What goes on the list??

These are meals that are easy to make (or that you don't mind making) and that you don't mind eating - there is NO point in stocking your cupboard with things that you don't really want to eat because you will end up getting takeaway instead and spending unnecessary money!

These are meals that you can cook in less than 20 minutes for the times when you have absolutely no time to cook and are really hungry.
If it's quicker to cook than jumping in the car down to McDonalds then it fits this description!
I keep a couple of complete frozen meals for days when I arrive home late and the troops are starving. I don't like those TV dinners with meat-and-two-veg so I keep a packet of stir fry veggies and sauce which can be cooked in a wok in 10 minutes - you can always add cooked rice to bulk out the meal.

So I always try to add something to the list that I have never cooked before. It's usually something that can be cooked without buying a lot of exotic ingredients. I tend to leave this meal for a weekend or some other day when I'm not pressed for time. The family is always appreciative of something new, and if it's a success then it can become part of the tried-and-true list!

I don't always like to be tied to a strict plan and so these meals give me the option of changing my mind. Eg, I might decide not to use the mince in the freezer to cook chilli con carne but to make bolognese sauce instead. If you organise your list under main ingredient and have a good stock of common ingredients then it shouldn't matter too much nor should you need to rush out and buy extra ingredients at the last moment.