You will need to have freezer space for "stuff"....
Do you really cook for 6 every day? If so....you will need a lot.
I would start with 2 whole chickens, stuff an onion and a lemon up their butt and pop into a roaster and into the oven for about 2 hours at 375. Take the temperature to be sure the thick part of the thigh is at 160.....and put a hunk on each plate along with a baked potato, or rice and a simply cooked veggie.
You then have 2 lunches of chicken sandwichs or chicken salad and enough left for chicken enchiladas...or quasedillas ( without cheese....or with non dairy cheese) for dinner.
Next night...."hunk o' beef"....4 pounds of chick or round, pot roast it and again you have sandwiches and perhaps a beef and muchroom stew.
Spend a day and make a nice marinara sauce.....and then make meatballs....and from that you can have spaghetti and meatballs....a meatball sub sandwich and chicken breasts baked with marinara.
How about a corned beef? That will give you a meal plus lovely sandwiches!
With your DH's restrictions you are really limited.....that leaves pretty much meat and rice and veggies.
Corned beef broth makes a nice base to cook split peas in...
Another thought is a whole side of salmon for dinner and salad for lunch and make salmon cakes and freeze them until your family forgets the salmon was leftover.
Linda C

Loves2:
You are something, A born troublemaker.LOL

I just Roasted another Chicken , with Stuffing and divided it into portion meals.
But this time I took the Breasts off and froze them separately,
so I can add them to Chicken Soup, about 5 min. before it is served.
I found that this way the Breast meat doesn't overcook.

Or I can use them in a Platter, with Veggies and Cranberry Sauce.
I usually like the dark meat,( Thighs )

With leftover Steak and Chicken, you can make a Stew and freeze it.
Leave out the potatoes and put them in when served.
Nuke one , til done ,cut it up and add to the stew.
I'll have to read over your Post and see what you or DH can't eat.

I think it would be easier to put in what " you can eat."
Be back later.
Lou

PS: Chickenburgers,Chicken Cakes. Freeze them.
(use my Baked Salmon Cakes Recipe.)

You have pretty much created your own guidelines (although I think I detect some animosity, like this isn't what you want). If this is a new experience for you, remember that you are in good company and the task ahead can be a rewarding experience. Linda C has offered good advice. Mine would be invest in a good vacume sealer; buy in bulk and seal and store. If you have all those kitchen appliances and are expert at using them, why are you asking for advice? You know what to do -- go for it! Find your own combinations of what you can/won't eat. Buy in bulk -- cook, store, freeze and plan. And who the hell cares that they're eating leftovers! One of our favorite weekly experiences is clearing out the refrig with leftovers and salads and vegetables; ice cream and desserts as well. Meals should be a family experience and pleasure.

You know, everything in your list - I already do - except I don't worry about disguising leftovers. And I only cook for two, not for six. And we don't have the restrictions. Well, so maybe half of your list I do.

The thing is, I absolutely HATE going to the store, so once a week is it, period. And I am usually too busy during the week to cook. So, I usually cook big dinners on Saturday and Sunday and we have leftovers on Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs (Fri we often eat out). If we run out of leftovers we have tons of frozen soups and chilis and stews. I always have salad fixings around, and good bread. With those I can turn any leftover or frozen stuff into a good meal.

I think what Annie said is huge - plan. I spend about an hour on Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, looking through cookbooks, or the freezer, and deciding what we will eat during the week. I plan everything - breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner. I make my grocery list at the same time. It's very regimented, but it works.

I can't give specific ideas because of the restrictions, but LindaC had some great starters there for you.

As a person who has always taken leftovers to work for lunch, I don't bat an eye at leftovers. I make things I like on purpose so I will have leftovers, LOL.

Chicken is a good start, you could have roasted chicken with vegetables one night, and then have a chicken casserole with some gluten free pasta or rice again later in the week, with the carcasses left for soup.

A roast beef or brisket dinner could later result in BBQ'd sandwiches or a salad topped with beef or one of my favorites, beef/barley/mushroom salad.

I like beans a lot and a big pot of beans can be bean soup with cornbread one night, baked beans another time and end up being bean dip for a snack. Celery sticks are my favorite dipper for the bean dip but Elery likes tortilla chips or bread. Add some beans to some of the leftover brisket and make chili.

