6 serving dish, I'm not stuck eating that and only that for the whole week.
posted by Diablevert at 2:56 PM on January 11, 2016
Dinners only, ingredients that iterate, and includes a shopping list, here. No repetitions, and this then provides a good framework for changing it up. They have a how-to as well.
Also, odds and ends of veg? Stock or soup.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 3:06 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, odds and ends of veg? Stock or soup.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 3:06 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
You might find these links helpful for refining your own strategies. Also they have some good recipes!
Budget Bytes' Principles
Meal plans from Oh My Veggies! where she often explains how she'll use one ingredient several times in the week.
posted by purple_bird at 4:06 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Budget Bytes' Principles
Meal plans from Oh My Veggies! where she often explains how she'll use one ingredient several times in the week.
posted by purple_bird at 4:06 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
To affirm and build on what others have said:
1. Use your freezer to store meats and frozen veggies so that you don't have to cook up all the raw ingredients at one time
2. Incorporate a soup night into your week. I do "souper" Saturdays. :) soups are a great way to use up leftover ingredients.
3. Make sure bulkier items like winter squashes fit at least 2 of your weekly recipes so you can ensure it will get all used up
4. Know that ginger and lemongrass and horseradish can all be stored in the freezer so you have them all the time and yet they don't go to waste.
5. Buy tomato paste in the tube instead of can. It's better quality and can keep for weeks and weeks after opening. Bc nobody I know uses an entire can of tomato paste when they open it.
6. Have a pasta night. And a salad night. Just like soups these two meals accommodate leftovers well. Pasta for dinner is ok for lower carb if you don't go crazy w carbs for brekkie or lunch.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 4:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
1. Use your freezer to store meats and frozen veggies so that you don't have to cook up all the raw ingredients at one time
2. Incorporate a soup night into your week. I do "souper" Saturdays. :) soups are a great way to use up leftover ingredients.
3. Make sure bulkier items like winter squashes fit at least 2 of your weekly recipes so you can ensure it will get all used up
4. Know that ginger and lemongrass and horseradish can all be stored in the freezer so you have them all the time and yet they don't go to waste.
5. Buy tomato paste in the tube instead of can. It's better quality and can keep for weeks and weeks after opening. Bc nobody I know uses an entire can of tomato paste when they open it.
6. Have a pasta night. And a salad night. Just like soups these two meals accommodate leftovers well. Pasta for dinner is ok for lower carb if you don't go crazy w carbs for brekkie or lunch.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 4:33 PM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
On Friday night or Saturday morning, I look in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what needs to be used up and to get ideas based on combinations of what we already have.
Then I make a menu for the week. I have categories of things that I typically make -- one night pasta, one night tacos, etc. Sunday is my bread baking day so I usually plan a stew or soup for dinner. Friday the kids get chicken nuggets and fries and the grownups eat fish (frozen, in big bags from Costco) with whatever veggies are left in the fridge, cooked up or made into a salad.
Based on my menu, I make a shopping list and go shopping. (During the week, I also write down anything on my shopping list that we need to restock.) I usually buy sale items to use in the future, rather than basing my menu and shopping list on the sale items.
It helps a lot to have about half a dozen go-to meals. Make three of them each week and you won't get bored but menu planning will be much easier. For example, some of my go-to meals are: quesadillas with salsa, guacamole, and black bean salad (kids eat various components of this); sausage, roasted cauliflower, and grain blend; pasta, chicken, and broccoli; enchiladas (when I have extra time to assemble them); chili and cornbread; breakfast for dinner (waffles and bacon, or pancakes and sausage, usually with sliced apples or other fruit instead of a vegetable). These can be varied quite a bit, but it's good to have something that I know how to make without a recipe and that I know everybody will manage to eat without too much yelling. Which (I hope) is not a concern in your all-adult household. Even so, it's still useful to have meals in regular rotation.
