On 18 Apr 2006 08:49:38 -0700, "Anthony" > wrote:

>For those who cook for the household how do you plan menus?

I'm not really into menu planning. When we go to the store I look at
what's on sale and think 'that would make a nice meal' or 'I'd like to
have lasagna this week' so I buy the required ingredients and bring
them home and put them away in the freezer/cupboard and that's about
as far as it goes. Then when I want to make it I know that they're
there...

When I come to cook I'll think 'what do I feel like eating tonight?'
or 'what would DH really like?' or 'what can I cook inside 30
minutes?' etc depending on how much time I know I have. Our staple
thirty minute meal is chicken breast fingers thawed in the microwave
then fried up while some potatos or sweet potatoes nuke, and then
frozen vegetables of some kind take their place in the microwave. The
whole meal is on the table in 30 minutes flat.

If I'm really uninspired I'll ask DH what he wants for dinner and his
answer is almost always chilli or hamburgers. If I really don't feel
like it I say no, or I'll just make it for him. He refuses point blank
to eat leftovers so we usually have something floating around that I
can finish up. We don't have the freezer space to store more than one
or two cooked meals, so if I don't eat the leftovers they end up being
tossed out.

The other consideration is what do we have in the fridge that needs to
be used up, like grated cheese or roast chicken or lunchmeat...

I don't plan lunches - DH has a sandwich or a hotdog if he's home
early enough and otherwise we try to eat dinner before six.

Breakfast depends entirely on DH's plans for the day - if he has to go
early he doesn't have any and I have a bowl of cereal. If he has a bit
more time I make us some toast with lunch meat. And if he has a lot of
time then I cook eggs and bacon and french toast.

Our last weeks' menu was:
Saturday night - frozen lasagne and a bowl of salad, baked at the same
time as I roasted vegetables for Sunday lunch at Church.
Sunday - Easter luncheon at church, so DH had a hotdog for dinner and
I didn't need anything. I took chicken pot pie and roasted vegetables
to the luncheon and everyone ate very well.
Monday I made a baked potato salad because we had a bunch of canadian
bacon that needed to be used up and I knew we had lots of potatoes in
the cupboard. And we had another bowl of salad to go with it.
Tuesday - chicken fingers, sweet potato and frozen California blend.
Tonight - Chilli
Tomorrow - probably pork chops, baked potato, green beans and
applesauce
Friday - something with chicken.