I like to roast a big tray of vegetables and eat them for a couple of days and eggs are a good, quick supper. They can be omelettes, quiche, frittata, even just good old fashioned egg salad.

Good luck, you have a lot of restrictions there, and when you add in likes and dislikes of various family members it gets tougher.

Annie

Thanks, I feel like I am getting some great ideas here. I'm only cooking for 5 now as ds has gone off to college.

LindaC and Annie1992 - you've nailed it now I need to develop it. Can you give me some recipe samples for your bean dishes, annie. How do you make a chicken casserole with already cooked chicken?

Lou, salmon cakes are on the menu for this week for sure. I bought canned salmon at costco today with that intent - oooh, see - I planned it LOL. My family loves the fried ones and I KNOW I can pop those into lunch and everyone will be happy eating leftovers.

We do eat eggs at least one night a week and I always have tons of roasted veggies on hand - we eat them like candy here - so those go into omelettes, baked potatoes etc.

Thank goodness the kids aren't picky eaters, it's mainly dh that causes the problems. Even though I love the guy dearly this new eating regimen the doctors have him on is playing havoc with my old lifestyle, lol, but at least he is 90% better pain wise.

I don't think shopping once a week, if you really want to cook well, is realistic. Some produce just isn't going to stay fresh, and there's not much to do with dead lettuce.

If you set aside two nights as "bread, cheese and salad" and pizza or soup and bread, then you've got only 5 nights to actually cook. There's plenty of variations on bread w/o gluten. Or just find a good substitute that your husband can have, and feed the kids bread. I bake mine on Sunday.

So then one night is pot roast or roast chicken--something that results in leftovers.

One night is pasta with some sort of sauce. Can be rice noodles, can be Italian, any variation on the theme.

Leftovers in tacos or salad or sandwiches are another night. Or make pot stickers with wonton wrappers--much easier than it sounds.

Stirfry with brown rice also uses up leftovers, but I think it's better with fresh stuff.

If you think in very broad terms--every Tuesday is some sort of pasta, every Wed. is something roasted, Thursday is soup, then you can spin off variations endlessly.

If you shop on Sat., then you can make sauces or meals to freeze on Sunday. Replenish fruit and veggies on Wed. or Thursday, if you can.

While I think some of her suggestions are insane, Nancy Silverton's book about cooking from your pantry does have some good ideas for fast stuff, if you're caught.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals with Ingredients from Jars, Cans, Bags, and Boxes

I think your plan is a little too ambitious to accomplish within two weeks. Why don't you start off planning meals for two or three days with one store visit?

Start looking through cookbooks or past Cooking Forum threads for recipes that can be made with the roast chickens or other ingredients your DH can eat.

Make a pot or two of soup that you can use for lunches. Make a double batch and freeze half for next month.

I have done Saturday morning shopping followed by a two or three hour Cook-a-Thon for about 20 years but it takes as much flexibility as planning. For example, we'll have salad with fresh greens in the early part of the week and coleslaw toward the end of the week. A leafy salad on Friday if you've shopped on the previous weekend isn't going to be happening without another trip to the store.

I wish you success. It's a great feeling of freedom to know that tonight's dinner or its ingredients are ready and waiting for you to heat them up or put them together.

The chicken casserole is easy, either pasta or rice gets cooked, mixed with some chunks or shreds of cooked chicken. I "sweat" some onions, carrots, celery, whatever I like until it's a bit tender add that in. I add broccoli or cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, peas, whatever I happen to have. Mix that all up and add a light creamy sauce. If you prefer you could make a kind of chicken fried rice with the same ingredients. I like brown rice best, but you could use either.

I posted a recipe for chili beans on your bean thread, I'll look for some more of my favorites, including the bean/corn salad I served to lpinkmountain when she was here last.

Oh, and do you like lentils? That's another fast, cheap and versatile ingredient but some people really don't care for them. I happen to love 'em.

Annie

Perfect timing, It's Menu Plan Monday in the Blogger world.

I get lost spending hours clicking on peoples menus..There are so many that participate now..but I've gotten some great recipes from doing so..

