As Kathy walks out the door to work, I say what ya want for tea sweetie. . Its oks darling ... you decide. . ! ! ! That ever ending task to decide what to have, to ensure variety in our meals... a balanced diet and portion size while she want to loose weight. . I'm still making normal size meals but all we do it "HALVE" everything and put it in the fridge for the next day... Good thinking huh... once cooked. . two meals. . saves power and cooking time at the stove... Great for lunch or maybe even using some of it for the next dinner. . So how do you decide whats for dinner... ? is there any rhyme or reason to your choices. . ? do you have a weekly planner. . ? Most supermarkets have specials each week on a different type of meat... chicken one week. . beef the next. . then maybe pork. . I play the specials game and buy what's on special for that week and cook that same meat which I have in my freezer, replacing with the new bought specials. . so if say, chicken is on special I buy chicken from the supermarket saving myself monies and cook the older frozen chicken in my freezer during that week. . Just found a kilo of prawns that have been in my freezer for over a month from when my sister was up, visiting and I didn't use them. . Going into my green curry chow mein tonight ... So how do you plan your meals. . ? ? ?
nfh1,
Jul 26, 1:36am
This morning I put my hand into the meat/fish drawer of the freezer and the first bag which I touched was swordfish - that is what we are having for dinner tonight!
cookessentials,
Jul 26, 1:45am
I try to decide the night before as we are both out the door early. Brian starts at 7. 30 and I am usually at the shop by 8. 30am. I usually do something easy and "throw together" during the week as by the time I get home, I am not really in the modd to get too involved with cooking. Summer is different because it is light for so long and there are alot of light dishes that take little time to do.
alewis,
Jul 26, 1:47am
I generally open the fridge and stare blankly into it registering the lack of veggies and fresh meat generally but on saying that have just come back from supermarket and will get fresh meat for dinner that night and perhaps another one for the next I hate the deciding what we are going to have thats the worse part and prbably takes the most amount of time! !
greerg,
Jul 26, 3:28am
I try to do a weekly plan factoring in what we're doing that day, balancing meat and fish types on Sundays. Used to be really conscienious about this in the teenage family years when feeding two male swimmers was like feeding a small army but I must admit I'm slacker now. I still have the plan but sometimes just feel like something else (something easy).
motorbo,
Jul 26, 3:44am
im really trying to cut the budget i so overspend, so instead of oh what do i feel like its now okay what have i got and what can i make from it.
elliehen,
Jul 26, 3:46am
My plans mill about in my head, but are always two or three days in advance and have a partial carry-over from one day to the next; so today's lunch was stuffed capsicums from purposely made extras last night, with a new salad - rocket is growing profusely in the garden. Stuffed capsicums make a good takeaway.
'Specials' usually play a part, and leeks are cheap at the moment, so there are leeks cooked every-which-way this week too :)
hezwez,
Jul 26, 3:52am
We shop fortnightly, with menu planned beforehand, shopping for fresh stuff at the markets at weekends.
elliehen,
Jul 26, 3:58am
hezwez, I truly admire your fortnight of forethought :)
motorbo,
Jul 26, 4:01am
yeah someone suggested to me to base my shopping on the speicals and create from there, and as i moved to the other side of tga i tried a diff vege shop and was impressed with the prices! ! so that influenced my shopping and meals
winnie231,
Jul 26, 4:22am
My decision on 'what's for tea' is a mix of ... 'what's in the fridge that needs using' + 'what have we eaten in the last 2 weeks' (to avoid repetition) + 'what was on special when I went shopping' + 'what's the days schedule & how much time/energy will I have to cook? '
I don't buy fresh veg out of season on principle as it's usually extremely over priced & tasteless. I do use frozen & canned veg however for the added variety. We love baby corn cuts, sliced waterchestnuts & bamboo shoots and I always have several cans of these in the pantry to use in satays, currys & stirfrys (authentic or not! ! ! ).