For me, some weeks I'll feel adventurous and make several new recipes; some weeks I'll feel exhausted and stick to easy basics; some weeks I'll challenge myself to cook entirely out of the pantry/freezer and keep new purchases to a bare minimum.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:19 PM on January 11, 2016
Then I make a menu for the week. I have categories of things that I typically make -- one night pasta, one night tacos, etc. Sunday is my bread baking day so I usually plan a stew or soup for dinner. Friday the kids get chicken nuggets and fries and the grownups eat fish (frozen, in big bags from Costco) with whatever veggies are left in the fridge, cooked up or made into a salad.
Based on my menu, I make a shopping list and go shopping. (During the week, I also write down anything on my shopping list that we need to restock.) I usually buy sale items to use in the future, rather than basing my menu and shopping list on the sale items.
It helps a lot to have about half a dozen go-to meals. Make three of them each week and you won't get bored but menu planning will be much easier. For example, some of my go-to meals are: quesadillas with salsa, guacamole, and black bean salad (kids eat various components of this); sausage, roasted cauliflower, and grain blend; pasta, chicken, and broccoli; enchiladas (when I have extra time to assemble them); chili and cornbread; breakfast for dinner (waffles and bacon, or pancakes and sausage, usually with sliced apples or other fruit instead of a vegetable). These can be varied quite a bit, but it's good to have something that I know how to make without a recipe and that I know everybody will manage to eat without too much yelling. Which (I hope) is not a concern in your all-adult household. Even so, it's still useful to have meals in regular rotation.
For me, some weeks I'll feel adventurous and make several new recipes; some weeks I'll feel exhausted and stick to easy basics; some weeks I'll challenge myself to cook entirely out of the pantry/freezer and keep new purchases to a bare minimum.
posted by chickenmagazine at 6:19 PM on January 11, 2016
I have set categories.
On the weekend I figure out exactly what I'll be making in each category and do any prep work that I can. I try to minimize cooking so for example I'll reserve some of the stir fry veggies and protein for quesadillas the next night. It's so helpful to always know that we're having pizza Friday so I need to make pizza dough on Thursday night and make sure I have cheese, etc before Friday afternoon. Soups are made in big batches when I have time and frozen in single servings for soup night.
Monday- grilled cheese and soup
Tuesday- big salad or pasta (depending on how healthy we're being that week)
Wednesday- stir fry
Thursday- quesadillas
Friday- pizza
Saturday- leftovers or takeout
Sunday- some sort of roast or slow cooker main that can be used for lunches for the week (if we do pulled pork for example I only put sauce on half of it and use the pork in most meals or I'll bake kitchen breasts with just salt and pepper and olive oil and flavor them differently each night)
Meals for cleaning out the fridge, depending on cuisine:
-rice bowl (squirt of hoisin sauce, a glurg of sesame oil, protein and veggies)
-quesadilla with unusual flavorings (Italian cheeses, basil, sausage)
-quiche
-dirty mac (make a full box of pasta on pasta night and save half. Layer pasta, cheese, butter, veggies, protein, herbs, whatever. Bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is melted)
Quesadillas are my go-to when we're busy so I always have an extra brick of cheddar, chorizo, red onions (sauteed quickly), and tortillas on hand. I've done the math and I've made at least 3500 quesadillas in my adult life.
If I have time and energy I try to add either a soup or salad most nights, just to increase veggie intake.
I've been working seriously at menu planning for the last six years and just now feel like I'm getting it down. The trick is to develop weekly plans that sort of flow together. So I'll buy basil on Sunday and use it as a garnish on tomato soup, on the pasta, in a Thai stir fry and on the pizza.