Here is a link that might be useful: Organizing Junkie, Menu Plan Monday

I guess this one is right up my alley. I'm mom of 4 sons though only one is still on the "payroll" though he's now off at college. Anyway there were a lot of years cooking for 6 and 5 of them were VERY hungry! I still use a plan though it's much looser and of course easier!

Living 10 miles from a store and having a crowd to feed, I found doing a weekly menu saved me from living at the grocery store! I have a day that I go to the store and that day, I'll take stock of any items from the week before that I didn't use or any meals from the previous week that I never got around to cooking. Then I sit down with one or two cookbooks and start in. I jot down about 4 breakfasts and a few lunches if I think that people will be around (summer etc) but don't put a huge amount of thought into these two. I can always whip up a good breakfast with whats on hand for the most part. With kids around, plan on some nutritious snacks.

For dinner, I plan out however many meals we'll need for the week. I usually figure that I'll have one meal where we either do leftovers or I defrost something from the freezer. We also usually eat out about once a week. So that leaves me with selecting 5 true menus. I do it all from veggies, salads, starch, bread and main dish. Be sure to make a note of the page in the cookbook for any new recipes. Look at your calendar for the week and be sure you have enough no brainers for the busy days. Cook extra chicken/meat and use it for a second meal turned into sandwiches, soup, or a casserole.

Shopping for a week is easy and feasible. Do your meals that require the freshest produce at the beginning of your week and save the meatless/soup/pizza/sandwich meals for later in the week. Precook or freeze any meats that you'll be having at the end of the seven days. I'd usually need to pick up more milk midweek as my guys guzzled more than a gallon a day.

I keep the menu paper on my island, and I feel free to substitute and change the meal or parts of the meal as needed swapping days etc. Remember nothing is written in stone!!! I think part of your "negative" slant on the menu planning may be that you don't want to be pinned down. Roll with the flow, change meals around.... it's only a guideline not military orders that you must follow to a T!!!

Grace

I do my "meal" planning for 2 weeks and shop every two weeks, with the occasional "fresh" stop once during each week.

I don't make specific meals for each night. I do this.
Number the paper 1-13. I make pizza every Friday night, so that's 2 out of the way.
So my "list" may look like this:
1. Pizza
2. Pizza
3. Roast chicken
4. chicken leftovers
5. hamburgers
6. meatloaf
7. pork chops
8. pork roast
9. pork leftovers

10. Breakfast
11. grilled sausage
12. chili
13. chicken fingers/sandwich

I just put down "general" meat. And then fill in with a starch and veg.. And somethings I make just what's needed for that meal, but other things I make sure to add a few extra servings of it to use planned leftovers.

For hamburgers, we had patty melts, for roast chicken we had baked chicken breasts. The leftover chicken went into broccoli/rice casserole and some more leftover chicken is in white chili for today.

Lastnight was a big meatloaf, so I now have lunch for a few days.

Tomorrow(Wed) will be pork chops and rice. If I don't want to use those leftovers in 2 days, I'll freeze it ready for Fried Rice in another couple of days.

If you really want to be spoonfed about your meal plans, try savingdinner.com They even give you a precise shopping list for once a week shopping.

They don't do breakfast or lunch (at least when I subscribed - seems like they do now) but I found it very useful. I subscribed for six months to the vegetarian option.

For the most part, the recipes were good. I always like to tweak so I didn't necessarily follow them exactly but you can of course. Not as much "cooking from scratch" as I like but still healthy - geared toward the busy woman which isn't a bad thing for many.

They even provide gluten-free recipes. This is new since I belonged. Apparently, you get 18 recipes in the form of three menu styles ... they have gotten more complicated but for $18.00 (for six months) or they have one cheaper for only 3 months, it might be worth your time taking a look.

Here is a link that might be useful: savingdinner - Leanne Ely (of flylady fame)

terri : Were you watching me ? Sounds like my list.
Just add some Omelets and Spaghetti in between.

