That sounds like a waste of perfectly good beer to me. Otherwise…actually, I could see a market for this sort of thing.
The decision process is a mix of what’s been in the freezer the longest, has a chance to be prepared in the time I have available, and wasn’t for dinner yesterday. We generally only have pork and beef for meats (chicken is for lunch most every day), so i try to make sure we don’t have the same type all week. What’s in the freezer is mainly a function of what had been on sale recently. There’s a fairly regular sale of all the cuts of meat that we eat frequently (and I can prepare), and it’s supplemented by irregular purchases from Costco.
Vegetables I generally don’t try to differ much, as usually only one kind is on sale each week and fresh veggies don’t last much more than a week. The default if nothing’s on sale is broccoli, except during corn (on the cob) season. When cauliflower’s on sale I also tend to get some broccoli as well; for some reason I tend to think just cauliflower by itself is not attractive. Broccoli (and cauliflower) are always accompanied by a slice of American cheese melted over them.
I should add that I’ve got a couple of rules. For everyday meals, we generally have only one kind of starch. So we don’t have potatoes AND biscuits AND corn, for instance. My husband likes garlic bread with pasta, as it’s a comfort thing for him, so I frequently do make it…but I don’t make nearly as much as he’d like. For Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays, I break the rule sometimes. Two, I try not to have the same colors in a meal. That is, I don’t make broccoli and green peas on the same meal. So it would be broccoli and corn, or peas and squash, or something other than two green items. This makes for a more interesting and appealing look.
There’s a lot to be said for meal planning; I usually do this for a two week period, because it cuts down on the trips to the supermarket. If I buy 2 lbs of hamburger, it’s a safe bet that on two nights that week there will be something with hamburger in it to make sure it’s used up - either hamburgers, or chile, or spaghetti and meatballs, or macaroni and tomatoes, unless someone also bought a box of Hamburger Helper or something.
There are one-off meats, such as pork chops and ribs; chicken is multi-usable, but I’ve found it easier to buy things that are already made such as chicken fingers and Chicken Kiev or Cordon Bleu.
Funny enough, we don’t eat as much potato as we once did; when I was a kid, potatoes were in every meal; now we have rice or noodles instead and potato only occasionally.
I plan for a month’s worth of dinners then try to shop for what will last a month. Some things I have to pick up every week like fresh veggies and fruit.
We eat a lot of Mexican, like bean tostadas and taquitos or beef wrapped in a tortilla (usually eaten standing over the stove) dipped in a salsa or fresh guacamole. I’d say 60% of our dinners go like this. The rest is a mix of homemade pizza, casseroles, or the occasional hot dog and tater salad night. I cook every day, so even hot dog night has homemade potato salad left over from the night before. We do salad probably twice a week, adding meat if there’s leftovers.
Have a shopping list that I stick to, and shop twice/week for fresh stuff. We only eat meat twice/week, so that means we get to choose what we want to eat basically in the middle of the day (no defrosting or “this has to be eaten today”). I’ll send him a text message in the middle of the day, offering two options. 90% of the time he picks one of them right off the bat, 10% of the time he asks for another suggestion. I don’t begrudge the fact he rarely chooses what to have for dinner; I like having the control, frankly.
Very busy nights mean a crockpot meal.
If you eat meat, you definitely have to do a weekly mealplan, and stick to it.
Monday is always “Red Pasta” night, which is sauteed vidalia onions, organic tomato sauce, and plenty of shredded parm, snipped basil, freshly ground pepper, and crushed red pepper. Served with whole-wheat spaghetti or penne and a whole-wheat baguette. Makes a completely delicious sauce; it’s the one meal that I make better than any restaurant I’ve ever been to.
(Shows age) You make Chicken Kiev? Like in Mad Men!? (/shows age)