For saving money, pork butt pulled in the slow cooker produces lots of pork. Pork belly cooked in the oven is super flavorful, usually pretty cheap, and a little goes a long way.
posted by betsybetsy at 6:22 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
On the weekend I figure out exactly what I'll be making in each category and do any prep work that I can. I try to minimize cooking so for example I'll reserve some of the stir fry veggies and protein for quesadillas the next night. It's so helpful to always know that we're having pizza Friday so I need to make pizza dough on Thursday night and make sure I have cheese, etc before Friday afternoon. Soups are made in big batches when I have time and frozen in single servings for soup night.
Monday- grilled cheese and soup
Tuesday- big salad or pasta (depending on how healthy we're being that week)
Wednesday- stir fry
Thursday- quesadillas
Friday- pizza
Saturday- leftovers or takeout
Sunday- some sort of roast or slow cooker main that can be used for lunches for the week (if we do pulled pork for example I only put sauce on half of it and use the pork in most meals or I'll bake kitchen breasts with just salt and pepper and olive oil and flavor them differently each night)
Meals for cleaning out the fridge, depending on cuisine:
-rice bowl (squirt of hoisin sauce, a glurg of sesame oil, protein and veggies)
-quesadilla with unusual flavorings (Italian cheeses, basil, sausage)
-quiche
-dirty mac (make a full box of pasta on pasta night and save half. Layer pasta, cheese, butter, veggies, protein, herbs, whatever. Bake in 400 degree oven until cheese is melted)
Quesadillas are my go-to when we're busy so I always have an extra brick of cheddar, chorizo, red onions (sauteed quickly), and tortillas on hand. I've done the math and I've made at least 3500 quesadillas in my adult life.
If I have time and energy I try to add either a soup or salad most nights, just to increase veggie intake.
I've been working seriously at menu planning for the last six years and just now feel like I'm getting it down. The trick is to develop weekly plans that sort of flow together. So I'll buy basil on Sunday and use it as a garnish on tomato soup, on the pasta, in a Thai stir fry and on the pizza.
For saving money, pork butt pulled in the slow cooker produces lots of pork. Pork belly cooked in the oven is super flavorful, usually pretty cheap, and a little goes a long way.
posted by betsybetsy at 6:22 PM on January 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
We are another household with set categories for every day of the week:
Sunday: Big Deal Meal -- casserole or experimental recipe, plus one side we can re-purpose
Monday: Marinated protein + big big veggie sides
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Pizza Wednesday
Thursday: Eggs Galore
Friday: Apps'n'Zerts or Fuck It, It's Friday, We're Going Out
Saturday: Soup
For example, this week's meal had us using up a head of cabbage plus half our carrots (both from the CSA) for cole slaw on Sunday, which we had with salmon steak from our fish CSA and roasted sweet potato chips from the sweet potato we got with our farm CSA.
Tonight was a mess of parmesan-and-shallots with swiss chard (CSA veg), roasted broccoli (also CSA) and marinated flank steak. Tomorrow will be fish tacos with the leftover slaw. Wednesday, we'll order pizza. We'll cut up fruit (CSA) on the side.
Thursday, we'll make some refrigerator pie with the remaining stalks of chard, leftover leeks from last week's CSA haul, plus some pancetta we have in the deli drawer and some leftover parmesan.
Friday is "apps'n'zerts," which we borrowed from Parks and Rec -- we may do quesadillas or throw some Trader Joe's frozen stuff in the oven, and then cut up fruits and veg crudites. I have a few grapefruits courtesy of the CSA, so I will be broiling those with brown sugar for dessert. Saturday, we'll make a big batch of ginger butternut squash soup.
It took a few years to get to well-oiled machine status on this stuff, but once we mastered three habits, it took. Those three habits: Don't buy a lot of food. (Then you have less to go bad ...) Give yourself at least one night where you're all, "Screw it, I'm not cooking." And develop a core collection of recipes that complement one another. Identify the ingredients that your household loves and that you can stick in lots of different dishes, and build around those.
posted by sobell at 7:23 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sunday: Big Deal Meal -- casserole or experimental recipe, plus one side we can re-purpose
Monday: Marinated protein + big big veggie sides
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday
Wednesday: Pizza Wednesday
Thursday: Eggs Galore
Friday: Apps'n'Zerts or Fuck It, It's Friday, We're Going Out
Saturday: Soup
For example, this week's meal had us using up a head of cabbage plus half our carrots (both from the CSA) for cole slaw on Sunday, which we had with salmon steak from our fish CSA and roasted sweet potato chips from the sweet potato we got with our farm CSA.