antmannz,
Jul 26, 4:28am
Mine is 'what's in the freezer' along with 'what do I feel like? ' together with 'what's in the vege garden or vege drawer'. And then everyone else just has to eat whatever that is :P
elliehen,
Jul 26, 4:33am
I have yet to hear an adult say in the course of a funeral eulogy, 'I'm SO grateful to my mother/father for cooking 'authentic' meals. '
fifie,
Jul 26, 5:02am
I plan my week around specials at S/market, meat from butchers, fish from fish shops, fruit veg from the markets, basing meals around these along with Rotating the freezer, when the Crock pot is on fill it up and leftovers freeze well, for my non cook busy, can't be bothered cooking day dinners. Other half loves his food lol, so he often comes home with something different, then i'm on the recipe thread again looking for ideas and inspirations, and occasionally the kids give us some home kill meat which goes down a treat. Lunches home made soups, leftover dinners, and hot crusty breads are the favourites at the mo, I'm hanging out for the garden to start growing and the salad season to begin...
ruby19,
Jul 26, 2:56pm
Probably depending what is in the fridge, that needs using up. I have a range of dishes that are quick and the family loves which I probably use about twice in 3 weeks. Chick parmigana, corn chowder & home made savoury scones, mexican mince, a steak meal, a risotto, a pasta dish, are a few. When shopping I buy the meats on special and work around that. As long as I have herbs spices and the basics the family are pretty well fed. Last night I experimented with a tomato pasta sauce, knowing that meat loving hubby would not be too impressed with a just a tom pasta dish, so I made some spinach & cheese balls to use as a meatball. Well to all their amazment they loved it, even though hubby admitted he didn`t like the look on the dish! ! !
hezwez,
Jul 26, 4:04pm
Thanks! The upside is that it removes that dreadful "what can I make for dinner" feeling at 4pm when you've spent the day in the garden and are devoid of ideas and energy... and outweighs the downside of missing out on 'specials'.
griffo4,
Jul 26, 4:16pm
My hubby gets the meat out each morning before breakfast or sometimes the day before if he wants to do something in the crockpot so we build our meal round that We shop once a month for the bulk stuff and then get fresh veg weekly but mainly rely on the garden
motorbo,
Jul 26, 4:18pm
hi ruby i would luve the recipe for the spinach & cheese balls plez
pheebs1,
Jul 26, 6:41pm
love to see what your fortnightly menu is, would you mind posting so we can have a look. what would you spend on groceries for the fortnight any ideas are always appreciated!
wahinetoa62,
Jul 26, 6:49pm
mmm just googled spinach cheese balls... gosh lots of versions and all look good...
darlingmole,
Jul 26, 9:25pm
I definately meal plan. Husband does the grocery shopping so I try to explain to buy something on special (ie schnitzel) but make sure he remembers the breadcrumbs of noodles if I'm making chop suey. We also have home-made soup twice a week in winter based on cheap seasonal vege (pumpkin at the moment) and another meat free night aswell.
hezwez,
Jul 26, 9:40pm
It varies, but a quick check at one of the fortnights currently on the fridge is: Stuffed peppers, courgette & butter bean salad, vegetable dahl, pizza (twice! ) risotto with red peppers, potato, leek and apple pie, vegetable lasagne, nutmeat (home~made) with vegies, mayan vegetable stew, tofu burgers, stirfry, vegetable stuffed pumpkin, and red kidney bean burgers. We eat no meat or chicken, and I'm the only fish eater. Spend about $25 at weekly market and the fortnightly shop varies and includes non edibles so hard to actually say how much is spent.
ruby19,
Jul 27, 1:00am
Hi motorbo, here is the recipe I used for the spinach balls, once cooked I just popped them into the tom pasta sauce. I just made half the recipe last night, and used vogels bread & white bread to make the breadcrumbs, I probably used 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs instead of 1/2 a cup, and used tasty cheese not parmesan. I probably got about 14 balls.
Spinach Balls (makes about 24 balls)
450g frozen spinach 1/2 cup grated parmesan 1 cup breadcrumbs a pinch of nutmeg 1 garlic clove, minced Salt Pepper Vegetable oil for frying
Thaw frozen spinach. Squeeze out as much water as possible. Place thawed, dry spinach in a bowl. Add all other ingredients to the bowl, except the oil. Mix well. Form the spinach mixture into balls. Heat a thin layer of oil in a wide, shallow pan. Place spinach balls a few at a time and shallow fry them, turning the balls around till all sides are golden and crisp. Remove spinach balls with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels.
Enjoy!
motorbo,
Jul 27, 1:07am
thanks! i wonder if i could do it with rice, as im gluten free... . . hmmm might try it, cheers for the recipe! !
ruby19,
Jul 27, 1:26am
Or what about mashed potato? Or try an Indian spinach & cheese kofta recipe, you could use a chick pea flour.
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