Loves2: Don't fry them !!!!!!!!????? Agggggahhhhh,Gag Gag

Here are a couple menu guidelines I use. Like others, I cook once and use from the freezer for many things. I have taco meat, meaty spaghetti sauce, sloppy Joe mix, single-servings of homemade soup/stew/chili, dollops of frozen mashed potatoes, etc....all ready-to-go in the freezer. Thaw overnight or during the day in the refrigerator for a heat-and-eat meal.

I like the method below for menu guidance because I can move any one meal to another day. So if I have more time for a BIG meal on Sunday instead of the usual Monday, I can easily alter the plan. All meals include foods from all the food groups. Dessert is typically fresh fruit at our house.

Monday: Big Meal - Large piece of meat and all the fixings. This will provide for other meals, including sandwich meat, chopped veggies for Wed. stir-fry, etc. Typically it's roast beef, pork, chicken, or meat loaf.

Tuesday: Leftovers. This may or may not take on a completely different form than what was eaten on Monday, but is made up from the leftovers.

Wednesday: Stir-fry

Thursday: International (typically a low-meat meal) This is often something on a tortilla, taco shell or a pasta dish. I keep hamburger taco meat in the freezer in user-friendly amounts, or I will use shredded chicken/beef/pork from Monday and spice it up. Chili (kept in single-serving amounts in the freezer) is used on a baked potato or as a base for a taco salad. This day also includes pasta dishes - spaghetti, etc... I usually shred enough cheese for this day and to use on the pizza Sunday.

Friday: Vegetarian This can include a breakfast type meal, a bean, cheese, or egg based dish. I make bean burgers and keep a stack of them in the freezer and then serve them on homemade multi-grain buns (also found in the freezer).

Saturday: Soup and/or Sandwich

Sunday: Homemade Pizza or in hot weather, a meal-type salad
--------------

I found this plan in a book years ago:

-Meat - Sunday / Wednesday
-Casseroles/Leftovers - Monday / Thursday
-Pasta - Tuesday
-Fish, eggs, cheese - Friday
-Soup/Sandwich - Saturday

-Grainlady

HA! I thought that busy schedule started in two weeks and here I am, back after two days of not being able to even catch my breath.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your comments and suggestions.

I think I can take a little from all the advice and come up with a plan that works. Initially I was looking for a structured plan but the last two days have shown me why I've always been an on-the-fly cook and why structure would never work with our ever changing life. So now I am approaching it from a different perspective. My plan is to get all the sale flyers together, see what's available and come up with a LOOSE plan for 4-5 meals with planned leftovers for the other 2 - 3 and lunch and then be flexible.

So I'll give it a try and report back. Sale flyers come out today and tomorrow, so I'll start planning and see where it leads especially as I'll be out of the house the entire weekend.

I'll come back with my plan so y'all can critique it for me.

Grace, when the girls were still at home, I also had a "menu" weekly, but I made the girls sit down with the cookbooks, each chose 3 meals, Sunday was my choice. Lunches were leftovers or made from leftovers. I seldom planned breakfast, Ashley always had a "power shake" and Amanda liked toast with peanut butter or cereal and some juice.

If there were ever complaints about the food, I could just shrug and say "you picked it". LOL

Annie

loves2cook4six, you just decided on what I was going to suggest. For me, I can't plan a menu very easily since I don't know how long I'll be working. I do know a few days ahead the days I'm off normally, but if I have a 12+ hour day, I don't feel like coming home and start cooking a turkey dinner!

I like to keep staples around. I also try to check the ads for bargains and stock the frig and freezer from that so that would set the menu a lot. There's some flexibility since I can substitute, for instance sausage for hamburger in a hotdish or spaghetti.

I was also thinking with the diet restrictions, maybe the way to approach it is to look at what the meals CAN be and try to develop a plan of attack from that direction. Plan out a week's worth and always have at least one alternative, whether it be cheese and sausage (with or without crackers), a peanut butter sandwich or whatever, just in case there's an incident that requires a fast meal or even a "power outage" type situation. Having sort of a plan of attack, you can then hit the store for your needs.

Another idea is to write down what you've had for a menu the past 2-4 weeks. Often we get in a rut of spaghetti on Monday, meatloaf on Tuesday, hamburger Wednesday, leftover Thursday, etc, which isn't all bad. But knowing what you're going to eat helps you know what to buy.