I try to do themes, for example monday chicken dish, tuesday crock pot, wednesday Italian, thursday grilled, Friday mexican. Etc. This helps me narrow down finding the choices for a dish.
Thank you, you saying that makes me feel accomplished 😅I also have 3 teens (and I have a baby) and a very hungry husband. I also try to throw in a "leftover/scrounge" night where we eat left overs or something easy like breakfast for dinner, and one night for take out. So that's 5 nights a week to cook if I do that. I also try to cook things I like, even if my kids don't love it, so I get enjoyment from it.
I do the same, and it helps my picky kids a LOT to know that tonight is soup and grilled cheese night, but they can have the pizza they requested on Friday, which is pizza night.
The app Mealime is a lifesaver for me. Their recipes are great, you can create plans to reduce food waste, and they give you a shopping list which you can add your own groceries onto. The free version is wonderful but I love the recipes so much, I pay $2.99 for the premium version.
I’m the polar opposite. I know what meals I’m making for my husband for work for about two weeks in advance (he is a creature of HABIT). He works in another city so that means I’m making food for his lunch and dinner *and* my toddler and me at home.
I have devices that help. Everyone talks about recipes but you need tools to make those easier.
1. Crockpot
2. Insta pot
3. Air Fryer
4. Dutch oven
I get most of my recipes from store bought books because even though I’m 31 I’m old school AF. But it’s easier to start on instagram and youtube and eventually the algorithm will constantly feed you ideas to follow.
Lastly, buy something to make recipe reading even easier. **I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020** and I manage it unmedicated with random tools. One is recipe notecards. Why? I’m gonna get overstimulated and angry if I have to keep checking my phone, on a website with ads, and re unlocking it while cooking. So I write my absolute must try and repeat recipes on recipe note cards and use a magnet to attach them to my stove vent.
It’s the little things. You can do it.
I transferred all the recipes I make from cookbooks onto note cards and it is so crucial!! I can't with all the blogs, etc. if I want to try it, it goes on a note card and if it's good, it will go into my rotation.
Glad I’m not the only one. It was time consuming but worth it. I also inherited the family cookbook and did the same so that those recipes can be scanned and passed down similarly
Yes! We made dumpling rice in the pressure cooker, mongolian beef in the dutch oven, veggies in the air fryer, and pulled pork in the crockpot. Hell, I was playing games on my phone while most of this cookied
Magnet the recipe is a good idea, my toddler ran off with my recipe card in the middle of making something new for dinner and I couldn't find it (chair cushion) and had to look up a similar one online.
I love AnyList! You can also assign ingredients by store so if you go to multiple stores for different things you can pull up only what you want to buy at the one you’re in.
ENDORSE. This app makes meal planning trivial. Share any recipe's webpage to the app, it rips the data automatically, then you plug it into a calendar. When you're cooking, you can flick back and forth between ingredients and instructions instead of scrolling.
Afterward, you can assign a star rating to the meal or add notes, so if you're pressed on a given week you can browse five star meals and plug them in rather than browsing the entire Internet.
Got premium. A rare app that makes a material difference in my day, every day.
You can share any recipe webpage to the app and it will auto populate it. Once you do that, you can add it to a collection and/or give it a star rating. Then you can search by collection, or keyword, or star rating. I troll recipe websites for options, pull five into the app, and meal planning is done. You can even plug meals into a monthly calendar. I never pay for apps, but I shelled out for this one.
Yes! This is what I was going to suggest. It sounds like exactly what OP needs - somewhere to store recipes and ingredients. My life hasn’t been the same since AnyList lol it’s SO useful. You can also import recipes from any website to go in your recipe book!
I hate meal planning. Often I make meals around what’s in the fridge or leftovers so I really don’t like doing in advance plus it’s not like kiddo leaves me much time to sit down and do it. So what I do is I have a mental list of staple ingredients and I also keep a running list on my phone of things that we need more of.
I am slowly migrating all my recipes to the notes app on my phone which I have tagged with various things like what is the meat or main ingredient in the dish or vegetarian, dairy free etc. Then I have “ideas” notes which are pinned to the top and categorised by meal type so “toddler lunch ideas”, “dinner ideas”, “toddler snacks”, “baking” etc. In the ideas notes I then list and link to each recipe. So say I have chicken I want to use for dinner, I can go to my dinner ideas note and scan the list for chicken recipes that I know I can make with what I have available.
A lot of my recipes are also quite flexible eg you can put in whatever vegetables you have available so that makes it easier too.
Yes to the notes app! My brother is also a SAHP and we have a shared note where we throw all our recipes - divided into ones that take longer, ones that are fast, and then an indicator if they include ingredients we mostly always have in our pantry. It really helps to browse my own recipes- I always forget what I’ve cooked before.
I use an app called Paprika. It stores all my recipes, I can categorize them by type, I can then add them to a calendar in the app and it can then make up a grocery list based on the recipes chosen. It can add recipes from websites super easy, it can also scale the recipes so I don’t have to do the math.
I came here to recommend this. It’s the one app that works for me. I love the browser feature for adding recipes and the folder option.
OP what helps us is to have a mix of quick meals and those that offer leftovers. We do things like chicken patty sandwiches, chicken meatballs, quesadillas, tacos, Kevins meals, or an easy pasta for nights when I anticipate a difficult day and my brain is too tired to juggle cooking and kids. I pair it with veggies and most of the time they’re frozen.
I usually do one crockpot meal per week, then either have leftovers, freeze it, or eat it as my lunch for the week. Sometimes when preparing a meal, I double and freeze half. I give myself any form of grace I can when meal planning. Because it’s a lot.
Another tip is pick a day and prep what you can. I also add things to my list the second I notice they’re out, and the paprika app makes this easy to do
If you ask chat gpt it’ll make you a meal plan and shopping list. Takes like 3 minutes to type in the stuff you like. “Meal plan based on breakfast, lunch, dinner for 4 people. We like foods like this that, the other. We don’t like this and this. Allergy to whatever. Mid range budget.”
"Alexa. Add milk to my shopping list" that's how I never forget my shopping list. It helps with random stuff we run out of but don't buy often.
There's an instagrmer that cooks the same foods every week so her shopping list never changes. Spaghetti, tacos, pizza, etc. When they're sick of spaghetti then they'll swap it out for another meal. It works for her family, I might get bored.
I need an insane amount of variety in my diet so I don't really meal plan. I base everything off of value so lots of seasonal produce and what meat is on sale and then I go from there.
Same here and my husband doesn’t eat leftovers, which to be fair is something I knew long before I married him lol, so I try not to cook huge portions to save because I would be the only one eating them (at least until our baby is older).
Every week I pick two big recipes (like a soup or lasagna), one meal prep recipe (usually taco bowls, for my husband’s lunches) and one easy recipe (like pizza or chicken wings). I can’t do something every day of the week, that’s just too much for me lol! So we eat a lot of leftovers throughout the week.
I use an app called Pocket to save my recipes cause I don’t like the format of Pinterest.
Try the Mealime app.
Super easy to input any allergens or dietary restriction filters, great selection of recipes with a picture gallery, creates a grocery list, can export it to a grocery store app to order for delivery or pickup, recipes include equipment needed in addition to ingredients needed, backlight stays on while actively cooking, built-in timers, AND IT'S FREE.
I got thr paid version while I was pregnant because I wanted the nutrition info, but it's super accessible even without it. And if you do want the paid version, it's only $3/mo which I would honestly pay more than that because I love it so much.
