Do you always plan your meals for the week?

I don´t have a pantry "room"! I have 2 drawers in the kitchen that I use to pack my dry food there. As I recycle the jars to make jams, I put food inside them after I wash them to save space. I have a jar of sugar, another one of flour, rice and legumes. I just buy enough pasta for one meal. But if you think of it, 4 legumes jars (2 different beans, lentils and garbanzos) can be turned into several different dishes. A kilo of rice goes a long way as a side dish. The same goes for everything.A couple of shelves are more than enough for a family of four.

Hi Marguicha, We are on the same boat then, I have a small kitchen with a small cabinet that I use for pots, pans and all the dry goods I can store, enough too for a family of four like yours.

Hi Marguicha, Thanks for your response, I wish I also have that much space to store my food items. We live in a small house and it is not feasible to have a pantry room, I just have 1 cabinet so I couldn't stock up that much. Have a nice day!

The daily chores in a household can be better handled if one has assistance and I have always had this kind of assistance for both my house work and also to maintain my garden. I am sure you will soon be able to afford one.

Hi Allknowing, It's good you have your own cook. It would be a relief if I do have one too but if I am going to hire a cook, we wouldn't have anything to cook because if I need to pay a cook there won't be nothing left to buy the food to cook. Gosh! I'm having a head ache! :0 Thanks for your response. Someday I hope I could afford to have a cook so that I don't have to go through all the trouble. Just wishful thinking. :) Have a nice day!

Hi TrvlArrngr, I love pizzas but they are costly where I live. Lately, if we cannot do the marketing on a weekend, we get by with what available canned goods we have or if there were leftovers from a night before, I reheat them for our breakfast or lunch. But some other days, we order for delivery service though it would cost us more. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me, have a nice day!

Hello Shia, I may be too late for this response, I only got to read your comment now. I also think it is wise to plan meals a day ahead because you know quite clearly the schedule for the next day. It has been my experience that I have a planned menu for a certain day yet we would go out and eat somewhere else because we had to deal with few things that we can't come home soon enough for me to cook. Sometimes there were 2 to 3 days that we are not home for meals hence, what I do is cook the planned menu on the following day. Sometimes when I do this, fresh veggies that were bought earlier starts to rot and I hate it so much when I am throwing away food. Good for you, you have a nearby supermarket where you live. We live far from those amenities and we are usually forced to market for a week's supply on weekends. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me and have a nice day!

Hi Airasheila, I know it is a more favorable option to eat out because you won't need to bother and prepare the food and the fact that you can stroll out and enjoy with your family is a most appealing idea. We do that only once in a while on weekdays because our family bonding time is Sunday and we usually eat out for dinner after hearing mass. So on Sundays, I make it a point to prepare food that will be just enough for lunch so there won't be any leftovers because most times the hot weather spoils the food easily. Thanks for your response. Have a nice day!

Hi Princesslawyer, Your Dad is fantastic! My Daddy use to cook too but he cooks only simple dishes, mostly frying. I remember him cooking as a little girl, when my mom was sick or during the time she delivered the 3rd and 4th children in the family. I was the eldest and I didn't get to cook on my own until I was 16 y.o. that was when I was in my first year in college because my mom never allowed me to cook without her close supervision and she only started to allow me in the kitchen when I was 10. Nowadays, more men would opt to buy cooked meals rather than cook. My husband cooks too because I taught him how tho' his expertise is frying and grilling. Thanks, good day and have a nice week ahead.

Hi Jpso, Thanks to your response. You know I really miss the time when I do the marketing for my family. Everyday was a great day anticipating the visit to the market where I can buy some sort of native delicacies as my price for doing the marketing for the family. I especially love the "kutchinta" and "sapin-sapin". Supermarkets rarely have them retailed and selling them without the freshly grated coconut. Other times I crave for "Suman" and "Balinghoy" or "nilupak". Back then, I use to walk a short path to the market and it was no trouble. I wish we have also one like that nearer our place though we have one right across the street from the subdivision gate but to get there I need to ride a tricycle back and forth and shed Php32.00. Ouch! :( To non-Filipinos, I'll try to describe the delicacies mentioned above to the best I could. Kutchinta is sticky rice cup cake; sapin-sapin is a delicacy made from glutinous rice flour with 3 or 4 different colors topping one another; Suman is glutinous rice usually flavored and steamed then covered neatly with banana leaves to be steamed some more; Balinghoy is boiled potato yam and Nilupak is boiled Balinghoy or Saba Banana pounded to paste like consistency or crumbly texture then flavored and sold accompanied with freshly grated matured coconut. Geez, I hope I got this right. Anyone to the rescue please!

