Meal Planning Made Simple

Meal planning is not scary. Say it with me.

As far as meal planning is concerned, it’s one of the easiest things you can do to help yourself. You want to get rid of stress while gaining more free time AND saving money? This is how.

How will meal planning save you stress?

If you haven’t read my recent posts about food prep, you can find them here and here. I’ve already had people tell me that food prepping has saved them time throughout the week and made their lives easier.

Meal planning takes it a step further by giving you a strategy for the week. You’ll know what to expect every day instead of always living in the unknown. When done right, it can change your life!

How will meal planning save you time?

The best thing about meal planning is the time it saves going to the grocery store every single day. Plan. Go once. Be finished. It’s amazing.

It also allows you to food prep for the week instead of prepping the ingredients immediately before you cook them, which is a huge time saver!

How will meal planning save you cash?

If you’re a person who keeps your receipts for way too long, grab all the ones from the last week. Now circle all the things on each of the grocery reciepts that you didn’t need or that you bought impulsively. Is it adding up yet? Imagine what could happen if you only went to the grocery store once a week.

How about your take-out bill? How much are you spending to eat out each week? And yes, you have to add your coffee or smoothie addiction to that.

Now imagine how much you could save in just one month!

Steps to Meal Planning

Think about your week.

What does your schedule look like for the upcoming week? How many meals will you need to plan? Consider your busy vs non-busy evenings.

For my families schedule I know we’ll all be busy Tuesday evenings so it wouldn’t be smart to plan an elaborate meal. That’s a perfect day to make something in the slow cooker or have something pre-made that I can throw into the oven. Wednesdays we eat at church so I don’t have to plan for that day. Most other days I know I have the time to prepare what I want.

Your week will affect your ability to cook and, therefore, meal plan.

Find the recipes you want.

I usually find a lot of recipes on Pinterest but over time my family has chosen some clear favorites that we make often.

If you’re new to meal planning my advice to you is to start slow. Don’t plan a week full of all new recipes.

When looking for recipes, try to find ones that will utilize what you already have on hand in the kitchen. This is one of the best ways to keep from overspending right off the bat.

Make sure you’re scheduling your upcoming dinners around your schedule to maximize the likelihood you’ll actually stick to your plan.

Plan a backup.

Even the best thought out plans can go awry. Always plan a backup. Whether this is an easy dinner that you can throw together in minutes or a pizza night, having a backup will help relieve stress and keep you on track.

Don’t waste your time feeling guilty about those nights. They happen. There’s a backup plan for a reason.

Make an ingredients list from your recipes.

This is super important because we’ve already established that going to the grocery store once a week will save you time and money! Making sure you have all the ingredients you need is key. Write them down.

Check your pantry.

Once the ingredients are written down, physically look for them in the fridge and pantry. Don’t ever just assume that you have something. Especially if you have kids. Ask me how I know.

Check off the things on your ingredients list that you do have so you know what to transfer to your grocery list.

*Tip: you want to make sure your pantry stays stocked with the staples you use often, so just because you have an item doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy another to replace it.

Make your grocery list.

I cannot stress this enough: make your grocery list by departments!

Your list should have several sections so you can avoid skipping across items by accident or going across the store multiple times for things you missed.

My list has sections for produce, meat, dairy, frozen, canned and packaged foods, and nonfood items. You can write it on a piece of notebook paper or print out the format I follow here. But be sure to write it down so you don’t forget anything.

Go shopping.

Now it’s time to put your planning into action. Go to the grocery store and stick to your list. I mean it. Unless you forgot to add something essential to the list, like shampoo. Otherwise, don’t buy it.

A good rule to follow to curb impulse buys is this: leave whatever it is at the store for that day with the thought that if you really do need it, you’ll go get it the next day. Most of the time you won’t go back.

*Tip: Eat before you go to the grocery store. You’ll be less inclined to buy things you don’t need out of hunger.

That’s it!

Remember that you do all of these things anyway. All you’re doing by meal planning is making it all a once weekly occurance that saves you time, money, and stress. Any time you’re putting into it is absolutely going to save you more time in the long run. Try it.

And when you get home from the grocery store, make sure you’re food prepping to complete the process and be ready for your week.

Have a great week and let me know how it goes!

But all things should be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:40 ESV