Do you mealplan?

[katakatica]

So - this question popped into my head while digging into some frozen mapo tofu I made last week.

As a freelancer, my schedule is...hectic, to say the least, but as my partner works 9 to 17 (lucky), we eat lunch/dinner at 'normal' times (which actually has been pretty good.) 

Recently, we've started mealplanning - which is a first for me, but it seems to make deciding on dinner WAY easier! 

So, do you plan your weekly meals? Do you even cook? (we only cook dinner, lunch is either frozen stuff or sometimes take-out). Weekends are usually 'eat-out' or pancake days, which is very fun as well! Basically, with a flexible schedule, I'm wondering if it's easier OR harder for you to figure lunch/dinner out! 

(I personally struggle to get away from the screen sometimes, so I can see it being a curse, to be honest.)

(bonus points if you have any quick dinner/lunch ideas that you'd love to share. We alternate between tricky and simple foods from quite a few countries, but the more recipes the better!)

[williambryan392]

Dont judge me but...

I've pretty much lived out of hotels and airbnb's since 2018, first for work in my corporate life and then now as a FREElancer 🙂 and I live off deliveries. I've maybe cooked a dozen times in the last 4 years. Before then I always cooked bar a couple of deliveries a month.

If I do cook it's a chilli, a simple garlic/onion/tomato sauce or beans on toast (I'm English).

If I was more settled I would definitely meal prep, and probably make big batches of the above.

I eat very well for for a total of $5 to $20 a day, and I know if I went to the supermarket I could get this cost down, but frankly I don't think it would be worth it, and the joy of not having to plan, cook, clean up and eating a restaurant quality meal each time is wonderful.

I also know this is a very privileged, lucky situation I'm in and won't last forever.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by williambryan392

[mariashtelle1]

We mix and match 🙈 For my husband I order healthy meals delivery for the whole week with lunches and dinners so his week is sorted and I don't have to plan and cook for both. For myself I just cook lunches and dinners. Of course I do get lazy most of the time so if I don't have an idea of what I'm going to cook today or if takes more than 10 min then most likely I will just fall into getting take aways 

We also have a bunch of recipes we have left from the times we were ordering "gusto" or "hello fresh" and that's been really helpful in getting ideas or modifying their recipes 

With "hello fresh" though we had an "accident" and never ordered them again, I still have an email that my husband wrote starting with "Hello NOT fresh" 😂

[mariashtelle1]

4 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

I also know this is a very privileged, lucky situation I'm in and won't last forever.

I just checked my deliveroo and turns out I mostly order bagels 🥯 and bubble tea 🧋🙈 and occasional Greek or Mexican 😂

 

[williambryan392]

The most important question @mariashtelle1.... what bagel do you go for?

[katakatica]

8 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Dont judge me but...

 

No judging here, at the place (shared house with others in the game dev community) I used to have all of my meals made for me, so! 
Groceries are actually quite pricy here, so sometimes it makes more sense to eat out (for example, a good steak would cost almost the same.) What I miss sometimes is more/better quality veggies so I'm looking into finding a decent farmer's market or something, but it IS Sweden, so...

 

I actually want to give making chili a try, I'm not the biggest fan but it's been a while, so! Made schnitzel for the first time yesterday that was fun (haven't deep-fried anything in ages so it was scary, too!)

10 minutes ago, mariashtelle1 said:

With "hello fresh" though we had an "accident" and never ordered them again, I still have an email that my husband wrote starting with "Hello NOT fresh" 😂

Ooof. I was about to say that I looked into Hello Fresh for lunches (because it'd be nice to have everything kind of 'prepared' and only have to cook something up quickly. For me, half the work is deciding what to eat to be honest, so I've considered services like that. 

Meal planning seems to work for now, but sometimes I do feel like I'm running out of ideas (though luckily I'm not deciding alone!) One of the issues is that despite being Hungarian, half of my recipes are... Chinese stir-fries. Luckily my bf has ideas otherwise we'd be stuck eating the same meals.

(as for boba tea, I haven't found anyone who delivers it here, or my deliveroo would look similar. I tried making avocado toast (on bagel because that was the only decent looking 'bread' at the time, I went shopping too late) but I would be happy to get more 'authentic' ones tbh. 

[poshlulla]

I meal prep for hubby's dinner. He's ... picky. Pickier than my toddler lol. For the rest of us, it's a lot of veggies, fruit, yogurt, cereal, soup and sandwiches. I do make big batches of spaghetti, stew, meat loaf, shepherds pie, lasagna for canning and the freezer. Those are quick and easy, grab and go meals.

[mariashtelle1]

5 hours ago, williambryan392 said:

what bagel do you go for?

Very important question! 
 

I used to go for one called “the Ziggy” best hangover bagel but they took it off their mani a year ago and I still protest on their social medias #bringbackTheZiggy 😂 

So now I just go for Reuben pastrami, avo baco or salmon 

I couldn’t find Ziggy picture so I’m attaching salmon bagel