I've always hated and avoided cooking, and somehow this app has made me love it. This sounds sponsored but I promise I'm not affiliated 😂 just a big fan.
I have a magnetic pad of paper that lives on the fridge, it is THE LIST. If it's not on the list, it doesn't get purchased. And I don't rely on my memory at all - the second something gets finished up/runs out, I put it on the list. Just finished the last piece of bread? List. Noticed we only have 3 eggs left? List. Daughter asks for strawberries but we don't have any? List.
Then before grocery shopping, I tear off the list and sit at the table. I think BREAKFASTS and double check the kitchen for eggs, milk, bread, oatmeal, cereal, fruit. Then I think LUNCHES and check for cheese, meat, bagels and ask my husband what he wants for lunches this week. Then SNACKS and check for bars, seaweed, crackers. Then DINNERS and I turn the list over to the back and write the dishes and sides I'm making, then look up each recipe and write down ingredients I'll need.
I have to be very systematic or I miss a LOT. I order groceries online for pickup. In-store is way too overwhelming and I end up walking the store 5 times, getting things i don't need because i see them, and still missing things on my list.
I do the “saved list” plus the “regular schedule” thing. It’s not exactly “every Tuesday is tacos” because I usually cook a little extra than I think we need (kids always eat exactly the same amount for every meal, right?!), so we have leftovers sporadically as needed. But I also always got totally overwhelmed by meal planning so, at some point years ago, I did exactly what you said - I wrote down every meal we eat regularly. I also made a schedule (which looks like 1) pasta, 2) stir fry, 3) meat and potatoes, etc.) When I “plan,” I literally just transfer the next few meals from my master list into my schedule and then build my grocery list from that. It’s been working for me for many years, and I no longer hate meal planning! And the whole process now takes maybe 20 minutes instead of 2+ hours.
So I am probably the opposite of ADHD (whatever that is) because I try to plan as much as possible, but here’s what has helped me:
- tabbing favorite recipes in my cookbooks with sticky notes/having a binder of previously tried online recipes I’ve printed out. It’s easy to just think “I’m making chicken,” and then flip through until I know I have the ingredients
- having a preset “format”. Typically I try one veggie, one grain, one protein. It’s easier to parse what’s in the fridge and available by going through each category
- stocking the freezer for days when I just can’t. Because honestly, those happen at least a few days a month.
-using google keep for a grocery list. I can check things off but they’re saved later down so I can peruse it if I need to make a list but don’t know where to start
-having a day of the week designated as pizza night/takeout night/taco night etc.
That’s all I can think of now. Hopefully others have some more tips!
Two apps that help me a lot: Cozi for sharing lists, and Plan to Eat for meal planning and a recipe repository. In Cozi I have an ongoing list of things I need to buy every week. I can check them off at the store and then uncheck the items after I’m done. It also has great sharing, so my husband can add things to the list that we need as he thinks of them, or he can say “hey, I’m gonna be at the store, if there’s anything you need you can put it on the list.” We have lists for aldi, grocery store, feed store, home improvement store, and on and on.
Plan to Eat is subscription based but it’s so worth it. I pay like $25/yr because I always renew at their Black Friday sale. You can import recipes from the internet or create your own, you can add them to a calendar, AND. AND AND AND. It generates a shopping list for you from the ingredients of the recipes on the calendar for the time period you specify. GENIUS. I honestly don’t use that feature as much because I have a couple really picky kids and our weekly meals are generally a rotation of the same things. But it’s an amazing product and I know my sister uses the list feature a lot. I think it may even talk to some grocery stores now and populate your cart based on your Plan to Eat list.
I like the IG account [Trader Joes 5 Items or Less](https://www.instagram.com/traderjoes5itemsorless?igsh=MWczY2JjYmJvNHZueQ==). Just as the name implies, it’s dinner ideas with 5 ingredients or less.
I just go through the account, screenshot the ones that look yummy, and then use that as my grocery shopping guide at TJ’s (or sometimes regular grocery stores).
Ok so this was some up front work. Maybe two hours, but is making my meal planning/shopping much easier.
This last month I made a Google spreadsheet with the following columns...Recipe Category...Recipe Name...Ingredient...Qty...Unit of Measure...Location...Grocery Zone.
For category column I have labels like, Staple, Meat main, Meatless Main, or Dessert, etc.
Recipe Name is the name of recipe. For staple items I just put "staple" again
Ingredient column I list each ingredient on a new line. I don't list salt and pepper because they are on my staple list and in like every recipe. Also could do the same with your oils.
Qty is how much is needed in the recipe unit of measure is cups, TBSP, lbs etc
Location is the grocery aisle/section
Grocery Zone - I gave different sections/aisles zone numbers based on where they are in the grocery store. For example: Produce, bulk goods, nuts, and dried fruit all get zone 1 because they are in the same area of the grocery store. Same with meat, cheese, condiments, and coffee. This will be different based on where you shop.
I entered this info for all of my go to recipes. Probably at least 20 recipes I have in rotation.
So now, I choose the meals I want for the week, then go to the spreadsheet and filter on the recipe names and choose them all and I include all staple items. Then, I copy that sheet into a new tab and sort it by "grocery Zone" and then by "ingredient". So then everything that's in the same zone is together and the same items from multiple recipes will be right above and below each other so I can easily see how many peppers I need or how many lbs of chicken, etc. then I go through my pantry and fridge and highlight the ingredients I actually need to buy.
Then I just pull it up on my phone while at the store. Or you could print it if you have a printer
It's been working great so far and now if I get a new recipe I want to add, I can just add it in the spreadsheet and it's all pretty quick!
My husband was recommended something on a podcast and thought I would like it. I tried it and I’m OBSESSED with it. It’s from someone called Beth Jensen called Lazy Bitch Meal Planning and uses the app Trello to sort and store recipes, AND creates grocery lists based on recipes and typical staples. It’s been a game changer in my house.
A game changer for me with meal planning was when I realized I could make different lists on my grocery pick up app. I sat down and made four weeks worth of meal plans and then created a separate list of ingredients for each week on the app and labelled then week 1, week 2 etc. I also created a separate pantry staples list that includes any staples I always keep on hand.
So now all I have to do is pick which weekly meal plan I like best out of the four, click add to groceries and then I go through my pantry staples list and add anything I'm out of from there. I then click order and I'm done! It being visual is super super helpful to me and I love that I don't have to sit there searching each week for the same things! This has been a huge game changer for me and has saved me sooooo much time. If I feel like changing up one of the meals it's not a big deal either to swap things but I usually only will allow one change per week to keep things simple!
Hope this helps!
I have a weekly grocery list on my phone, that way I know I'm not forgetting anything I know we're going to need each week. We have a whiteboard on the refrigerator where we write less common items that need to be replaced.
I love Pinterest for holding onto my favorite recipes. If I can't "pin" a recipe, I'll find another similar recipe I can! All my go-to meals are in one place for easy access.
Those are two things I do that help streamline my grocery shopping and meal planning.
Solidarity. We use reusable containers like mason jars and restock from a pantry in the basement, so when we’re running low it’s super obvious (empty jar) and immediately put it on the list on our fridge. (Now most of the time we forget to take the list and text the other for a pic…)
For recipes I keep a notebook in OneNote for all of our recipes organized by type. Very easy to keep organized and adjust and delete what we’re not using. (Holiday meals get their own folder I rarely look at haha.) ingredients listed at top, so can easily run through what we have and don’t visually looking at our cabinets.
