Let’s talk 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚.
Meal planning can be such a stressful task. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent looking up recipes, planning meals and prepping for each week. Its a BIG task!
Not to mention, planning for dietary restrictions. Trust me, I’ve done my fair share of nut free, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian, elimination diets and so on.
Along the way I’ve learned a few things that I’m going to share with you. I hope that you can use at least one of these tips, to shorten and simplify your meal planning. 🙂
Tips on simplifying meal planning:
1. Get organized– I’ve made a family binder that holds our budgeting materials as well as meal plans. In the meal planning section, I have blank weekly meal plans (as you see below in the picture). That way, each week when I sit down to meal plan, I already have these ready to go. Once they are finished, I hang them on the fridge.
2. Master list of favorite meals– another thing I keep in our binder is a list of our favorite meals. It’s separated into types of meals, such as. “pasta,” “Mexican,” “Salads,” etc. That way if I’m feeling stuck, I look at the list and take from there.
3. Create themed nights each week for dinner- As you can see in the photo above, each day of the week has a theme. The dinners can easily change, but the theme generally stays the same.
Each Sunday I try to make something that will create leftovers. Monday is leftover night to start the week off easy. Taco Tuesday, Wednesday’s we generally make a meatless meal, loaded with veggies. Thursday is our thrifty night where we eat leftovers, make something with ingredients we already have on hand, or eat breakfast for dinner. Friday we eat a fish meal and Saturday is flexible.
Click below for a blank, weekly meal planning sheet to get you started!
4. Before you sit down to meal plan, take inventory of what you already have in your cupboard and fridge. Try using these ingredients first. Get creative!
5. Plan a month of dinners at a time. Trust me, this is not as overwhelming as it seems. I sit down at the end of each month and fill in what dinners my family will have in the upcoming month. For example, next week is the last week of October. I sat down this weekend and planned out what November dinners will consist of. These can change depending on your families schedule, but I like to have an idea of meals ahead of time to help with the planning process.
It also helps to plan ahead of time because you can watch for food to go on sale! If you know you will be using a lot of quinoa, and there is a great quinoa sale, buy it early!
6. Repeat meals: For me, I don’t mind eating the same lunch every day, each week. So, each week I generally plan one lunch, whether it be a veggie bowl, soup, salad or quesadilla. Then if possible, I make the meal on Sunday, so it’s ready to go for the upcoming week.
You could do this with kids meals as well. Breakfast is a great one to repeat. Make muffins, breakfast bread, egg burritos, etc. and eat it throughout the week.
7. Shop seasonally- Looking to see what’s in season helps me come up with ideas when I sit down to plan my month of dinners at a time. Currently, its the end of October. So, I know winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc. will be in season. Why does it matter? Well because produce will be cheaper and taste better! Win, win!
8. Cook once, eat twice! At least once or twice a month, aspire to make a meal that you can double and freeze for future use. This works great with soups, chili, enchiladas, etc. They are great for nights you just don’t feel like cooking.
I hope this helps with your meal planning! It seems like a big task to start, but start small! You CAN do it!
Here are a few meal prepping ideas to get you started! These are great for lunch prep! Cook once, eat all week!
Roasted Root Vegetables with Quinoa
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