Do you plan your meals in advance?

I never choose the meals prior to going to the grocery store, the meals are picked while at the store. During the actual dinner days I attempt to pick out the food at least long enough for it to thaw out however I really need to get better at that as well. Trying to focus on thawing the food out the night before so I can prepare the food earlier and then not waste that time in the kitchen prior to running off to school at night.

Hi, my mom used to do the same thing. She would make her grocery list with Monday so and so, Tuesday, so and so, etc etc. I tried doing the same, but it was difficult and my kids never like what I make them, so I've basically given up on the planning. I will though plan for Sunday and try to make a decent meal. Many times when we are very busy we grab something quick and I had a lot food spoiling so I gave it up!

Im afraid I am like your mum and I plan my meals every week and go shopping once a week. This is just something I find easier and more cost effective for me, with having 4 children and a husband I have to be pretty organised, so I sit down once a week, work out what we will eat that week, what I need, and how much it will be. I dont set the meals out as in this on monday or that on tuesday, I am pretty flexible in that respect. I like doing it this way because Im not left with loads of food no ones going to eat, plus I keep my shopping expenses right down which allows me to put extra away for holidays and such. Also I only ever do the things I know they really like (which luckily is quite a lot!) so they dont pull a face when they get it.

i never plan anything in advance. granted i'm just cooking for myself so it's not like i'm making anything all that fancy to begin with. usually if i want to make a certain thing, i'll just go to the store and buy the ingredients i need that same day. or sometimes i'll make my decision once i get to the store and i see what's on sale. but i guess i'm fortunate that i live just a couple blocks from the grocery store so it's not that big a deal for me to make multiple trips a week. plus you're bound to always have fresh produce that way.

I never plan my meals in advance, when I try to plan them in advance I find that I try to plan something healthy and by the time I get around to cooking I am too hungry and end up cooking adn eatign something unhealthy but totaly worth it. Something like Mr. Noodles or Mini Pizzas or somethign equally bad but tastey. I would like to be able to plan healthy meals and to stick to them but it seems that I can not stick to this plan.

I never plan my meals, and my parents never planned theirs either. I don't even know anyone who has. Sometimes I plan them while shopping, but not for every day. Maybe I should start doing that.

We try to plan out our meals, but more often than not, it ends up being what we are craving on that particular day. It's much better to plan it out in my opinion, because you can save money and time along the way. If only I could stick to it and not always crave pizza! :)

I live in the bush... and quite often only do my shopping once a forthnight. So I have to plan what I will eat for the next two weeks. I have a routine where I will eat something different everyday for 7 days. And I start again the next week. So I buy two of everything. Now that don't mean that I eat the same thing every monday night. I have 7 choices and I will eat whatever I fancy eating on that day. That usually mean that I have to decide the night before what I will eat on Monday night... so I can get the meat out of the freezer and give it enough time to defrost in the fridge. Even when I was living in town... I would only do my shopping once a week. When you work... you don't have time to go to the shop everyday. And I always make a list... in order not to forget anything.

My mom did the same thing, she only went to the grocery store and meat market once a week. But at our house, my father was a very picky eater, that you name a day and I can tell you for 22 years what we had for dinner. The only day that switched up was Sunday. Then everything was cooked well-done! Yucky! When I was married the first time, my husband didn't like me to plan meals because he didn't know if he would be in the mood for it by dinner time. Ugh. So we did lots of carry-out because by the time I got home I was too tired to cook. I hated it. Now with my second husband, we have always planned meals. It also helps that he is a wonderful cook and likes to cook. I plan the meals for the week and try to keep extra meals in the house as spares.

My husband and I always plan in advance so we know what to cook the next day. It's odd,but it works well for us. It keeps us from going overboard, sure sometimes we eat junk food, but we can't always afford it. So meals are always planned for home.

I don't plan my meals ahead of time, except the night before I do. The reason I plan it the night before is because I have to take the meat out of the freezer. When I go shopping I don't have any meals in mind. I just buy whatever I see that I may want one night for supper. But that doesn't mean that we will eat it that week. I just like to have it in my freezer in case I am in the mood for it. We live far from the store, now, so we go do our grocery shopping once a week. But before when we lived close to a store, I just picked up whatever I felt like, that day. That way we had fresh meat everyday, or as fresh as the store keeps it.