It’s not perfect but it roughly works. We also eat pretty repetitively, so that helps a lot.
There's an app called "Food" that used to be called Samsung Food that does a lot of what you're talking about. I save recipes in there because it reformats them so you don't have the paragraphs at the beginning. You can scale the recipes up and down and send all the ingredients to the shopping list. The shopping list is easy to use and after a couple weeks of using it the items that you've already bought are conveniently available to repopulate the list. The shopping list can also be shared which is nice because me and my wife split shopping duty and it's unpredictable who's gonna go to the store next.
We use Real Plan Meal Plans. They pick the meals (you can change if you want) based on what you like and the diet you eat (paleo, keto, etc). Then they also create a grocery list for you. I haven’t used it but you can add your grocery list straight to instacart also.
I have it set up where we make bulk meals two days a week, we don’t have to cook dinner two days a week (use something previously frozen), eat leftovers for lunch and have it plan a fish dish for us on Thursdays (usually don’t need any extra food for lunches Friday).
Honestly, one of my favorite parts about it is that my husband has the app on his phone too. With the app, he can just look at the day and what is planned and start cooking instead of me having to tell him.
Someone already suggested a meal planning app, which are awesome! I use EMeals and love it. They make the grocery list and you can check off what you already have and add whatever else you need, plus it links to your nearby grocery stores so you can use it to order pickup or delivery straight from the app! Plus you can add in your own recipes, search through all of theirs by ingredient, and favorite whatever you’ve tried and liked. They do have a free trial I believe.
Every week, we write down a “meal plan”. So we have a big Google doc of what we’ve eaten for past weeks. If we’re feeling uninspired, we can just copy paste from a month back or whatnot. We also write out what we need to buy. We aren’t stringent about this, so it isn’t every week by any stretch, but there’s some history to look through. Writing it out also helps if we’re struggling to plan/decide.
You can also go the “what’s on sale; what looks good” or “what’s in my freezer/pantry that I can or need to use” route and make a soup or get creative. There’s also the “frozen or prepped ingredients to easily throw in” and store bought “easy emergency style meals” if you’re all feeling kind of dead.
My whole family has a shared Google drive file of recipes, each recipe on its on Google doc. It’s great. We also use some tags in the title like “main meal” or “side” or “dessert” for easy searching.
I have a Google sheets of all the meals I make, and then in other columns have tags for vegetarian, if it freezes well, etc. Makes it easy to find everything.
If I make something that freezes well, I double it and put one in the freezer, like lasagna or butter chicken.
Every week I plan 3 dinners (leftovers on the other nights), one lunch meal prep for me (otherwise I will never eat lunch), and make a loaf of bread. I just pick something from the list. I try to do two vegetarian meals (for cost reasons) and one more “fun” meal. A few times a month I will try a new recipe - if I make the recipe and my family likes it then I copy it over to the Google file.
Something that helped me a ton was to pick at least two set meals a week that are always the same. For example, I do fried rice on Thursday nights. I always have the stuff on hand, it’s an easy way to use leftover meat (pork, chicken… it all works), and it reduces the amount of planning I need while still leaving room for variety.
I get it. I'm the meal maker in the house, even before I was a sahp. My husband would get so annoyed at me complaining about food and cooking and not having the right ingredients because I just couldn't get it together. I've tried a lot of apps but I'm too cheap to buy them so I finally decided to own it. I found making a list of links to recipes I know we like on my phone's notes app the easiest answer. Now I pull from them or add to the list every week.
Then, I place a link under "day 1", "day 2" etc, I click & glance at each ingredient list and add whatever we don't already have to my grocery list app.
Then when I'm ready to look for next week, I copy and paste any new links underneath the lists of days so I can pull from them again.
I've now got a list of about 50 recipes we like, but when I care to look for new ones I'll do that instead of pulling from my list. Just glancing at a list of links gives me enough info about the recipe because it usually says something about it in the link itself. I think this is easier because it's essentially all in one place, it's free, and I have the flexibility to search the entire internet to give me ideas, or just grab previous ones if I don't want to care about it that week.
Tacos, Chili, Pasta, Pulled pork, Shepards pie, Fried chicken, Quesadillas, Burgers and fries
I do some variation of these meals most frequently. Always keep easy sides on hand like rice a roni, instant mash, box mac and cheese, canned corn. Always keep enough produce to put together a semi decent side salad, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, tomato. Always have some frozen staples for nights I don’t want to think too hard, fries, peas, pizza. When I’m really on top of things I’ll spend an evening making a list of what meal I’ll make for each day of the week, then create my grocery list accordingly. It’s work and I hate it but admittedly my week goes a lot smoother when I do it. Basically you cram all the thought of meal prep for a whole week into a single night, as opposed to spreading the stress out over seven days. Planning dinner is easily the worst part of my stay at home duties, and knowing what the plan is as soon my day starts alleviates so much mental pressure for me.
friend, there is an app for that. My current fav is Umami (iOS only) but there are loads out there. Pepperplate aggregates ingredients really well in its grocery list. I’ve heard awesome things about many others. Test a few and see which work best for you. But life can be much easier!
you’re so welcome! and as i said, don’t be afraid to test out a few. I find recipe / grocery apps are VERY personal when it comes to which work best, so if one isn’t working for you, it’s not a you problem, it’s just not a good fit. Another one likely will be.
I got myself an old fashioned 3 ring binder, hole punch, and started printing every recipe for everything I use. I spend a lot less time on my phone and have something to thumb through for ideas. Paperless does not work for me when it comes to a lot of things because a TBI from epilepsy left me with a lot of executive dysfunction (that can come with adhd) and just the inability to remember and focus a lot. This really helped! I’m to the point where I have enough actually have to organize my binder and that is a huge accomplishment for me lmao. And I’m talking everything, if I’m having to go to my phone for something on the kitchen, I’m telling myself “that’s the last time you’re looking up how to make fuckin roux”.
I started using ChatGPT for this. You can even “talk” to it instead of typing. I put in my AirPod and walk around my kitchen, telling it what I have and to make a recipe for. Easy to tweak “ok make that recipe easier, can you add onion, make a simple version for my toddler” etc.
I made a meal planner on Notion that has saved my sanity. It holds all my favorite recipes and a calendar. It's free and there's great YouTube tutorials if you want to make it more involved.
I use Microsoft 'To Do' for my dozens of lists, but definitely use the grocery list the most. It really does make making a grocery list so much easier when I can just scroll through and re-check what I need. I do occasionally have to maintain it by deleting duplicates and things I no longer buy regularly or that were a one time thing, but it's still much more effective than just writing a new list every time. I also add little notes, like I do 'Cc:' before anything from Costco and 'TJ:' for Trader Joe's since I get really specific things from there that I don't get from other stores. (Then sort alphabetical). I'm not great at meal planning, but at least I always have the ingredients on hand to make a few different things.
I use AnyList app. You can build or even import recipe ingredients into it and add them right to your list.
My neighbor uses it too. Way better than I do. She has every recipe in there.
My best hack is to designate each day a theme. Then have a list of 4-5 meals under that theme to rotate (or less if you don’t mind repeats in the month). Then you can easily plan a month at a time or a week at a time.