Tonight was a mess of parmesan-and-shallots with swiss chard (CSA veg), roasted broccoli (also CSA) and marinated flank steak. Tomorrow will be fish tacos with the leftover slaw. Wednesday, we'll order pizza. We'll cut up fruit (CSA) on the side.
Thursday, we'll make some refrigerator pie with the remaining stalks of chard, leftover leeks from last week's CSA haul, plus some pancetta we have in the deli drawer and some leftover parmesan.
Friday is "apps'n'zerts," which we borrowed from Parks and Rec -- we may do quesadillas or throw some Trader Joe's frozen stuff in the oven, and then cut up fruits and veg crudites. I have a few grapefruits courtesy of the CSA, so I will be broiling those with brown sugar for dessert. Saturday, we'll make a big batch of ginger butternut squash soup.
It took a few years to get to well-oiled machine status on this stuff, but once we mastered three habits, it took. Those three habits: Don't buy a lot of food. (Then you have less to go bad ...) Give yourself at least one night where you're all, "Screw it, I'm not cooking." And develop a core collection of recipes that complement one another. Identify the ingredients that your household loves and that you can stick in lots of different dishes, and build around those.
posted by sobell at 7:23 PM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I used to go nuts and buy all the fruits and veggies that appealed to me/were on sale, which meant my small fridge got stuffed and some produce languished. I now sort out what canned or frozen veggies or fruits I can keep in the pantry or freezer, then buy limited fresh produce to fill the gaps. As you may already know, frozen produce can be as fresh or fresher than "fresh" produce, and some veggies are more nutritious canned.
So I start with a specific set of veggies each week that fit my appetite and pantry/fridge space, THEN I plan my meals around them, working from a list of fave recipes and maybe some new finds. Here's my typical stocking plan (YMMV):
- FROZEN: home-made caramelized onions, peas, corn, edamame, whole green and wax beans (not cut -- those taste awful!), and various frozen berries. (I don't care much for frozen mixed veg, carrots or broccoli, but if you do, buy those, too.)
- CANNED: tomatoes, pumpkin
When it comes time to buy fresh produce, I categorize. Again, shape this to your preferences.
- WINTER FRUIT: Only enough pears and/or apples to last the week OR only enough oranges and/or grapefruit to last the week. I may supplement this with 1-2 servings of banana or kiwi . The focus on one type of fruit means that you can just eat them straight without dying of boredom (knowing that things will switch up the next week) or the repetition will spur you to try a couple of different prepared dishes around that fruit theme. Keep in mind you can just under-buy fresh fruit in any given week and use frozen berries instead.
- ONIONS and other ALLIUMS: Unless you really like using lightly cooked fresh yellow or red onions every day, buy a large bag at intervals and caramelize 3 pounds at a time in the slow cooker, storing the results in three small containers. Have a bit of garlic and ginger on hand at all times, and buy shallots OR green onions in sufficient quantities for that week only. Switch it up the next week.
- OTHER ROOT VEGETABLES: I used to buy carrots, yellow potatoes, sweet potatoes and rutabaga all at the same time. Now I usually only have one type of potato and one non-potato root.
- LEAFY GREENS: If you honestly truly expect to eat lots of these, buy what you expect to eat in one week, but otherwise choose ONE type of salad greens (baby spinach of leaf lettuce, for example) and ONE type of cooking greens like yu choi or kale.
