How Do You Choose What To Cook In The Evening?

[Smowball]

Are you super-organised and plan your weeks meals in advance?
Do you go shopping and just pick 6/7 meals for the week?
Do you wake up in the morning and decide then?
Or are you running around the kitchen at 5pm like a headless chicken trying to scramble a meal together??

[mazie]

Weekly shop and buy all the meat for the weak so know roughly what we will be having. I usual decide what's for lunch and dinner that day first thing in the morning. I sometimes take out meat in the evening and slow cook overnight.

[rockyracoon]

I usually wake up in the morning and decide, it's one of my biggest headwrecks. "What do you lot want for dinner to tonight?" "Don't know mum, whatever"
In from school, "what's for dinner mum." no matter what I answer with, all I get back is "I don't like that" grrrrrrrrr.

[Mick-Talbot]

I usually have what I fancy but I have thought about having a AB poll to decide what I'm having.

[carolegif]

Headless chicken!! I buy things each week, but I don't have a menu planned. However, when we lived in Spain for part of the year, the best meals I cooked where the ones when I went to the supermarket at 4pm, saw what was on special and them cooked something up.
I think headless chicken is more creative!!!

[mazie]

I remember those days rocky, only the two of us now though and he's just as bloody bad.

(rocky how did you get on cooking the Turkey?)

[AlwaysConfused]

I usually start thinking about food from the minute I get up, and decide what to cook for tea before going off to work, incase I need to defrost anything. We only tend to think further ahead for when I'm on late shifts (finishing at 10pm, and OH gets up for work at 2am), so it'll be something that I can heat up when I get home, like a curry or chilli. Sundays are always roasts. When I can't decide what to cook, it's off to the kebab van I go :D

[EcclesCake]

Depending on my circumstances at the time it can vary from a psedo regimented week along the lines of:-

Sunday - Roast
Monday - Use up left over roast e.g. risotto, stir fry or cold meat, salad and new pots.
Tuesday - Quick
Wednesday - what veg from the veg box nee using ip
Thursday - Quick
Friday - Curry more often than not, but always from scratch.
Saturday - Indulgent food that takes a while to prepare and we have time to enjoy and savour.

Under other circumstances it's a cheese and celery sarnie, emergency fry up or a lot of quesadillas/fajitas........

[Smowball]

I go through phases. If I have time I will plan mon-fri's evening meals and buy whats needed, but when hubby suddenly works very late that throws it all out as you cant re-heat all meals.
Am going through a 'decide in the morning' phase. Have got slow cooker on at mo with a beef stew.

[Iluvspikey]

Well depending on how many I've got to cook for, 5 if we are all at home, sometimes offspring will fend for themselves so it could be just hubby and me, I'll take meat out of the freezer the night before. sometimes sons come in starving even though they've had a burger before football practice, I've always got stuff like Pizza and pasta or a curry in the freezer for them or sausages and gammon in the fridge.

[tamborine]

Usually starts from Sunday roast beef > Mon bubbleNsqeak > Tues beef casserole > wed steak&kidney pie. Thurs roast lamb/chicken > repeat Mon to Sun or have standalone mid week cheapos meals of spaghetti bol, spare rib, chicken stir fry, macaroni cheese.

[mccfluff]

whatever looks easiest in the fridge

[rockyracoon]

Sorry Smow, Mazie it was a bit if a palaver at first, we had to chop the legs off which turned out to be a lot harder than it looked. We managed to get it in the oven Christmas morning, he buggered off down the pub and I had to wrestle the flipping thing out on my own, jus about did it. Tasted delicious though, worth the effort.

[woofgang]

sometimes I plan, sometimes i dont

[Smowball]

lol RR - did you end up looking like a Mr Bean sketch on Xmas day then?

[ummmm]

I mainly shop daily. I often browse food sites and decide from that. We usually go shopping on a Saturday where we get all the household stuff and Sat and Sun dinners....then I decide daily.

(I did not plan him coming shopping on a Saturday so he pays...honest!!)

[rockyracoon]

I think so Smow, I was effin and jeffin like a mad woman. It was unanimously voted by all, that this Christmas dinner was the best ever (mother wasn't too happy with that though) so, worth it in the end.

[Smowball]

I believe you ummmm : )

Doing all the cooking and shopping myself I tend to sometimes run out of ideas, and will so then get say chicken or mince whatever out of the freezer in the morning and then decide what to do with it.

[giveup]

Headless chicken unless we have guests. Then I plan it,do all preparation work and they think I'm really organised and efficient. If only they knew.Like last night,I was going to make boeuf bourguignonne,could'nt be bothered,thought about chops,could'nt be bothered,ended up with a frozen meal(reduced) from the co-op.

[mazie]

LOL...I can just imagine rocky...Men hey, less than blood useless most of em. I ended up cooking breakfast, lunch and supper on Christmas day and Boxing day and the men sat about drinking !!

[shaneystar2]

It used to be planned like a military operation but now it's just us two old fogies it's bit hit and miss :)
We don't eat a lot of fancy stuff but tend have a roast most Sundays .Cold meat and bubble ,mince and dumplings .Sausage and mash .Schnitzel, homemade soups and casseroles , fish and salad .Depends really ,sometimes we beans and egg on toast :)