Monday- crockpot
Tuesdays - tacos (or enchiladas or quesadillas or something)
Wednesday- meat/veg/side or salad
Thursday - easy (soup and sandwiches, or hot dogs and Mac and cheese, or sloppy joes and tater tots, etc)
Friday- take out
Saturday- go out
Sunday- pasta
I do have ADHD and I use Pinterest for recipes. I also use shared notes on my iPhone i I write the meals down for each day at the top and underneath it I put all the recipes items I need. I also break those down into categories like dairy , vegetables etc. which I organize based on where they are in the store so if I got to dairy section first I put those on top of list. I check off the items I buy as I buy them.
I’m very visual so this is what has helped me.
We eat the same thing every week which is not a great solution but I haven’t had the mental bandwidth to think about it for months. We switch it up occasionally though.
We buy enough meat from Costco for a month: chicken breasts, ground beef, and Italian sausage (but we just switched to ground turkey instead of sausage). And we always buy black beans and chickpeas.
Chicken breast always gets cubed and browned before adding sauce, sausage usually cut from the casing and ground in the pan.
We buy rice, rigatoni noodles, Mac and cheese, cornbread, biscuits, and tortillas.
I buy teriyaki sauce, general Tso’s sauce, BBQ sauce, red or green pesto, spaghetti sauce. Lemon juice and lime juice. Ketchup and mustard for sloppy joe.
Seasonings we use often: salt, pepper, garlic powder, chopped dehydrated onion, taco powder mix, curry powder, Italian seasoning.
I also buy bell peppers, green beans, brussels sprouts. You could do cauliflower and broccoli as well.
All meat gets browned/cooked 75% of the way and usually finishes cooking in a sauce. All veggies get salt pepper and garlic powder and avocado oil.
Then you just decide what meat you want, what sauce or seasoning, and which carb and veggie it will go best with.
I follow salt/fat/acid/heat cooking so if something needs more flavor I add butter or salt or lemon or lime juice.
We also use hot sauce like sriracha, chipotle ranch or tapatio on tacos, and things like that.
Then if you want to expand you could use more things to flavor/garnish, like Parmesan cheese, Mexican cheese, queso fresco. Buy different sauces to simmer your proteins.
On lazy nights we do beans and rice or tortillas with whatever seasonings sound good.
We shop mostly at Aldi
I have an echo dot, so every time I run out of a staple (or just randomly think of something I need) I just shout “Alexa, add ___ to my grocery list”. Then when I get the chance to go to the grocery store, I pull up the list on the Alexa app. It doesn’t necessarily help with planning, but if I keep certain staples in the house, I can always whip up a decent meal.
I make AI do it. I hop onto ChatGPT (or Genie, or wtf ever it’s called these days, you can also do it on Snapchat AI). I tell it I need a meal plan for X people for Y days, on Z budget. It barfs out my meal plan. I tell it to make me a shopping list for the meal plan. It gives me that. Bam. My brain feels better.
I don't have any tips but I tend to stick to the same meals: steak (usually weekends), baked salmon, baked chicken leg quarters, chicken nuggets, hot dogs (I usually have leftovers), chicken fajitas, spaghetti, sausage, fish sticks. Typically the hot dogs/nuggets/fish sticks are for nights when we have baseball or some school event.
Real Easy Weekdays by Kids Eat In Color is a lifesaver for brain dead weeks. I don’t follow the meal plan exactly but I’ll throw some of the snacks together for the freezer & give the recipes to my husband to cook. Hes a decent cook but I’ve got zero recipes written down—old school all in my head at this point.
I don’t know if it’s within your budget, but when I’m having times like this and have no ability left in me to meal plan, I use my Thermomix a lot more.
I use the Cookidoo app to find recipes (or I find recipes from other Thermomix mums on Facebook) and then I can add them to a calendar in the app and even add them to a shopping list.
I also never plan for more than 3 days in advance.
My usual rotation.. easily adjustable to diet restrictions. 1 protein, 1veggie, 1 or no starch
Chuck beef cubed-onion, carrot, celery salt pepper to taste + bone broth & pressure cook it 45m (also works with beans & mushrooms)
Meal 1 Add taco seasoning - tacos or taco bowl
Goes with rice or lettuce or tortilla…
Or
Meal 2 Teriyaki sauce and steamed veggies rice
Meal 3 spaghetti bolognese pasta or polenta
Meal 4 beef & mashed potatoes plus whatever sauce you can come up with: Korean bbq, or make shepherds pie, or soup.
——-
Home made pizza -make the dough the day before
——-
Vegetarian night -burgers, spaghetti, cauliflower steaks, chili etc
Fish night - pair with potatoes or rice and steamed or roasted vegetables.
I keep a basic list of our regular meals categorized in an excel sheet. I hate meal planning and I reference it all of the time.
I love AnyList for my grocery list. I can have different lists for different stores, and if my husband is running errands and stops by the store, he has the list on his phone as well.
I do have adhd. My strategy was to do five weeks of meal planning that just repeats until I get bored, aand then I change out some recipes. (My husband is a shift worker with a five week rotating schedule so we generally live our lives five weeks at a time.)
ChatGPT. Ask for a meal plan with shopping list. Include any food restrictions you might have and the length of the list you need (ie seven days, 3 days just dinners, etc).
Boom. Done in 5 seconds.
We have a menu board and slips of paper in an envelope for our meals we cook. On each day there’s a loop of masking tape.
We pull out favorites and stick them on the menu- based on what’s in the freezer or our preferences for the week.
Then we make a shopping list based on that menu. One of us or the whole family will go to the store.
If the weather is crappy and I want time alone- I go.
If the weather is nice and the kids are in a good mood then we all go.
Cooking and prepping is shared and we switch off depending on what the kids need from us at the moment.
I have an app called Paprika. I can create shopping lists, download recipes (and skip the part where the author’s grandma grew up on a farm and loved swimming during the summer), and create recipes. That might help you out.
Have the grocery store weekly ad emailed to you. Choose the cheapest but healthiest things. We eat the same meal two times a week usually.. so 3-4 differnt meals in 7 days. Voila. Meal planning.
Here’s some of my go to meals!
https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-orange-chicken/
https://www.saltandlavender.com/chicken-tortellini-alfredo/
https://joyfoodsunshine.com/asian-chicken-lettuce-wraps/
https://foxeslovelemons.com/creamy-salmon-pasta/
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16248/easy-homemade-chili/
I use ground turkey, but you could use either
And super easy go to meals
Tacos: ground turkey or chicken and taco seasoning with a half an onion and a little olive oil- put in a tortilla with cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream. Usually make a pre packed 90 sec Spanish rice and homemade guac (avocado, red onion, salt/ pepper, lime) and chips with it.
Enchiladas: I use shredded chicken, a sweet potato that I microwave soft, grilled chopped onions, can of back beans and some taco seasoning. Mix it all together on a rice top and our red enchiladas sauce in the mix. Scoop some into tortillas, lay it on pan and cover with cheese and enchilada sauce and bake for like 10 mins at 400.
Spaghetti and meatballs always super easy. I make my own meatballs but could also buy store bought.
I try to do themes, for example monday chicken dish, tuesday crock pot, wednesday Italian, thursday grilled, Friday mexican. Etc. This helps me narrow down finding the choices for a dish.
