Moms: how do you cook dinner every night?!

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Having a well stocked "basic" pantry is important. Then you can shop around them as you need to.

Planning the week's menu is important for two reasons: 1. makes life a lot easier, 2. you can take advantage of specials offered at the stores. Sit down with the weekly menu schedule/planner AND ALL of the store sales flyers. Then start looking at the meat specials available to you, then the produce specials. These two will likely trigger menu ideas for the week and fill your 7 days rather quickly! Of course it is important to vary your meat so you don't plan on fish 4 nights in a row! Of course, stock up on any specials the stores are having in other pantry supplies!

I do hope you have a bunch of "basic" recipes you can work with. If not, a good solid basic cookbook (Betty Crocker, Joy of Cooking, etc) is a great start, along with recipe websites (my favorite is www.food.com).

You can shop more than once a week if you'd like, but you can shop only once a week if you strategize your menu properly. You know which meats/fish/produce are HIGHLY perishable. Put THESE items on your menu for the first 2-3 days. Then fill out the other days with the less perishable foods. Furthermore, use your FREEZER to keep those for days 5-7.

Once you get the hang of the menu planning/shopping routine down pat, it will be a breeze! Have FUN, too!


That'll be 5-cents, please.

Planning your meals helps. Something that seems to save time is planned leftovers. For example, cook extra mac and cheese and use the leftover a few days later in a casserole. Or, cook extra broccoli for one meal, then make cream of broccoli soup later in the week. Something that helps us plan is having a kind of schedule: Mondays are meatless and we have fishy Fridays. You could have a schedule, with a different kind of meat served each day, and then make your menu from that. It can be overwhelming (at least to me) if you don't have any kind of a plan.

I plan meals for the week and get all the ingredients at once. I always have roman noodles, soups and pastas in case something unexpected happens and I need to just throw something together last minute. Make sure you mix it up, chicken, then beef, then soup, then pasta. This way you don't get tired of one food. You can find lots of easy, cheap and fast recipes on the internet. Get creative and have fun.

Well whatever you decide to cook, make at least a double batch so you will not have to cook every night. Find some basic things you all like, maybe chili, tacos, chicken dishes, soups etcs, have basic ingredients on hand. Master a few dishes at a time. Keep it simple, read a recipe thoroughly before deciding whether or not to make it. Good luck sweetie!

Always have milk, bread, eggs.
I'd do all the dry and canned foods and the meat at the beginning of the week. U can sort out the meat and freeze it and thaw it out the day you're going to use it. Buy the fruit and veggies as u go along unless its an onion, potatoes, carrots, things that don't spoil easily u can get ahead of time. And always have butter, cooking oil, sugar.

Plan a few meals in advance...then buy what is needed...you will always need salt & pepper ...Get milk and butter and eggs also...

Soon you will discover what essentials you need to have on hand for everyday use...

Plan on going shopping once a week..but don't be surprised if you have to go more than once...

Hope this helps........

The best piece of advice that I can offer you is...BUY A CROCKPOT/'SLOW COOKER'. It is sersiouly the best thing that you can own. On days that you know you will be super busy and want to come to a cook meal that's done. You can cook so many healthy (and cheaper) dishes in a slow cooker.

I go shopping once a week. There are many kitchen staples that you will use a lot. You will learn what these things are when you start planning your meals. Salt is one kitchen staple.

It's called McDonald's :P

go buy stuff for the week.then every night you scream "WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR DINNER?!" and the first to answer wins.(:

It depends how busy your days are. I know alot of single people shop for their dinner everyday. Me being a single parent and working time I have to figure out my menu for the week ahead of time. I usually figure what I am going to cook based on what is on sale and my kids (2) have their favorites. Everyone chooses one meal and I do the rest. I shop of Sundays.Make sure you get all your basics first spices and such and it's always good to have stuff to make on days you don't have time to shop like pasta, sauce, cans of chicken and tuna, rice, veggies. I hope this helps.

I live alone in an apartment, and I shop every week and a half or so. I'd go less often if I didn't have to restock fruits and veggies, but oh well. For three people, you may have to go a little more often because you'll run out of stuff faster. When I lived at home with my parents and siblings, my mom shopped about once a week and only ran out mid-week if we ran out of eggs or something.

Your staples will depend on what you like to make. Some of my dry, non-perishable ones (great to stock up on!) are olive oil, garlic, spices like basil, oregano and chili powder, canned tuna and chickpeas, rice, different kinds of pasta, frozen bagels, oatmeal, frozen peas and corn and broccoli, cans of tomato puree and paste to make sauce, chicken breasts (in freezer), and canned soups for days I'm in a hurry or too exhausted to make anything.

You'll also want to keep your favorite/most used vegetables and fruits on hand, whatever those are. Also, bread, eggs, cheese, and whatever you guys like to drink (milk, whatever kind of juice, etc.)

After you stock up the first time, keep a list or whiteboard or something in the kitchen so you can write down anything else you think of, or items you run out of and need to replace on your next trip. Planning meals at the start of every week might help you make lists, too. Heck, I do this just for myself, and it gives me a very precise list of ingredients and shortens my time at the store.

Also, your freezer can be your best friend. Make extra when you make soup, sauce, chili, whatever...and freeze it. It will be great for later.

Have fun and don't stress too much. Keep those cans of soup and a few other instant things around, just in case a day doesn't go as planned. Good luck! Have fun - I love cooking :)

I will spend the Sunday going through the weekly mailers (the supermarket junk mail) and write down on lists which have the coming weeks "specials" and the prices.
I then make my shopping list and as I can't get all over town to visit them all I will pick the one that I will get the best value for money.
I will then add to that list the regular replacement items, as the week passes until Wednesday when the weekly loot arrives.
I will then do the shopping trying to avoid all of those things that I am tempted to buy.

Give your self a few weeks to get things if required as you will find it costs a fortune as a start up, it cost me a lot.
There are many things like a bottle of oil that will last a few months
Bags of potatoes, carrots onions and other veggies that will last weeks
Things like milk and bread that last a few days.
They will balance themselves out after those first few weeks and you may find you can afford a few treat.
What you buy is up to you. There are things like packets of rice with flavour sachets that will make a meal for 2-4 people, but it is a lot cheaper if you buy the bag of rice yourself to cook and flavour it.
I think you will get dozens of those things as suggestions.
I look for meat fish and chicken first to get those that I want, and then with the knowledge of what I have in the cupboards and fridge and freezer I will get the fruits and veggies.
(If you are new, learn how to properly store the produce)
Frozen foods come next, particularly the veggies as they are cheaper in the long run than cans.

I tend to make the meals up as I go daily, chopping and changing tings to make do with what I have or what I want to finish off.

I have one of our major supermarkets only 300m away so I can shop daily if required and am slowly learning the best times when they have their foods on markdowns. These are the foods that will probably pass the best by nate the next day. Get them home and into the freezer PDQ and they will last for weeks.