My my plan is centered around a day at most. One meal at a time is usually all I can handle. I think it's a good idea to have things on hand just in case you're hungry, but don't have anything on hand for a meal. Soup is my choice...especially in cold weather. I end up eating a lot of sandwiches also. It helps that I'm single, so don't have to plan meals for anyone else's benefit.

I generally do not plan my meals....because sometimes I am too busy..but on other days I do plan my meals whenever I plan my meals I usually plan something really small actually because I have lost alot of weight since last year and I do not want to gain it back...so generally whenever I plan meals I will plan something like a sanwitch and some chips and pickels or something like that or either a frozen dinner meal if I have one of those I really love to eat those because they are quick and sometimes good!

I especially selected my meal on that day, or the day before. Sometimes we got nothing at home, and we decides about the meals in the car to the supermarket, or in the supermarket itself. We just walk through the hole smaket and choose what we love for the first glance.

Yes, I do plan my meals. We lead very active lives and I will go to the grocery store once a month. I plan one weekend and cook alot of meals to go in the freezer. It helps on the days when we are getting home late or pressed for time and can just throw it in the oven for 30 minutes and you are ready to eat.I makes different types of casseroles, meat loaves, stews, homemade soups, bake several loaves of bread, homemade dough for rolls,etc. I cook starting saturday morning early around 6:30am and I go until about 3pm and then I quit until sunday after church I will cook until time to go back. I get a whole months worth done and i never have to worry about food prep time as it is already done. Yes we do eat out we call it our special treat and we go out maybe twice a month and eat. Things are so expensive and for a family of 5 it is really tough on our checkbook. This also helps us to make sure we eat healthy.

Planning meals in advance can be cost effective but if one is too rigid it may not be the case. I plan my meals when I get to the super market. Since I don't use frozen prepared items I look to see what meats and fresh vegetables are on special and look good. I then decide what to cook and what to buy. I always have a list also to buy any staples such as rice, potatoes and pasta if I am low on them. If people are coming over for a meal I plan that meal and make sure I buy all the ingredients. I also go through my fridg towards the end of the month and prepare my side dishes with what is on hand. I am on a budget and cannot waste any food. Ever so often maybe once a month I will buy a takeout pizza. I don't like the frozen ones.

my mom too,i knew what we were eating every day without fail and friday's were fish day or egg salad and the drive in movie because we couldn't eat meat on friday's (a catholic thing) which i think they stopped now ,anyway i don't plan anything because i never knew when i would get home from work sometimes not until 8pm so it's eat out alot or stop at the market on the way home a grab a steak to broil or bbq up while in the shower so it would be ready when i got out just in time to flip ot over.what i do notice is pre-made dinners people are buying lately the ones you just pop in the oven or nuke up in the microwave.being a stay at home mom is hard enough without figuring out when to start a meal so it will be hot when everyone does arrive home

Hello dear vivasuzi. I think that we plan for our meals every day, but every day when we go to the market, it is always the same food on sale. It is hard to choose something different in the same season. But I am very happy that my wife sometimes tries to cook something different for us with even the same food, but different cooking style. Thanks.

Yes, it is necessary to plan in advance when making fresh home made food according to the food pyramid, because otherwise, as you suggest some important food groups will be forgotten. Instant food is often junk food, and when we try to put a meal together at the last minute without planning it is too easy to grab a packaged mix or some kind of commercially prepared food instead of a nutritious meal. How can you shop intelligently without planning. On the other hand, one does not want to be fanatical about it. Sometimes it is more fun to be spontaneous. No, I do not plan for every single day! Sometimes we eat out. Sometimes we just graze.

I like to plan a week ahead what I will have during the week so that I will have all the ingredients that I need. I do not however choose which day I will have them. I like to look in the fridge/freezer in the morning and decide then what either I feel like making or feel like eating or both! I must say that before I had children I never liked to plan anything and we always ended up eating either meat pies or hot dogs from the local petrol station! From this I learnt the important lesson of planning for dinner-time.