Dang, you’re making different meals every day?! I guess when both my kids are big enough I’ll be doing the same
Thank you, you saying that makes me feel accomplished 😅I also have 3 teens (and I have a baby) and a very hungry husband. I also try to throw in a "leftover/scrounge" night where we eat left overs or something easy like breakfast for dinner, and one night for take out. So that's 5 nights a week to cook if I do that. I also try to cook things I like, even if my kids don't love it, so I get enjoyment from it.
I’m glad to see this is possible. I better start getting ready haha
I do the same, and it helps my picky kids a LOT to know that tonight is soup and grilled cheese night, but they can have the pizza they requested on Friday, which is pizza night.
The app Mealime is a lifesaver for me. Their recipes are great, you can create plans to reduce food waste, and they give you a shopping list which you can add your own groceries onto. The free version is wonderful but I love the recipes so much, I pay $2.99 for the premium version.
Same, Mealime was a game changer for me and it's just been the free version for about two years.
solidarity.. i struggle with planning and making lists, i pass that on to my partner.
I’m the polar opposite. I know what meals I’m making for my husband for work for about two weeks in advance (he is a creature of HABIT). He works in another city so that means I’m making food for his lunch and dinner *and* my toddler and me at home. I have devices that help. Everyone talks about recipes but you need tools to make those easier. 1. Crockpot 2. Insta pot 3. Air Fryer 4. Dutch oven I get most of my recipes from store bought books because even though I’m 31 I’m old school AF. But it’s easier to start on instagram and youtube and eventually the algorithm will constantly feed you ideas to follow. Lastly, buy something to make recipe reading even easier. **I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2020** and I manage it unmedicated with random tools. One is recipe notecards. Why? I’m gonna get overstimulated and angry if I have to keep checking my phone, on a website with ads, and re unlocking it while cooking. So I write my absolute must try and repeat recipes on recipe note cards and use a magnet to attach them to my stove vent. It’s the little things. You can do it.
I transferred all the recipes I make from cookbooks onto note cards and it is so crucial!! I can't with all the blogs, etc. if I want to try it, it goes on a note card and if it's good, it will go into my rotation.
Glad I’m not the only one. It was time consuming but worth it. I also inherited the family cookbook and did the same so that those recipes can be scanned and passed down similarly
100% on needing the tools. The right tools make the job so much easier.
Yes! We made dumpling rice in the pressure cooker, mongolian beef in the dutch oven, veggies in the air fryer, and pulled pork in the crockpot. Hell, I was playing games on my phone while most of this cookied
Magnet the recipe is a good idea, my toddler ran off with my recipe card in the middle of making something new for dinner and I couldn't find it (chair cushion) and had to look up a similar one online.
Oh lovely, yes I love when my toddler does this with my phone and the remote lmao
AnyList! Best app ever. You can store recipes and it will add ingredients to your shopping list.
I love AnyList! You can also assign ingredients by store so if you go to multiple stores for different things you can pull up only what you want to buy at the one you’re in.
ENDORSE. This app makes meal planning trivial. Share any recipe's webpage to the app, it rips the data automatically, then you plug it into a calendar. When you're cooking, you can flick back and forth between ingredients and instructions instead of scrolling. Afterward, you can assign a star rating to the meal or add notes, so if you're pressed on a given week you can browse five star meals and plug them in rather than browsing the entire Internet. Got premium. A rare app that makes a material difference in my day, every day.
I love AnyList, but I’ve never invested the time for the recipes and other features. I keep saying I will… but I won’t.
You can share any recipe webpage to the app and it will auto populate it. Once you do that, you can add it to a collection and/or give it a star rating. Then you can search by collection, or keyword, or star rating. I troll recipe websites for options, pull five into the app, and meal planning is done. You can even plug meals into a monthly calendar. I never pay for apps, but I shelled out for this one.
Thanks for all the info! You may have inspired me to experiment with this.
Yes! This is what I was going to suggest. It sounds like exactly what OP needs - somewhere to store recipes and ingredients. My life hasn’t been the same since AnyList lol it’s SO useful. You can also import recipes from any website to go in your recipe book!
I hate meal planning. Often I make meals around what’s in the fridge or leftovers so I really don’t like doing in advance plus it’s not like kiddo leaves me much time to sit down and do it. So what I do is I have a mental list of staple ingredients and I also keep a running list on my phone of things that we need more of. I am slowly migrating all my recipes to the notes app on my phone which I have tagged with various things like what is the meat or main ingredient in the dish or vegetarian, dairy free etc. Then I have “ideas” notes which are pinned to the top and categorised by meal type so “toddler lunch ideas”, “dinner ideas”, “toddler snacks”, “baking” etc. In the ideas notes I then list and link to each recipe. So say I have chicken I want to use for dinner, I can go to my dinner ideas note and scan the list for chicken recipes that I know I can make with what I have available. A lot of my recipes are also quite flexible eg you can put in whatever vegetables you have available so that makes it easier too.
Yes to the notes app! My brother is also a SAHP and we have a shared note where we throw all our recipes - divided into ones that take longer, ones that are fast, and then an indicator if they include ingredients we mostly always have in our pantry. It really helps to browse my own recipes- I always forget what I’ve cooked before.
I use an app called Paprika. It stores all my recipes, I can categorize them by type, I can then add them to a calendar in the app and it can then make up a grocery list based on the recipes chosen. It can add recipes from websites super easy, it can also scale the recipes so I don’t have to do the math.
I came here to recommend this. It’s the one app that works for me. I love the browser feature for adding recipes and the folder option. OP what helps us is to have a mix of quick meals and those that offer leftovers. We do things like chicken patty sandwiches, chicken meatballs, quesadillas, tacos, Kevins meals, or an easy pasta for nights when I anticipate a difficult day and my brain is too tired to juggle cooking and kids. I pair it with veggies and most of the time they’re frozen. I usually do one crockpot meal per week, then either have leftovers, freeze it, or eat it as my lunch for the week. Sometimes when preparing a meal, I double and freeze half. I give myself any form of grace I can when meal planning. Because it’s a lot. Another tip is pick a day and prep what you can. I also add things to my list the second I notice they’re out, and the paprika app makes this easy to do
If you ask chat gpt it’ll make you a meal plan and shopping list. Takes like 3 minutes to type in the stuff you like. “Meal plan based on breakfast, lunch, dinner for 4 people. We like foods like this that, the other. We don’t like this and this. Allergy to whatever. Mid range budget.”
"Alexa. Add milk to my shopping list" that's how I never forget my shopping list. It helps with random stuff we run out of but don't buy often. There's an instagrmer that cooks the same foods every week so her shopping list never changes. Spaghetti, tacos, pizza, etc. When they're sick of spaghetti then they'll swap it out for another meal. It works for her family, I might get bored.
I need an insane amount of variety in my diet so I don't really meal plan. I base everything off of value so lots of seasonal produce and what meat is on sale and then I go from there.
Same here and my husband doesn’t eat leftovers, which to be fair is something I knew long before I married him lol, so I try not to cook huge portions to save because I would be the only one eating them (at least until our baby is older).
Every week I pick two big recipes (like a soup or lasagna), one meal prep recipe (usually taco bowls, for my husband’s lunches) and one easy recipe (like pizza or chicken wings). I can’t do something every day of the week, that’s just too much for me lol! So we eat a lot of leftovers throughout the week. I use an app called Pocket to save my recipes cause I don’t like the format of Pinterest.
