We’ve all heard how meal planning can be a sanity and money saver for the modern family. It’s true! Unfortunately, many times, we get hung up on how to exactly execute meal planning in a way that works for our family.
There is no one-size fits all meal planning strategy. Through trial and error every homemaker must find what works best for her meal planning situation, and even that may change as the seasons of her family’s life change.
I’ve tried every different meal planning strategy under the sun. I’ve done monthly planning, weekly planning, planning in list format…the list goes on and on. Currently, I use a weekly lunch rotation and breakfast is one of several standard choices that are easy to keep on hand (homemade granola, oatmeal, eggs and toast). This leaves only suppers, which I plan biweekly in list format (right before my biweekly shopping trip). This is what works for now, though I’m sure it will morph into something new in the future based on the needs of our family.
My hope with this post is to give you some tips to make meal planning work better for you. I’ll start by giving some very basic meal planning strategies and work up to how you can make your meal planning even more efficient and helpful. I’ve also created some printables to help you plan your meals in whatever way works best for you.
Basic tools for meal planning:
- Paper and pen/pencil
- Cookbooks and/or computer
- Family calendar
5 Step Basic Meal Planning:
- Take a quick look at your calendar. How long would you like to go between this shopping trip and the next? Plan for that length of time ( I like to shop and plan biweekly).
- Consider the number of meals to plan for that time period. Our family does well with leftovers, so I plan approximately 4-5 dinners per week. Will you plan only dinner or 3 daily meals? (You may want to read about creating a lunch rotation to simplify your meal planning time.)
- Still looking at the calendar, consider upcoming events/appointments in your meal planning time frame that will effect meal preparation. About how many “easy” meals will you need (crockpot, quick-prep)? Jot down any easy meal ideas that pop into your head and mark with the day you will use these. (I tend to schedule day-specific meal directly into my planner.)
- For those just planning dinners: Do you need to plan other meals besides dinner based on your calendar? Maybe you have a doctor’s appointment near lunch time. What can you take in the car to fill tummies and avoid the drive through? Ideas? Write them down with the appropriate day (again, I do this in my planner).
- Now is the time to crack the cookbooks, browse your Pinterest boards, and look at my favorite recipe site Allrecipes. Continue to fill in your meal plan varying meats and meal types.
Basic Helpful Hints:
- Vary your meats/protein source.
- Vary the fare (don’t make all Mexican meals for a straight week!)
- Can you remake leftovers to save time? (For example, I always plan soup the day following our roasted chicken suppers, tacos the day following roast, and barbecue pizza following barbecue sandwiches.)
- Save meal ideas for next time. (Some times I am inspired by more meals than will fit in my meal plan, so I just start making another list to shorten meal planning next time.)
- Make the process yours! (Use a calendar, planner, scratch paper, or even an online tool (I have heard great things about Plan to Eat!))
Get comfortable with meal planning and slowly add in some of the following strategies to increase efficiency.
Up your Meal Planning Game:
1. Family Recipe Binder.
If you don’t have one already, start a binder to collect your favorite tried-and-true recipes and keep an area with recipes you’d like to try. It doesn’t need to be fancy to be functional! I simply created dividers based on general categories (mains, sides, desserts, miscellaneous, breads, etc.) and slip recipes I print off into plastic sleeves behind the appropriate section.
As you can see, mine is anything but beautiful, but it has served me well for the last 8 years!
2. Meal Lists.
Start an Excel document and start categorizing family stand-bys. Ask family members to list their favorite meals. Separate these meals by meat/protein type. Add to the lists whenever you find a new recipe your family enjoys. Here are the meal lists I have in my recipe binder: dinners by meat type, breakfast, lunches, traveling food, and special occasions/traditions listed by date. I label each meal with whether it is seasonal, can be frozen, or done in the crockpot. These lists are a great help when I’m meal planning.
3. Freezer Inventory.
A simple list of what’s in the freezer can help you use what is on hand and prompt stocking up on essential ingredients when you see them on sale. This can save a lot of money and will prevent things from hanging out in the depths of the freezer for years.
4. Grocery ads.
The main way I save money on groceries is by basing our meal plan on what we have on hand or what is on sale. I almost never purchase meat unless it is discounted and this saves a tremendous amount of cash. Search Pinterest or Allrecipes by specific ingredient for ideas to use what is on sale or what you have on hand.
5. Double-it freezer cooking.
When I am done planning, I look through my list of meals and decide if I can double (or triple!) anything. On busy days, I’m always grateful I’ve taken the time to prep and freeze a few meals. Even just completing one step in the cooking process can be a big help (like precooking meat). I much prefer this method over doing one large freezer cooking session.
6. Breakfast and Lunch Rotation.
I have a simple breakfast and lunch rotation based on the days of the week. I always have the ingredients on hand and the meals have minimal prep time. This makes meal planning much easier!
7. Theme Nights.
Make meals based on daily themes (Monday-Mexican, Tuesday-Fish, Wednesday-Italian…) or on type of meat/protein to simplify the planning process. I use this as a loose guide when planning but allow for variance based on planned leftovers.
8. Keep a Running List.
I have a clipboard attached to the inside of one of my cabinet doors where I keep a list of ingredients I need to buy or recipes I want to try. Whenever I see we are getting low on a staple, I put it on the list. It helps to have a list going when you write your grocery list. This also prevents those unplanned runs to the store for that one ingredient.
9. Planned and dressed-up Leftovers.
I try to remake leftovers to save on meal prep. My family happily eats leftovers 2-3 nights a week (shhh-don’t tell my mother!). It saves so much time!
10. Try a Tool.
I have heard fabulous things about Plan to Eat. You can drag and drop your own recipes or recipes from the internet. The Plan to Eat tool allows you to create a meal plan and automatically helps you populate a grocery list.
11. Stretch the time.
Once you have weekly menu planning down, you may like to attempt biweekly menu planning or even monthly menu planning. I detail why and how I do biweekly grocery shopping in this post. It can be a huge time and money saver!
3 Meal Planning Pitfalls
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Following someone else’s meal plan.
While I love to peruse meal plans for ideas, adhering strictly to someone else’s meal plan is sure to be a colossal failure for me. As I said, I like to base meals around what we have on hand and what is on sale. Using an established plan makes that impossible and would result in a much higher grocery budget. However, if that is your personality type and you don’t keep an eye on your grocery budget, don’t let me hold you back!
2. Trying too many new-to-you recipes.
A general rule of thumb for trying new recipes is to attempt no more than 1-2 new recipes a week. New recipes take longer to prep and have a much higher failure rate than stand-bys. Not a good things when there are 5 hungry tummies around the table!
3. Perfectionism.
Waiting to start meal planning until you have all your ducks in a row will usually result in no plan at all. You don’t need the Pinterest perfect recipe binder or printable to be a successful meal planner. The smallest amount of planning is better than no plan.
Meal Planning Printables
I took a little time to throw together several different meal planning worksheets. There are 6 different styles, so I know you’ll find one that works well for you. There are weekly plans (just dinner, all 3 meals), biweekly worksheets (just dinner, all 3 meals, and monthly plans.
Don’t forget that you can access the lunch rotation printable worksheet on my post Simple Lunch Ideas and Rotation.
Do you meal plan? What is your best strategy?
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