Since there's only you and your bf, you ought to enjoy yourselves more rather than troubling yourself. It's just practical for you to do just that. At least you don't need to run to the grocery everytime. Besides, you don't have to stock up that much since you are cooking for only the two of you. Enjoy and have a nice day!

Hi Niholechu, It's really hard if we have tight budgets but we have to live with it, anyway it will not last long. Time will come that you will very well afford eating out when you want to or when you feel like doing so. It's just a matter of time, believe me. Have a nice day!

Hello Sender, It sure is a problem when you have set moods on eating different kinds of food. Sometimes I also have moods and it would be alright to cook a different recipe but as much as I am not alone, I have to feed my family, I cook whatever makes a good meal for the four of us. Thanks for your response and have a nice day!

Hello friend, That's a good idea. It's better when you don't have a set of meal planned for a particular day only meals that are planned for the whole week. However in my case I prepare a week's meal planner and my kids also have a say to that. So when sometimes they don't like what's listed, I had to change it before we go to the grocery yet still adhering to the budget, and they almost always expect the meal cooked on the day it was scheduled so I try not to frustrate them especially the little girl but I do change a recipe once in a while. Thanks for your response. Good day and have a nice weekend.

Hi Aamir, You know I love curries but I've never tasted an authentic Indian curry dish. I wish someday I'll have a chance. Where we live, people are mostly eating rice as staple and bread is out of the question specially for a dinner fare. Thanks for your response. Have a nice day!

Hi Wannaberich, Ordering from a food delivery service is costly though we do that sometimes when I find myself too tired to cook. When I don't feel good, I ask my elder daughter to slaughter a beef from our cupboard that's corned beef or the luncheon meat. She doesn't like cooking even if there are a lot of cook books she could use. When that happens, I try my best to cook the scheduled meal the following day so that the ingredients won't have to go to waste as veggies have different storage life. I base my meal plans on the storage life of veggies. Thanks and have a nice day!

Hi KatieO, I wish I could be someone else, someone who could work out of the home and eat just anywhere I please without having to cook what I have to eat. But come to think of it, I am a homebody for a reason and that is to take care of my family. "Oh, where will they be without me," just kidding. :) Really I have no regrets but honestly, sometimes I look back at the time when I used to work and I get to eat wherever I like but those were the days... Thanks for your response. Have a nice day!

Hello Peavey, I believe you when you said it's hard to stick to a meal plan. I also have that dilemna in the past but like you, I try to stock up my storage of some items that I normally use the most. Thanks for your response. Have a nice day!

Hi Vinaysudhir, That's a good thing when you are a very organized person. I don't get to plan my activities on a week's schedule except appointments with friends and clients, but I do plan my activities for the next 2 or 3 days specially weekends, other than that I await what comes up in order to act appropriately. Thanks a lot for considering me a friend. Have a nice day!

Hi Snowy, I wish I also live near the market or grocery. It would have been a better choice to buy on a daily basis so I'll be sure that I am serving my family fresh foods and not frozen meat and veggies that are sometimes 4 or 5 days old in the fridge. Thanks for your response and have a nice day.

It's good to know that your husband is giving his share in the task of doing decisions for what you are going to eat for a day. My husband requests for recipes most of the time but I cannot always indulge him because of a strict budget. But still I appreciate him helping out in figuring out what meal to prepare for the week. Have a nice day!

Hello Randylovesdar, That is as far as I can go too. I plan for a week on a strict budget so I might as well stick to it otherwise, I'm in trouble. You know what I mean. Good thing, my kids are not choosy eaters and my husband eats whatever I serve him with much gusto. Thanks for your response. Good day and have a nice weekend.

Hi Puccagirl, Planning our meals for a week has financial benefits for my family because if I do the marketing on a day to day basis, I will have to spend Php32.00 for transportation and that would mount to 224.00 in a week's time, almost a thousand for a month. This could buy more food items if I do the marketing on a weekly basis. For me, I find doing this a good practice for it involves less effort and definitely time saving. I have also made adjustments in buying a little more of some items anticipating the possibility of using them some other recipes. Good luck to planning your weekly meals. Have a nice day!