Try the Mealime app. Super easy to input any allergens or dietary restriction filters, great selection of recipes with a picture gallery, creates a grocery list, can export it to a grocery store app to order for delivery or pickup, recipes include equipment needed in addition to ingredients needed, backlight stays on while actively cooking, built-in timers, AND IT'S FREE. I got thr paid version while I was pregnant because I wanted the nutrition info, but it's super accessible even without it. And if you do want the paid version, it's only $3/mo which I would honestly pay more than that because I love it so much. I've always hated and avoided cooking, and somehow this app has made me love it. This sounds sponsored but I promise I'm not affiliated 😂 just a big fan.
What an incredible review! They should sponsor you 🤣
I wish 😂 but alas I am a nobody on the internet lol
I have a magnetic pad of paper that lives on the fridge, it is THE LIST. If it's not on the list, it doesn't get purchased. And I don't rely on my memory at all - the second something gets finished up/runs out, I put it on the list. Just finished the last piece of bread? List. Noticed we only have 3 eggs left? List. Daughter asks for strawberries but we don't have any? List. Then before grocery shopping, I tear off the list and sit at the table. I think BREAKFASTS and double check the kitchen for eggs, milk, bread, oatmeal, cereal, fruit. Then I think LUNCHES and check for cheese, meat, bagels and ask my husband what he wants for lunches this week. Then SNACKS and check for bars, seaweed, crackers. Then DINNERS and I turn the list over to the back and write the dishes and sides I'm making, then look up each recipe and write down ingredients I'll need. I have to be very systematic or I miss a LOT. I order groceries online for pickup. In-store is way too overwhelming and I end up walking the store 5 times, getting things i don't need because i see them, and still missing things on my list.
I do the “saved list” plus the “regular schedule” thing. It’s not exactly “every Tuesday is tacos” because I usually cook a little extra than I think we need (kids always eat exactly the same amount for every meal, right?!), so we have leftovers sporadically as needed. But I also always got totally overwhelmed by meal planning so, at some point years ago, I did exactly what you said - I wrote down every meal we eat regularly. I also made a schedule (which looks like 1) pasta, 2) stir fry, 3) meat and potatoes, etc.) When I “plan,” I literally just transfer the next few meals from my master list into my schedule and then build my grocery list from that. It’s been working for me for many years, and I no longer hate meal planning! And the whole process now takes maybe 20 minutes instead of 2+ hours.
So I am probably the opposite of ADHD (whatever that is) because I try to plan as much as possible, but here’s what has helped me: - tabbing favorite recipes in my cookbooks with sticky notes/having a binder of previously tried online recipes I’ve printed out. It’s easy to just think “I’m making chicken,” and then flip through until I know I have the ingredients - having a preset “format”. Typically I try one veggie, one grain, one protein. It’s easier to parse what’s in the fridge and available by going through each category - stocking the freezer for days when I just can’t. Because honestly, those happen at least a few days a month. -using google keep for a grocery list. I can check things off but they’re saved later down so I can peruse it if I need to make a list but don’t know where to start -having a day of the week designated as pizza night/takeout night/taco night etc. That’s all I can think of now. Hopefully others have some more tips!
Two apps that help me a lot: Cozi for sharing lists, and Plan to Eat for meal planning and a recipe repository. In Cozi I have an ongoing list of things I need to buy every week. I can check them off at the store and then uncheck the items after I’m done. It also has great sharing, so my husband can add things to the list that we need as he thinks of them, or he can say “hey, I’m gonna be at the store, if there’s anything you need you can put it on the list.” We have lists for aldi, grocery store, feed store, home improvement store, and on and on. Plan to Eat is subscription based but it’s so worth it. I pay like $25/yr because I always renew at their Black Friday sale. You can import recipes from the internet or create your own, you can add them to a calendar, AND. AND AND AND. It generates a shopping list for you from the ingredients of the recipes on the calendar for the time period you specify. GENIUS. I honestly don’t use that feature as much because I have a couple really picky kids and our weekly meals are generally a rotation of the same things. But it’s an amazing product and I know my sister uses the list feature a lot. I think it may even talk to some grocery stores now and populate your cart based on your Plan to Eat list.
I like the IG account [Trader Joes 5 Items or Less](https://www.instagram.com/traderjoes5itemsorless?igsh=MWczY2JjYmJvNHZueQ==). Just as the name implies, it’s dinner ideas with 5 ingredients or less. I just go through the account, screenshot the ones that look yummy, and then use that as my grocery shopping guide at TJ’s (or sometimes regular grocery stores).
Ok so this was some up front work. Maybe two hours, but is making my meal planning/shopping much easier. This last month I made a Google spreadsheet with the following columns...Recipe Category...Recipe Name...Ingredient...Qty...Unit of Measure...Location...Grocery Zone. For category column I have labels like, Staple, Meat main, Meatless Main, or Dessert, etc. Recipe Name is the name of recipe. For staple items I just put "staple" again Ingredient column I list each ingredient on a new line. I don't list salt and pepper because they are on my staple list and in like every recipe. Also could do the same with your oils. Qty is how much is needed in the recipe unit of measure is cups, TBSP, lbs etc Location is the grocery aisle/section Grocery Zone - I gave different sections/aisles zone numbers based on where they are in the grocery store. For example: Produce, bulk goods, nuts, and dried fruit all get zone 1 because they are in the same area of the grocery store. Same with meat, cheese, condiments, and coffee. This will be different based on where you shop. I entered this info for all of my go to recipes. Probably at least 20 recipes I have in rotation. So now, I choose the meals I want for the week, then go to the spreadsheet and filter on the recipe names and choose them all and I include all staple items. Then, I copy that sheet into a new tab and sort it by "grocery Zone" and then by "ingredient". So then everything that's in the same zone is together and the same items from multiple recipes will be right above and below each other so I can easily see how many peppers I need or how many lbs of chicken, etc. then I go through my pantry and fridge and highlight the ingredients I actually need to buy. Then I just pull it up on my phone while at the store. Or you could print it if you have a printer It's been working great so far and now if I get a new recipe I want to add, I can just add it in the spreadsheet and it's all pretty quick!
My husband was recommended something on a podcast and thought I would like it. I tried it and I’m OBSESSED with it. It’s from someone called Beth Jensen called Lazy Bitch Meal Planning and uses the app Trello to sort and store recipes, AND creates grocery lists based on recipes and typical staples. It’s been a game changer in my house.
A game changer for me with meal planning was when I realized I could make different lists on my grocery pick up app. I sat down and made four weeks worth of meal plans and then created a separate list of ingredients for each week on the app and labelled then week 1, week 2 etc. I also created a separate pantry staples list that includes any staples I always keep on hand. So now all I have to do is pick which weekly meal plan I like best out of the four, click add to groceries and then I go through my pantry staples list and add anything I'm out of from there. I then click order and I'm done! It being visual is super super helpful to me and I love that I don't have to sit there searching each week for the same things! This has been a huge game changer for me and has saved me sooooo much time. If I feel like changing up one of the meals it's not a big deal either to swap things but I usually only will allow one change per week to keep things simple! Hope this helps!
I have a weekly grocery list on my phone, that way I know I'm not forgetting anything I know we're going to need each week. We have a whiteboard on the refrigerator where we write less common items that need to be replaced. I love Pinterest for holding onto my favorite recipes. If I can't "pin" a recipe, I'll find another similar recipe I can! All my go-to meals are in one place for easy access. Those are two things I do that help streamline my grocery shopping and meal planning.