- THIS WEEK'S SUPPORTING VEGGIES: Here's where you can add some broccoli or cabbage or sweet peppers or what have you, but only if you know for certain that you will eat them up on their own or with your other choices. Frex, cabbage and yellow potatoes bought in the same week = colcannon.
- FRESH HERBS: Either grow your own in the kitchen window or pick just one green herb each week. If you know that you'll need two types for a specific dish (e.g. parsley and cilantro for harira), buy both, but don't just buy multiple types of herbs, then expect to find multiple recipes using these herbs if you have a history of letting herbs languish.
posted by maudlin at 8:13 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
So I start with a specific set of veggies each week that fit my appetite and pantry/fridge space, THEN I plan my meals around them, working from a list of fave recipes and maybe some new finds. Here's my typical stocking plan (YMMV):
- FROZEN: home-made caramelized onions, peas, corn, edamame, whole green and wax beans (not cut -- those taste awful!), and various frozen berries. (I don't care much for frozen mixed veg, carrots or broccoli, but if you do, buy those, too.)
- CANNED: tomatoes, pumpkin
When it comes time to buy fresh produce, I categorize. Again, shape this to your preferences.
- WINTER FRUIT: Only enough pears and/or apples to last the week OR only enough oranges and/or grapefruit to last the week. I may supplement this with 1-2 servings of banana or kiwi . The focus on one type of fruit means that you can just eat them straight without dying of boredom (knowing that things will switch up the next week) or the repetition will spur you to try a couple of different prepared dishes around that fruit theme. Keep in mind you can just under-buy fresh fruit in any given week and use frozen berries instead.
- ONIONS and other ALLIUMS: Unless you really like using lightly cooked fresh yellow or red onions every day, buy a large bag at intervals and caramelize 3 pounds at a time in the slow cooker, storing the results in three small containers. Have a bit of garlic and ginger on hand at all times, and buy shallots OR green onions in sufficient quantities for that week only. Switch it up the next week.
- OTHER ROOT VEGETABLES: I used to buy carrots, yellow potatoes, sweet potatoes and rutabaga all at the same time. Now I usually only have one type of potato and one non-potato root.
- LEAFY GREENS: If you honestly truly expect to eat lots of these, buy what you expect to eat in one week, but otherwise choose ONE type of salad greens (baby spinach of leaf lettuce, for example) and ONE type of cooking greens like yu choi or kale.
- THIS WEEK'S SUPPORTING VEGGIES: Here's where you can add some broccoli or cabbage or sweet peppers or what have you, but only if you know for certain that you will eat them up on their own or with your other choices. Frex, cabbage and yellow potatoes bought in the same week = colcannon.
- FRESH HERBS: Either grow your own in the kitchen window or pick just one green herb each week. If you know that you'll need two types for a specific dish (e.g. parsley and cilantro for harira), buy both, but don't just buy multiple types of herbs, then expect to find multiple recipes using these herbs if you have a history of letting herbs languish.
posted by maudlin at 8:13 PM on January 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
https://www.eatthismuch.com/ automatically generates both recipes and shopping lists. Customizable for nutritional goals, budget, cooking time, reusing leftovers, etc. After free trial costs like $5 a month iirc.
posted by mikek at 9:16 PM on January 11, 2016
posted by mikek at 9:16 PM on January 11, 2016
Go shopping with a list, based on a meal plan for several days, but always keep an eye out for things on sale because they've hit their pull-date. Especially protein! If it's a smallish store, like our Food Co-op or our local Trader Joe's, ask if they have a schedule for putting stuff on sale, and then try to aim for those times. Remember that "sell by" dates aren't "don't eat after" dates but only there to make sure the food won't be too stale after a few days at your house.
When you buy produce, try to buy seasonally. Of course you can get strawberries or asparagus or squash any time of the year at your usual Big Box supermarket, but know what's in season and you'll get better food cheaper. Not necessarily locally, but for instance, oranges are plentiful and low in price in the winter everywhere. We get wonderful hydroponic tomatoes from Canada (20 miles away in our case) that are as good all year round.
