Meal Planning saves tons of time. The age-old question of “What’s for dinner?” or asking everyone “What sounds good for dinner tonight?” will no longer be required. Basically, with laying out your meal plan, you will only have to ask this question once a week or even once a month, depending on how you want to plan for your meals. I write our meal plan out weekly. It helps tremendously by also posting my plan on the refrigerator. This also lets everyone know what I have planned out for the week. This way, on those late nights that I’m working at my regular job, other members of the house will know what needs to be thawed out, or if they want, they can go ahead and start or even cook the meal! (Believe it or not, this does happen with the super easy meal nights, so you may want to throw a few of them in there yourself!)
Why I Don’t Monthly Meal Plan
Some people do monthly meal plans. If you do not like to grocery shop or only go to the store once a month because of finances, this option would be best for you. However, you have to have room to store everything properly, like deep freezer space, pantry, vacuum sealer, etc. I have the ability to meal plan monthly but chose not to for several reasons.
- I hate grocery shopping. (I know that is a bit harsh, but it is the truth! Having to handle everything 4 and 5 times before it gets to its final resting place for the month is too much.)
- I like quick trips to our local grocer just to pick up the meat and possibly a few other things. I only stock up the pantry as needed, so maybe once every 1.5-2 months. Furthermore, I can usually be in and out of the grocery store in less than 30 minutes each week.
- It is easier for me to plan a week at a time along with my entire week as I know what is going on for that week and maybe not 3 weeks into the future.
First Things First
When starting to prepare to write your meal plan for the week, first you will need to take inventory of what you already have available. You do not want to purchase unnecessary items for several reasons. To begin with, if you are anything like me, you will not want to spend more money than you need to. Secondly, you will want to make sure to rotate what you have already. In other words, if I already have canned corn in the pantry, I do not want to buy more. I want to make sure to use what I have on hand before purchasing more to ensure quality and freshness in my meals.
Getting together a list of what you have on hand will help you to prepare your plan for the week. It will also help you to save money at the grocery store. Doing this will pretty much ensure that you will never have to throw away expired food again and that you are using what you have promptly.
Get Out the Paper and Pen
Now that you know what you have on hand already, it is time for you to start laying out your meals by the day. Seeing it written down on paper helps me as I can easily see if there are two chicken meals together, etc. (That is just a preference of mine. By all means, it is your meal plan, so write it out the way that you want. You can eat chicken every day of the week if you want to.)
When I’m starting to write my meal plan for the week, I also look at my upcoming calendar for the week. This helps me to prepare my plan around what we have going on on the calendar. If I know my daughter has a late game and I’m not able to prepare dinner early, I will write: “EAT OUT” on my meal plan for that day. Or, If I know I am going to have to work late, that is the night I choose an easily prepared meal for dinner, like tacos.
As I am looking at my calendar, I am writing down meals that I want to prepare for the week until I have one for every day of the week. I only plan for supper meals and not breakfast or lunch because we are all not together as a family for those meals. For lunches, I make sure to have lunch meat and other items on hand for the lunchboxes. We always have cereal or pop-tarts or something quick for the kids for breakfast that they can make themselves since they are older. For little man, who is only 4, I make sure to have plenty of healthy snacks and quick meals made up for him. This way, he can be fed in just a few minutes, kind of like a grab-and-go style for him.
When the List is Done
After I have made out my meal plan for the week, I head to the grocery store to purchase the items that I need along with any other basics (like lunch and breakfast items) that we need in the house. Since I know exactly what I need and have my list prepared, my time at the grocery store amounts to very little. That is why I can get in and out of the store in less than 30 minutes.
Prepare for Storage
Once I get everything back home, I use my vacuum sealer to prepare my meat to be put in the freezer. (I have noticed a big difference using the vacuum sealer versus just using freezer bags to freeze my meat in. I got the vacuum sealer dirt cheap off of Amazon and it was well worth the investment and a ton cheaper than purchasing one at a local store.) If we are going to have Hamburgers or Hamburger Steaks one night during the week, I go ahead and pat out the burgers and place them in the vacuum sealer and seal them that way, which also helps to save time during the week.
Alternative Method to Meal Plan for the Week
Many people menu plan differently than I do. If you are big into saving money, you may want to check your local sales ads for the week. See what is on sale at the store, then they plan their meals based on what is on sale. This is a waste of time for me as where I live because we do not have a lot of meat sales. Also, we do not have many stores to choose from.
Do You Need a Recipe Base to Meal Plan?
I see a lot of people or websites saying to build yourself a recipe base. That’s great if you do, but you do not have to do that first. As you meal plan, the recipe base will come. There are many meals that you could use for your meal plan that is simple.
- Hamburgers & Fries/Onion Rings
- Spaghetti & Frozen Garlic Bread Lasagna
- Hamburger Helper
- Tacos
- Taco Salads
- Taco Casserole
- BBQ Pork Chops & Fried Potatoes
- Grilled Chicken Salads
- Pizza
That’s just 9 simple ones that come to mind. I am sure that if you thought about it, you could come up with many, many more. You could make a list of meals that you and your family eat and then use that meal list to help you plan for the week. This would help to make sure that you are rotating your meals. By doing so, you won’t get burned out on one particular meal. I made salmon patties one day this past week. Then after we started thinking about it, it had been over 9 months since I last made them. Those are so simple to make and it is a family pleaser at mealtime. (What was I thinking?)
In the End
So, no matter what your cooking level is, meal planning will work whether or not you have a recipe base. You will be able to eliminate the awful question of “What’s for dinner?” every night of the week. You will also eliminate all of the worrying about what you are going to cook. So, your stress level just went down.
Don’t be scared and just try meal planning. You will be happy that you did!