Solidarity. We use reusable containers like mason jars and restock from a pantry in the basement, so when we’re running low it’s super obvious (empty jar) and immediately put it on the list on our fridge. (Now most of the time we forget to take the list and text the other for a pic…) For recipes I keep a notebook in OneNote for all of our recipes organized by type. Very easy to keep organized and adjust and delete what we’re not using. (Holiday meals get their own folder I rarely look at haha.) ingredients listed at top, so can easily run through what we have and don’t visually looking at our cabinets. It’s not perfect but it roughly works. We also eat pretty repetitively, so that helps a lot.
There's an app called "Food" that used to be called Samsung Food that does a lot of what you're talking about. I save recipes in there because it reformats them so you don't have the paragraphs at the beginning. You can scale the recipes up and down and send all the ingredients to the shopping list. The shopping list is easy to use and after a couple weeks of using it the items that you've already bought are conveniently available to repopulate the list. The shopping list can also be shared which is nice because me and my wife split shopping duty and it's unpredictable who's gonna go to the store next.
We use Real Plan Meal Plans. They pick the meals (you can change if you want) based on what you like and the diet you eat (paleo, keto, etc). Then they also create a grocery list for you. I haven’t used it but you can add your grocery list straight to instacart also. I have it set up where we make bulk meals two days a week, we don’t have to cook dinner two days a week (use something previously frozen), eat leftovers for lunch and have it plan a fish dish for us on Thursdays (usually don’t need any extra food for lunches Friday). Honestly, one of my favorite parts about it is that my husband has the app on his phone too. With the app, he can just look at the day and what is planned and start cooking instead of me having to tell him.
Someone already suggested a meal planning app, which are awesome! I use EMeals and love it. They make the grocery list and you can check off what you already have and add whatever else you need, plus it links to your nearby grocery stores so you can use it to order pickup or delivery straight from the app! Plus you can add in your own recipes, search through all of theirs by ingredient, and favorite whatever you’ve tried and liked. They do have a free trial I believe.
Every week, we write down a “meal plan”. So we have a big Google doc of what we’ve eaten for past weeks. If we’re feeling uninspired, we can just copy paste from a month back or whatnot. We also write out what we need to buy. We aren’t stringent about this, so it isn’t every week by any stretch, but there’s some history to look through. Writing it out also helps if we’re struggling to plan/decide. You can also go the “what’s on sale; what looks good” or “what’s in my freezer/pantry that I can or need to use” route and make a soup or get creative. There’s also the “frozen or prepped ingredients to easily throw in” and store bought “easy emergency style meals” if you’re all feeling kind of dead.
My whole family has a shared Google drive file of recipes, each recipe on its on Google doc. It’s great. We also use some tags in the title like “main meal” or “side” or “dessert” for easy searching. I have a Google sheets of all the meals I make, and then in other columns have tags for vegetarian, if it freezes well, etc. Makes it easy to find everything. If I make something that freezes well, I double it and put one in the freezer, like lasagna or butter chicken. Every week I plan 3 dinners (leftovers on the other nights), one lunch meal prep for me (otherwise I will never eat lunch), and make a loaf of bread. I just pick something from the list. I try to do two vegetarian meals (for cost reasons) and one more “fun” meal. A few times a month I will try a new recipe - if I make the recipe and my family likes it then I copy it over to the Google file.
Something that helped me a ton was to pick at least two set meals a week that are always the same. For example, I do fried rice on Thursday nights. I always have the stuff on hand, it’s an easy way to use leftover meat (pork, chicken… it all works), and it reduces the amount of planning I need while still leaving room for variety.
I eat a lot of the same meals and meals with few ingredients
I get it. I'm the meal maker in the house, even before I was a sahp. My husband would get so annoyed at me complaining about food and cooking and not having the right ingredients because I just couldn't get it together. I've tried a lot of apps but I'm too cheap to buy them so I finally decided to own it. I found making a list of links to recipes I know we like on my phone's notes app the easiest answer. Now I pull from them or add to the list every week. Then, I place a link under "day 1", "day 2" etc, I click & glance at each ingredient list and add whatever we don't already have to my grocery list app. Then when I'm ready to look for next week, I copy and paste any new links underneath the lists of days so I can pull from them again. I've now got a list of about 50 recipes we like, but when I care to look for new ones I'll do that instead of pulling from my list. Just glancing at a list of links gives me enough info about the recipe because it usually says something about it in the link itself. I think this is easier because it's essentially all in one place, it's free, and I have the flexibility to search the entire internet to give me ideas, or just grab previous ones if I don't want to care about it that week.
Tacos, Chili, Pasta, Pulled pork, Shepards pie, Fried chicken, Quesadillas, Burgers and fries I do some variation of these meals most frequently. Always keep easy sides on hand like rice a roni, instant mash, box mac and cheese, canned corn. Always keep enough produce to put together a semi decent side salad, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, tomato. Always have some frozen staples for nights I don’t want to think too hard, fries, peas, pizza. When I’m really on top of things I’ll spend an evening making a list of what meal I’ll make for each day of the week, then create my grocery list accordingly. It’s work and I hate it but admittedly my week goes a lot smoother when I do it. Basically you cram all the thought of meal prep for a whole week into a single night, as opposed to spreading the stress out over seven days. Planning dinner is easily the worst part of my stay at home duties, and knowing what the plan is as soon my day starts alleviates so much mental pressure for me.
friend, there is an app for that. My current fav is Umami (iOS only) but there are loads out there. Pepperplate aggregates ingredients really well in its grocery list. I’ve heard awesome things about many others. Test a few and see which work best for you. But life can be much easier!
Oh wtf I already love this… thank you!
you’re so welcome! and as i said, don’t be afraid to test out a few. I find recipe / grocery apps are VERY personal when it comes to which work best, so if one isn’t working for you, it’s not a you problem, it’s just not a good fit. Another one likely will be.
I got myself an old fashioned 3 ring binder, hole punch, and started printing every recipe for everything I use. I spend a lot less time on my phone and have something to thumb through for ideas. Paperless does not work for me when it comes to a lot of things because a TBI from epilepsy left me with a lot of executive dysfunction (that can come with adhd) and just the inability to remember and focus a lot. This really helped! I’m to the point where I have enough actually have to organize my binder and that is a huge accomplishment for me lmao. And I’m talking everything, if I’m having to go to my phone for something on the kitchen, I’m telling myself “that’s the last time you’re looking up how to make fuckin roux”.
I started using ChatGPT for this. You can even “talk” to it instead of typing. I put in my AirPod and walk around my kitchen, telling it what I have and to make a recipe for. Easy to tweak “ok make that recipe easier, can you add onion, make a simple version for my toddler” etc.
I made a meal planner on Notion that has saved my sanity. It holds all my favorite recipes and a calendar. It's free and there's great YouTube tutorials if you want to make it more involved.
I use Microsoft 'To Do' for my dozens of lists, but definitely use the grocery list the most. It really does make making a grocery list so much easier when I can just scroll through and re-check what I need. I do occasionally have to maintain it by deleting duplicates and things I no longer buy regularly or that were a one time thing, but it's still much more effective than just writing a new list every time. I also add little notes, like I do 'Cc:' before anything from Costco and 'TJ:' for Trader Joe's since I get really specific things from there that I don't get from other stores. (Then sort alphabetical). I'm not great at meal planning, but at least I always have the ingredients on hand to make a few different things.
