Getting dinner on the table each day is a universal challenge, but the ways we all tackle this task are as varied as our kitchens themselves. For some, meal planning is a finely tuned operation, complete with spreadsheets, colour-coded shopping lists and meticulous batch-cooking sessions. For others, it’s a spontaneous affair, driven by what’s left in the fridge, a last-minute dash to the shops or simply the mood of the moment.
In recent years, there’s been a noticeable rise in hyper-organised meal planners — those who thrive on structure, prepping meals for the week ahead and rarely deviating from their plan. At the same time, many still embrace a freewheeling style, enjoying the creativity that comes with cooking on the fly or using up whatever’s to hand. Whether you’re feeding a large family, cooking for one or juggling dietary requirements, how you plan, shop and cook is deeply personal.
We’ve stepped inside seven different households to discover their unique approaches to meal planning. From the spreadsheet devotee to the batch-freezing fan, these mini-portraits show there’s no single ‘right’ way — just the one that works for you.
The spreadsheet strategist
“I’m pretty pleased with my system. It sounds a bit full-on but it works well.” Fiona, household of four.
I am a serious spreadsheet planner. I’ve been doing this for around 10 years. My friends and family mock me for it, but I find it’s the best way to tackle a monotonous task. I have two spreadsheets on the go(!), one called stock check – before I do the shop I check the cupboards for all our basics like rice, pasta, cereal – then I have another called ‘winner dinners’ – anything we all like goes on there, divided into categories of meat, fish, veggie. I’m constantly adding to it and I try and make a few new recipes every week.
On Sunday morning, I make a list of dinners for the week ahead, picking from my spreadsheet list. I usually do two or three meat-based dinners, one fish, and the rest veggie. I try and do a good mix for health, budget and eco reasons. I don’t feel great if I eat too much meat, and it’s so expensive. I shop and cook for my family’s meals – two adults and two children aged three and five. Like a lot of young children, they are pretty fussy, so I’ll pick out any veg they really hate or tell them the odd lie like smoked tofu is sausage, as I refuse to cook two separate dinners and I don’t want them to live on pesto pasta, as much as they’d like to.
In an ideal world, I’d shop more at fishmongers, butchers and farm shops – before I had kids I did that a lot more, but due to the rising cost of living, I now do it all in a big online supermarket shop as it’s cheaper. But I do only buy free-range meat, eggs and dairy, or organic if we can afford it that week.
I’m pretty pleased with my system. It sounds a bit full-on, but it works well, and I find meal planning and doing one big shop works out so much cheaper. Plus it means we often have leftovers for lunch.
What we ate for dinner this week:
- Monday: butter paneer curry with broccoli
- Tuesday: slow cooker chicken and vegetable stew
- Wednesday: garlic and herb cod kiev traybake
- Thursday: veggie sausage and lentil stew
- Friday: lamb kebabs, flatbread and salad
- Saturday: beef and vegetable pie with greens
- Sunday: creamy pumpkin pasta
The last-minute cook
“I spend half my life traipsing back and forth from the supermarket to pick up ingredients.” Issie, household of two.
I would love nothing more than to be a meal planner. I see videos of people filling fridges with individual portions of meals and enjoying the fruits of their labour all week long. I am no such cook.
I do everything last-minute, depending on what level of health or indulgence I need. This means I spend half my life traipsing back and forth from the supermarket to pick up ingredients. While this does mean I eat some delicious meals during the week (tofu, kimchi and brown rice bowls are a current favourite), it also means I eat strange things to use up leftovers.
Recently, I had the ends of a few bags of pasta with fried brussels sprouts and anchovies, and on another occasion, a few beans mixed through wilting rocket with parmesan. Not exactly exciting!
I still aspire to meal prep. In fact, it’s one of my goals for 2026. Let’s just see if it happens!
The Sunday batch cook
“I don’t mind my fridge being empty, but an empty freezer does make me very worried!” Anna, household of three.
I like to take the bulk buying approach. I buy 16kg sacks of flour, 10kg bags of potatoes and 5kg packs of pasta at a time. I would buy more, my only limitation being where to store the sacks!
I do one huge shop per month which includes all my protein and storecupboard essentials. My freezer is my best friend, and I spend most of a Sunday per month filling it up with stews, curries, ragus, pies, bread and even slices of cake or bakes to have ready on hand. I don’t mind my fridge being empty, but an empty freezer does make me very worried!
My pre-planning and freezer fillers makes midweek meals a doddle. It saves me time as if I’m cooking something once, I might as well cook a few portions of it. Most weekends my slow cooker is bubbling away with something to fill my freezer with, and this relieves the pressure midweek when I come home from work and need food ready in minutes.
Fresh produce I often buy same day, on my way home from work, mostly looking for reduced items to save some money.
Saying all that I do have a slightly chaotic approach to meal planning, despite a freezer full of meals. I’m very thankful for the defrost setting on the microwave as I very often forget to pull things out the freezer before the meal itself!
The phone notes planner
“Some people think they’d change their mind about what they’d cook if they meal planned, but I look forward to what I’ve chosen.” Lucy, household of two.
I live with my boyfriend and I do all the meal planning for our household of two. I’ve always meal planned since I moved out of home and was cooking for one for the first time – for about five years now. I love cooking and trying new recipes, but I’m also indecisive and know that if I got home after work without anything planned, I’d just eat a lot of two-minute tortellini and fish fingers!