Remember: we were hunter-gatherers for a very long time. Relax and have fun -- yes, it is possible! You don't have to get it right every time, either. (And a compost pile, no matter how small, makes forgetting food until it's become ex-food a little more positive.)
posted by kestralwing at 10:45 PM on January 11, 2016
When you buy produce, try to buy seasonally. Of course you can get strawberries or asparagus or squash any time of the year at your usual Big Box supermarket, but know what's in season and you'll get better food cheaper. Not necessarily locally, but for instance, oranges are plentiful and low in price in the winter everywhere. We get wonderful hydroponic tomatoes from Canada (20 miles away in our case) that are as good all year round.
Remember: we were hunter-gatherers for a very long time. Relax and have fun -- yes, it is possible! You don't have to get it right every time, either. (And a compost pile, no matter how small, makes forgetting food until it's become ex-food a little more positive.)
posted by kestralwing at 10:45 PM on January 11, 2016
I'll Nth the "soups and stocks" suggestion. I routinely put small amounts of veggies into freezer bags and toss them in the freezer, especially chopped onion, celery and carrot (the makings of mirepoix). I also always have two gallon freezer bags for "bones," one for brown stock, and one for chicken. When one of the gallon bags gets half-full, I open it up on a weekend, add mirepoix, add water, and throw it in the sous vide at 195F for 24 hours or so. Strain it and skim the fat, and I've got stock.
Put that stock back on the stove, and reduce. Then either freeze the stock in ice-cube trays or cup freezer containers for future use in soups, risotto, etc. If I have time and nothing else on the stove, I'll concentrate the stock all the way down to a glace which takes up even less space in the freezer.
This doesn't really cover the "menu planning" portion of your question, because I tend to plan two or three menus per week. The rest is ad-hockery, making it up when I get home from work (where the meal plan is "leftovers go onto pizza"). We eat out about twice a week too, but the veggies from the planned meals were where I always got into leftover trouble, and freezing those for soups has solved that problem for me.
posted by DaveP at 3:20 AM on January 12, 2016
Put that stock back on the stove, and reduce. Then either freeze the stock in ice-cube trays or cup freezer containers for future use in soups, risotto, etc. If I have time and nothing else on the stove, I'll concentrate the stock all the way down to a glace which takes up even less space in the freezer.
This doesn't really cover the "menu planning" portion of your question, because I tend to plan two or three menus per week. The rest is ad-hockery, making it up when I get home from work (where the meal plan is "leftovers go onto pizza"). We eat out about twice a week too, but the veggies from the planned meals were where I always got into leftover trouble, and freezing those for soups has solved that problem for me.
posted by DaveP at 3:20 AM on January 12, 2016
At a time when menu planning became difficult for her, my wife started following the monthly menus published by Women's Day. You may have to buy the magazine to stay current. Recipies are supplied for dishes not covered by an ordinary cookbook, though we found them to be rudimentary.
In our experience, the menus include more low-cost dishes (e.g. eggs) than we would have chosen ourselves. There a couple times each month that something from one day is carried over to a later day. We substituted freely, e.g. when they called for liver, I penciled in chili.
Even if you don't follow the menus, it's a resource.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:37 AM on January 12, 2016
In our experience, the menus include more low-cost dishes (e.g. eggs) than we would have chosen ourselves. There a couple times each month that something from one day is carried over to a later day. We substituted freely, e.g. when they called for liver, I penciled in chili.
Even if you don't follow the menus, it's a resource.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:37 AM on January 12, 2016
Budget Bytes with the link this time. http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/01/budget-byting-principles/
posted by purple_bird at 9:11 AM on January 12, 2016
posted by purple_bird at 9:11 AM on January 12, 2016
A big question with lots of answers - I think because almost everyone struggles with this.
