apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

First the suburbanites pay $30K for a new kitchen and then they go to these places for a cooking party? Jeez...I don't really like to plan ahead, but then I live within walking distance of several food stores. I like our meals to reflect our day, and what's fresh. Just like I like my clothes to reflect how I feel that day. And my house to reflect who I am.

I have started to think about freezing prewashed produce, like spinach or green beans, to speed cooking up.

I freeze soups (of course) and I try to plan one meal at the beginning of the week with one large reusable item. Something like roast chicken on sunday which can then be put in salad, added to veggie stir frys or turned into curry chicken salad sandwiches. The carcasses are then frozen until I have 2-4 to make chicken stock.

I usually have a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer to add some quick protein to a meal as well.

Other than that I don't keep much frozen food around. I'm lucky enough to be within a quick walk to Trader Joe's and a produce co-op so I can get my evening walk and go grocery shopping several times a week.

SFGail, unless you buy your green beans, etc. from a farmers market, you're better off buying the frozen veg to begin with (there are organic brands around). They're frozen fresher than what you buy fresh in the supermarket.

I plan meals ahead almost neurotically; it's the only way to keep the shopping bill under control. I check the specials and try to visit no more than 2 stores, but sometimes I might need to hit a 3rd. At the least I have 7 meals planned and one quick emergency back-up (like a frozen pizza) for times when I don't want to cook, but we probably have more meals at home than most folk do, since our schedules are not 9-5.

If I braise something, especially when beef chuck or pork shoulder is on sale, I make a double or triple batch and put it into the freezer for later use as an emergency back-up. I used to do more of this with soups for lunches, but now I tend to make lunch from scratch at home.

I also try to make sure that there are always ingredients for a pasta on hand and that I have a couple different frozen veg (green beans, spinach, broccoli, peas). Frozen fruits are essential for our ridiculous smootie habit.

And I always buy the family packs of meat that are on sale and portion them up for the freezer. Saves a ton of money. Frozen shrimp are great to have around and, like dried pasta, I almost feel nervous when we're out.

I've also frozen muffins and oatmeal cookies for breakfasts.

My freezer is not that large, but it's packed.

I find that the actual menu planning part is the big hangup for me, although I've never understood the attraction to these kinds of places.
I too have been trying to make more of an effort to plan ahead, mostly because I'm also trying to limit driving and shopping trips.
What's been working great for me lately is making a point to maintain a constant queue of new recipes, choosing the weeks' menu from those, paying attention to what's seasonal of course, and then buying everything I need for them in a single shopping trip. Extra points for repeated ingredients that allow me to use stuff up. Seems pretty basic, but I've always been completely a "oh, it's five pm, what am I going to make for dinner tonight?" kind of person.
Anyway, it's really helped get me out of a cooking rut and the whole trying new recipes aspect keeps it interesting. Plus we're also eating lots of new things that wouldn't have ever made it into rotation with my old on the fly style.

I'm working on getting better at planning ahead, but I do keep a few "quick fix" meals in the freezer. My favorites are bolognese sauce, cincinnati chili, and taco meat or carnitas. They are life-saver on days where you don't feel like doing anything at all for dinner...

I plan a week's worth of meals on the weekend so that I can make one shopping trip a week. I hate going to the store. And I always cook enough for a few frozen leftovers in case life happens and neither of us have the time/energy to cook.

You should check out SOScuisine.com if menu-planning is your issue. It's an awesome customizable site that sets up a meal plan (and accompanying grocery list) for you every week. You can specify food restrictions in your profile and number of people in your family. If you're in Canada, you can specify your region and it will take local supermarket flyers into account and optimize for what's on sale.

The amount that I plan ahead is roughly proportional to how busy I think the week will be. If it's really busy (like this week), I'll do grocery shopping with several recipes in hand, making sure to include a couple of slow-cooker recipes, so there will be two days with supper already made. However, I find weeks like this incredibly boring food-wise, even if the recipes and food plans are tasty. On more leisurely weeks, I can stop at the grocery store on the way home from work, get inspired by an ingredient and have fun making something up to cook. And the taste seems so much better then. Planning helps to ensure we never eat junk for supper (or more rarely anyway), but it takes away a lot of the fun of cooking, the visuals, the rituals, etc.

I'm awful about planning aheady because I love being able to make whatever it is that I've had a craving for that day - if that makes any sense. We keep a very well stocked freezer, mostly because boyfriend and I can never resist buying interesting foods, and with my lack of planning ahead frozen foods get used very slowly, because I rarely remember to take them out of the freezer in time to thaw for that night's dinner.
We go grocery shopping about twice a week, and do a farmer's market run on sunday mornings, and also on wednesdays in the summer, and buy staples, fresh veggies, and any meat that inspires us, and then figure out how to fit it together when we go home...