My process sounds elaborate to some people but it really works for me. I have a note on my phone that lists out lunch and dinner every day. I usually plan the upcoming week on a Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. I save recipes in all sorts of places on my phone: Instagram, photos from magazines, the Good Food app, or notes of recipes I’ve seen in my cookbooks. I browse through all of these to choose recipes for the week – I usually do a mixture of new recipes I haven’t tried, along with some tried-and-tested favourites. There’s always space for pesto pasta after a busy day! I also have a list of what’s in my freezer and roughly what’s in my storecupboard, which can help inspire me with what to choose, and saves me buying double.
I plot these into each day, trying to make sure there is a good variety of cuisines, ingredients and flavours across the week. Health isn’t my main motivation – I’m a comfort food cook – but I like to make sure I’m getting enough different veg. I put longer recipes on the weekends when I want to spend time in the kitchen and quick ones for midweek days after the office. Then I use this to make a shopping list and do one big weekly shop at the weekend.
Some people think they’d change their mind about what they’d cook if they meal planned, but I look forward to what I’ve chosen and enjoy having to only think about it once at the weekend, and not do any more planning or food shopping the rest of the time. I also think it’s so much cheaper than doing top-up shops all week and helps limit food waste because you can plan how to use up everything you buy.
The “what do you fancy?” cook
“I miss cooking for a gang, but I’m adapting: without three human dustbins I portion smarter.” Keith, household of two empty nesters.
Meal planning in our house has changed with the seasons of family life. When our three kids were small I was a work-from-home house-dad, on pick-up duty and feeding three mouths. I kept a rolling online supermarket list of their “greatest hits” and shopped by weekly delivery. Good Food magazine was my guide: I loved its “make a base, turn it into three meals” approach. A batch of mince became bolognese, chilli and cottage pie; a chicken did a roast, sandwiches and stock.
After school they were ravenous, and with my wife out at work we saved dinners for the weekend — burgers or fajitas on Saturday, a roast on Sunday. The kids were never fussy, so planning was simple, and each month I’d test a new dish. Indian curries were instant keepers; fiery Thai ones took a few years.
When they hit their teens and I went back full-time, weekends turned into batch-cook central. I’d portion favourites into foil trays so they could heat them up after school. I also learned to cook double for my wife and me, because the teens always wanted a bite of whatever we ate.
Now we’re empty nesters. We do a fortnightly delivery for essentials, spend far less, and dinner is more “what do you fancy?” than scheduled. I miss cooking for a gang, but I’m adapting, especially on waste: without three human dustbins I portion smarter — breaking a chicken into parts and giving each piece a job before it hits the fridge.
The solo chef
“You’ll never see me doing a big weekly shop – my receipt rarely goes above £30.” Helen, household of one.
I live with two housemates, but I meal plan and cook vegetarian meals for myself. This process starts at the weekend, when I’ll go to a discount supermarket and buy ingredients for one recipe. This will most likely be something I’ve seen on a website, magazine or social media. I’ll also stock up on staples like coffee, fresh fruit and bread. This normally comes to approximately £20.
I’ll cook this recipe either on the weekend or Monday night, and I’ll make around three or four portions. I’ll then stretch these portions across the week. When I’ve eaten it all, I’ll raid my cupboards/freezer/fridge and make an odds-and-ends dinner, dashing to my local shop if I need to bulk it up with veg, protein or legumes.
I’m lucky that there is a test kitchen at work, meaning I’ll often take home amazing food for dinner or lunch the following day. Lunches otherwise tend to be something on rye bread, for example smashed peas, feta, kimchi and lime juice. I’ll also go the shops on the day for any reduced bits. I love a yellow sticker!
If my boyfriend’s visiting on the weekend, we’ll think about what we fancy and cook it. He protests that I have no food in the house, but when it’s just me to cater for, I can nip out to my local shop on a whim (although it is expensive). You’ll never see me do a big weekly shop – my receipt rarely goes above £30 – I’d find that food would go to waste if I did, plus I don’t have a car!
My boyfriend and I plan on moving in this year. I know that my meal planning routine will change quite drastically and I’ll end up spending more, but it’ll be nice to split cooking duties!
The hybrid approach
“This system works for us right now, but I do wish I had a bigger freezer so I could utilise it more often.” Sarah, household of two.
I cook for just myself and my husband, and we both work from home three days a week. I take a hybrid approach to meal planning: I improvise based on what I already have, but also try to think a couple of days ahead.
I’ve tried stricter meal planning, but I usually only do one or two days at a time. We don’t have a car and shop at discount supermarkets (like Lidl) that don’t deliver, so I can only carry so much home at once!
We also have a very small freezer, so I don’t batch-cook due to space, but do try to be budget-conscious. I make use of leftovers in the fridge and will often buy one big protein item that can be used across several days to save money. For example, a whole chicken could make us three dinners: as a roast, then in wraps or sandwiches, then in a curry.
I tend to plan those longer cooks, like roasting, on a WFH/weekend day, as I have much less time when I’m working in the office. Having leftovers ready to use saves a lot of time and effort when I’m getting home late. This system works for us right now, but I do wish I had a bigger freezer so I could utilise it more often.
More meal planning inspiration
I’m a nutritionist and this is how I meal prep for the week ahead
No-cook meal plan
Claire Thomson’s back-to-school meal plan
10 tips to make meal prep easier
I’m a single mum of three – here’s how I shop cheaply at a luxury supermarket