My thoughts:
1. Documenting: I use two laminated sheets as a whiteboard I can put away. I didn't want to look at an ugly whiteboard all the time, so I printed off a big grid (on two pages) and had it laminated (nothing groundbreaking). I've put it here.
2. System: Saturday/Sunday - We plan out the week, and write in the meals we've planned. I keep a list of successful staple dishes on the other side. We write out your grocery list from this.
3. Tips: Things I've learned to "process" ahead of time (and, its best if I can do it as soon as I get home from the grocery store)
Greens - The best trick to keep them alive is to wash and dry them and then take a plastic bag and poke it a few times with a fork.
Oatmeal - Steel cut oatmeal and be cooked overnight and used all week long.
Hard Veg - I've learned to love my 30$ mandolin now that I have a fillet glove to keep me from bleeding out every time I use it. Prepped carrots, beets, kohlrabi, red onion - all julienned.
Pomegranate Seeds - They're just out of season now, but for a 3 month period between Nov-Jan, they become pretty cheap. I use the water technique to deseed 3 of them and keep a huge bowl of pomegranate seeds in the fridge. They're a great snack and really liven up salads.
4. Failsafe - Come up with a "takeout emergency plan" - i.e. something that we can use that a) does not need a fresh trip to the grocery store, b) is minimal to no effort, for hard/long days where you couldn't pay me to cook. In my case, thats a pack of ravioli from the store with a can of fancy tomato sauce.
5. Quick Pickling - I was intimidated by the concept of pickling but if you're only aiming for fridge-pickles then it's just just dumping vinegar/sugar/water over vegatables to extend their fridge-life by a few weeks. Surprisingly easy way to use up old veg. I use the momofuku recipe
posted by cacofonie at 7:01 AM on January 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
My thoughts:
1. Documenting: I use two laminated sheets as a whiteboard I can put away. I didn't want to look at an ugly whiteboard all the time, so I printed off a big grid (on two pages) and had it laminated (nothing groundbreaking). I've put it here.
2. System: Saturday/Sunday - We plan out the week, and write in the meals we've planned. I keep a list of successful staple dishes on the other side. We write out your grocery list from this.
3. Tips: Things I've learned to "process" ahead of time (and, its best if I can do it as soon as I get home from the grocery store)
Greens - The best trick to keep them alive is to wash and dry them and then take a plastic bag and poke it a few times with a fork.
Oatmeal - Steel cut oatmeal and be cooked overnight and used all week long.
Hard Veg - I've learned to love my 30$ mandolin now that I have a fillet glove to keep me from bleeding out every time I use it. Prepped carrots, beets, kohlrabi, red onion - all julienned.
Pomegranate Seeds - They're just out of season now, but for a 3 month period between Nov-Jan, they become pretty cheap. I use the water technique to deseed 3 of them and keep a huge bowl of pomegranate seeds in the fridge. They're a great snack and really liven up salads.
4. Failsafe - Come up with a "takeout emergency plan" - i.e. something that we can use that a) does not need a fresh trip to the grocery store, b) is minimal to no effort, for hard/long days where you couldn't pay me to cook. In my case, thats a pack of ravioli from the store with a can of fancy tomato sauce.
5. Quick Pickling - I was intimidated by the concept of pickling but if you're only aiming for fridge-pickles then it's just just dumping vinegar/sugar/water over vegatables to extend their fridge-life by a few weeks. Surprisingly easy way to use up old veg. I use the momofuku recipe
posted by cacofonie at 7:01 AM on January 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Even easier pickle... 4:4:1 water:vinegar:sugar. Bring to rolling boil, pour over prepared veg.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:29 AM on January 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:29 AM on January 18, 2016 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Since getting a pressure cooker, I've started making a stew/soup on Sunday and throwing all the extra veggies in there. You could theoretically put anything in there. Cooked stuff I put in at the end, cheese on top. Canned beans/chickpeas for bulk.
posted by Huck500 at 12:10 PM on January 11, 2016