I plan at least the produce aspect ahead of time since I buy my fruits and veggies at the Saturday farmers' market. Leafy stuff gets eaten early on, and the sturdier stuff later in the week. I try to make a bit pot of something on Sunday night to have for lunches through the first part of the week. Dinners are whatever I make up. Like you, I keep basics around--stocks, canned tomatoes, different kinds of beans, brown rice of whole wheat couscous, whole wheat bread in the freezer, etc. I also have a lot of seasonings and dried herbs on hand, though I'll go fresh when I specifically know I'll need them. I keep a decent pantry, but not an overstocked one because I have so little space and like to keep an eye on what I have. So, where my own meals are concerned, they're not planned much in advance. For parties, though, I plan at least 4 or 5 days ahead!

I plan ahead about one half of a week at a time. I plan out four days and shop on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, then figure out another three days and do a second shop on Friday morning. I am a stay at home mother, so I am able to shop during non-busy times, thank goodness. Other than a frozen pizza and some normal staples (pasta, chicken stock), I don't really keep a lot of other things around, so I'm always really proud when I am in a pinch and can whip up something from what happens to be around.

I plan my menu's a month at a time. I cook and freeze items to make some of the meals.

Here's a link with basic breakfast and lunch menu plans and a sampling of what was for dinner last week.
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/02/menu-planning-monday-basic-breakfast.html

I'd love for there to be something like this where I am! Actually- what I'd really like is a community kitchen/canning kitchen like there used to be. My kitchen is too small to do the large-batch canning and cooking that I'm used to doing. I have to stop halfway and just cook in smaller batches, which takes up extra time.

I meal plan at least a week out, if not two or three weeks out, especially during the productive months of my garden. Whatever is being harvested at that time makes it onto the menu.

Aside from that, I freeze meats and items which don't can well, and can everything else. My side-by-side fridge freezer is useless for much long-term storage, but I share a full-size freezer with my parents at their house (about 20 minutes away), and just re-stock my house as needed.

I wish I could be better at planning ahead, but I love being able to adjust the menu to whatever I'm (and anyone who is joining me) craving that day! I do keep some pasta sauce, dried pasta, and the makings for chili or some kind of soup on hand or frozen though, for busy and/or lazy days.

I plan a week ahead. I dont really enjoy trying to come up with what to cook on the fly and considering how long produce sits on the shelves at the grocery store, I dont think it matters if I go on Monday or Thursday. Its the middle of winter and "fresh" really isnt what we like to pretend it is right now.

In the middle of summer when the produce around here is fresh and local I still plan a week ahead but I tend to do my planning while at the farmers market.

My planning is based on what looks good at the produce place on Saturday morning. I'll cook one big pot of something on Saturday or Sunday, along with a couple of side dishes and then eat this for the remainder of the week.

I freeze some supplies: chicken broth, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, and others of the same ilk. I guess this is more important during the summer because everything I just listed involves using a hot oven or a pot boiling on the stove.

I don't like to rely on frozen veggies, but I definitely keep some in the freezer for those days when I get home and I'm out of leftovers and all I can handle making is ramen.

I plan a week or so ahead of time, mostly because it will get boring otherwise, especially in the winter. Without planning I'll just keep making my stand-bys, and as much as we like black bean soup/enchiladas/pasta, by this time of the year they're a little worn out. Also, if I haven't planned for it, I don't buy grocery store green veggies out of fear that they'll go to waste (when the farmer's market is on, all veggies are fair game unless they are coming into season in our garden - best thing about living in the 'burbs).

Our freezer is only just now starting to get low on things that were frozen from last summer's garden (I held on to the last bag of chard until I had a day to make fresh chicken stock and all the fixins for my friend's family recipe for Italian wedding soup - heaven). There are still sliced jalapenos and bell peppers and a couple pounds of our favorite grocery's house-made sausage from when they had a $1.99/lb sale last fall (it's usually $4.50-5.50). There is also chicken stock and homemade bean and rice burritos and black bean burgers. There is usually some spaghetti sauce, some various soups, and frozen corn and peas for throwing in soups/salads respectively. Oh, and some kind of frozen berries for putting in my yogurt.

It had never occurred to me to freeze fresh lemon juice, but I'm going to start now.

So do people have extra small freezers or something? We have a regular refrigerator, and it seems like we have a lot of stuff in there. We actually have a second fridge that we don't use the freezer of (the fridge converted to a kegerator in the basement - husband is a homebrewer).

I rarely plan ahead-- I just try to buy ingredients that can be used for a variety of recipes and then use them all up. I'm too much of an intuitive person to plan and then execute way in advance.

Freezing... I freeze stock and some meats that I don't use immediately, but I dislike having to wait for things to defrost and so I don't freeze much. i'd much rather make a big lasagna or pot of chili and then eat it over the next few days.

I use a meal planning service that has changed my life. I use http://thescramble.com. The meals are quick and kid-friendly, but fancier than what I would make on my own. The best part is not having to come up with a grocery list on my own. I want to check out SOS cuisine as mentioned above, too.