Simple Meal Planning

Meal planning is essential to spending less money at the store and time in the kitchen. But it doesn’t have to be hard and it can be done in as little as 5 minutes.

One of the downsides of having a family is that they need to eat.  All jokes aside, meal planning (or the lack thereof) creates a lot of stress for me.  But, it is a matter of survival and has to happen.  In my house the shopping, meal planning, and meal prep fall on my shoulders.  My husband will lend a hand if asked but we would have frozen pizza or take out every night if the task was left up to him. 

Like everyone else, we have been home more due to the COVID pandemic. For months we were home for 3 meals a day. I learned to shop just twice a month to reduce the number of trips to the store. And, this forced me to plan ahead. But, now that I am back to working in the office and our little boy is back in school, I am finding myself going back to old habits and the stress of ‘what are we doing about dinner’ returning.

The Benefits of Meal Planning

So, I have made it a priority to be better about meal planning.  I need to do a better job of staying within my food budget and not running to the store everyday to get things because I didn’t plan or don’t remember what I have at home.  

For me, the benefits of meal planning are:

• More mental energy because I’m not trying to figure out what I will fix everyday.
• More time in the evenings because I’m not taking time to go to the store and I’m not fumbling to see what I can pull together based on what doesn’t have to be defrosted or cooked for an hour.
• Money saved because we will be less likely to eat out and I’m not buying things we don’t need
• More money saved because if I plan ahead, I can plan meals that keep me in my budget.
• Making healthier choices, because we are not grabbing whatever is available to eat.

The Simple Meal Planning Process

Today, I cleaned out my pantry and frig so I could see what I had and what I need.  My meals this week will be based on what I have on hand and my grocery list will be filling in the gaps.  I created a meal plan for the week and a grocery list.  On the Meal Plan sheet I fill in the meals we will have based on the items I have on hand. Then, I added items to the grocery list that that would complete each meal. 

For example, I had instant mashed potatoes, green beans, and meatloaf mix in the pantry.  I wrote those in on Thursday. The only item I needed to complete a meal for that day was ground beef, so that was added to the grocery list.  I added these items to Thursday because that is the day I get home early enough to make meatloaf.

Quick Tip

I don’t normally put my grocery list on paper unless I am heading out to the store right away.  Oftentimes I use the notes app on my phone.  This is because it is really easy for me to leave my list at home and then not remember everything I need.  But, I ALWAYS have my phone with me.  You could also take a pic of your grocery list so you have that in case you walk out without it. 

Resources

Here are the Meal Plan and Grocery List sheets I created.  I hope they will help your meal planning, organization, and budget.

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