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I started doing it because it makes life easier and everyone eats healthier. Can't say I enjoy it, though! I would probably take a food pill, too.

The planning is not the hard part, for me it's the execution. I am okay with prepping in advance, but I don't like a lot of leftovers.

I have come to realize that what works for me is to select simple proteins, package them in meal sized portions, prep and freeze. The night before, I just have to move from the freezer to fridge and prep a side dish the night of. My oven is my best friend.

Yes, that's the problem I have...if I know what I am cooking, no problem. But if I have to figure it out while I am standing in the kitchen, it's a problem.

Tonight I am planning on making a plum chicken stirfry with rice. The veggies are all frozen and chopped, so no prep there. I don't mind taking help where I can. Just because I don't wash and chop the brocolli myself doesn't mean it's not healthy. I really feel frozen veggies get a bad rap!

@looch: That plum chicken sounds really amazing!! Frozen veggies have also become a new staple for us. The frozen corn I buy is actually really good, it tastes sooo fresh!

I actually have found it usually works well for me, however nothing annoys me more than a change in plans and I have bought stuff for a meal and it goes bad before I get a chance to make it!

We have a hard time with it. The main issue is that we're just so bored of everything. I am a really picky eater, and my husband claims not to be but in all honesty IS a picky eater in that he doesn't like a lot of the (few) things I like. We just have really different food preferences and there isn't a ton of crossover, so there aren't too many dishes we can make we both like which means meal planning feels painful because its like ummmmmmm tacos again? I guess? Meh.

I have tried a few times to get into meal planning and have failed for various reasons.

One of my big challenges is DH not really loving leftovers (which he is actually getting much better about) and then the two of us having very different tastes and diets (he's big into weightlifting and eating tons of chicken breast, where I am a vegetarian for example).

I think it's worth another shot!

It doesn't work for us. We buy whatever produce is on sale/ looks good and then go off of that. The kids will only eat fresh food and I don't let anything go to waste so I constantly just have to make things up depending on what we have. It's exhausting but planning never works because I don't feel like making something, or have a busy day and don't have time. I dunno.

@looch: I think it's just so hard to get quality produce in the winter months - we buy a lot of frozen vegetables to cut costs in the winter. Any vegetable is better than no vegetable - and I think they still retain many health properties, even if not all!

I like meal planning. I use Pinterest to organize my recipes and have it down. I found the key for me is to be flexible with the plan and switch it up sometimes.

Yes! I like the idea in theory, but my plans often crumble in the supermarket. They won't have something I need or an ingredient will look terrible and I'll have to scratch an entire meal or go to another store. I often try to plan for a week, but I find it's easier to plan for a few days.

Yep! I have no idea what I am going to want to eat 5 days from now.

We have a hard time with it for a lot of reasons already mentioned. Mainly, I have a hard time coming up with a week's worth of meals...but whenever I look at websites that do tjis for you, at least half of the meals sound really unappealing. Also, we don't really eat pork and for some reason I feel like most premade meal plans are pretty pork-heavy! I really need to come up with four week's worth of meals and build a template so we have each of them once per month or something like that. But we also don't always stick to the plan if something comes up or we don't feel like eating that night's dinner or whatever, so we need to be better about that.

This is what works well for me. I check the pantry before I go shopping, think of a few meals I could make if I bought 1-2 ingredients, then buy mainly sale stuff and come home and write up my meal plan as I'm unpacking the groceries.

Totally cut my grocery budget in half, and now we have way less waste.

Yes... Bc I don't cook lol and I can never imagine DH meal planning!