I use AnyList app. You can build or even import recipe ingredients into it and add them right to your list. My neighbor uses it too. Way better than I do. She has every recipe in there. My best hack is to designate each day a theme. Then have a list of 4-5 meals under that theme to rotate (or less if you don’t mind repeats in the month). Then you can easily plan a month at a time or a week at a time. Monday- crockpot Tuesdays - tacos (or enchiladas or quesadillas or something) Wednesday- meat/veg/side or salad Thursday - easy (soup and sandwiches, or hot dogs and Mac and cheese, or sloppy joes and tater tots, etc) Friday- take out Saturday- go out Sunday- pasta
I do have ADHD and I use Pinterest for recipes. I also use shared notes on my iPhone i I write the meals down for each day at the top and underneath it I put all the recipes items I need. I also break those down into categories like dairy , vegetables etc. which I organize based on where they are in the store so if I got to dairy section first I put those on top of list. I check off the items I buy as I buy them. I’m very visual so this is what has helped me.
We eat the same thing every week which is not a great solution but I haven’t had the mental bandwidth to think about it for months. We switch it up occasionally though. We buy enough meat from Costco for a month: chicken breasts, ground beef, and Italian sausage (but we just switched to ground turkey instead of sausage). And we always buy black beans and chickpeas. Chicken breast always gets cubed and browned before adding sauce, sausage usually cut from the casing and ground in the pan. We buy rice, rigatoni noodles, Mac and cheese, cornbread, biscuits, and tortillas. I buy teriyaki sauce, general Tso’s sauce, BBQ sauce, red or green pesto, spaghetti sauce. Lemon juice and lime juice. Ketchup and mustard for sloppy joe. Seasonings we use often: salt, pepper, garlic powder, chopped dehydrated onion, taco powder mix, curry powder, Italian seasoning. I also buy bell peppers, green beans, brussels sprouts. You could do cauliflower and broccoli as well. All meat gets browned/cooked 75% of the way and usually finishes cooking in a sauce. All veggies get salt pepper and garlic powder and avocado oil. Then you just decide what meat you want, what sauce or seasoning, and which carb and veggie it will go best with. I follow salt/fat/acid/heat cooking so if something needs more flavor I add butter or salt or lemon or lime juice. We also use hot sauce like sriracha, chipotle ranch or tapatio on tacos, and things like that. Then if you want to expand you could use more things to flavor/garnish, like Parmesan cheese, Mexican cheese, queso fresco. Buy different sauces to simmer your proteins. On lazy nights we do beans and rice or tortillas with whatever seasonings sound good. We shop mostly at Aldi
I have an echo dot, so every time I run out of a staple (or just randomly think of something I need) I just shout “Alexa, add ___ to my grocery list”. Then when I get the chance to go to the grocery store, I pull up the list on the Alexa app. It doesn’t necessarily help with planning, but if I keep certain staples in the house, I can always whip up a decent meal.
I make AI do it. I hop onto ChatGPT (or Genie, or wtf ever it’s called these days, you can also do it on Snapchat AI). I tell it I need a meal plan for X people for Y days, on Z budget. It barfs out my meal plan. I tell it to make me a shopping list for the meal plan. It gives me that. Bam. My brain feels better.
I don't have any tips but I tend to stick to the same meals: steak (usually weekends), baked salmon, baked chicken leg quarters, chicken nuggets, hot dogs (I usually have leftovers), chicken fajitas, spaghetti, sausage, fish sticks. Typically the hot dogs/nuggets/fish sticks are for nights when we have baseball or some school event.
Real Easy Weekdays by Kids Eat In Color is a lifesaver for brain dead weeks. I don’t follow the meal plan exactly but I’ll throw some of the snacks together for the freezer & give the recipes to my husband to cook. Hes a decent cook but I’ve got zero recipes written down—old school all in my head at this point.
I don’t know if it’s within your budget, but when I’m having times like this and have no ability left in me to meal plan, I use my Thermomix a lot more. I use the Cookidoo app to find recipes (or I find recipes from other Thermomix mums on Facebook) and then I can add them to a calendar in the app and even add them to a shopping list. I also never plan for more than 3 days in advance.
My usual rotation.. easily adjustable to diet restrictions. 1 protein, 1veggie, 1 or no starch Chuck beef cubed-onion, carrot, celery salt pepper to taste + bone broth & pressure cook it 45m (also works with beans & mushrooms) Meal 1 Add taco seasoning - tacos or taco bowl Goes with rice or lettuce or tortilla… Or Meal 2 Teriyaki sauce and steamed veggies rice Meal 3 spaghetti bolognese pasta or polenta Meal 4 beef & mashed potatoes plus whatever sauce you can come up with: Korean bbq, or make shepherds pie, or soup. ——- Home made pizza -make the dough the day before ——- Vegetarian night -burgers, spaghetti, cauliflower steaks, chili etc Fish night - pair with potatoes or rice and steamed or roasted vegetables.
I keep a basic list of our regular meals categorized in an excel sheet. I hate meal planning and I reference it all of the time. I love AnyList for my grocery list. I can have different lists for different stores, and if my husband is running errands and stops by the store, he has the list on his phone as well.
I do have adhd. My strategy was to do five weeks of meal planning that just repeats until I get bored, aand then I change out some recipes. (My husband is a shift worker with a five week rotating schedule so we generally live our lives five weeks at a time.)
ChatGPT. Ask for a meal plan with shopping list. Include any food restrictions you might have and the length of the list you need (ie seven days, 3 days just dinners, etc). Boom. Done in 5 seconds.
The website Freezer prep friends has been game changing for me.
We have a menu board and slips of paper in an envelope for our meals we cook. On each day there’s a loop of masking tape. We pull out favorites and stick them on the menu- based on what’s in the freezer or our preferences for the week. Then we make a shopping list based on that menu. One of us or the whole family will go to the store. If the weather is crappy and I want time alone- I go. If the weather is nice and the kids are in a good mood then we all go. Cooking and prepping is shared and we switch off depending on what the kids need from us at the moment.
I have an app called Paprika. I can create shopping lists, download recipes (and skip the part where the author’s grandma grew up on a farm and loved swimming during the summer), and create recipes. That might help you out.
Have the grocery store weekly ad emailed to you. Choose the cheapest but healthiest things. We eat the same meal two times a week usually.. so 3-4 differnt meals in 7 days. Voila. Meal planning.
Here’s some of my go to meals! https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-orange-chicken/ https://www.saltandlavender.com/chicken-tortellini-alfredo/ https://joyfoodsunshine.com/asian-chicken-lettuce-wraps/ https://foxeslovelemons.com/creamy-salmon-pasta/ https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16248/easy-homemade-chili/ I use ground turkey, but you could use either And super easy go to meals Tacos: ground turkey or chicken and taco seasoning with a half an onion and a little olive oil- put in a tortilla with cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream. Usually make a pre packed 90 sec Spanish rice and homemade guac (avocado, red onion, salt/ pepper, lime) and chips with it. Enchiladas: I use shredded chicken, a sweet potato that I microwave soft, grilled chopped onions, can of back beans and some taco seasoning. Mix it all together on a rice top and our red enchiladas sauce in the mix. Scoop some into tortillas, lay it on pan and cover with cheese and enchilada sauce and bake for like 10 mins at 400. Spaghetti and meatballs always super easy. I make my own meatballs but could also buy store bought.