There are many different ways to meal plan, but it’s not something I could ever imagine not doing! It helps me better plan for the week so we’re not scrambling to figure out dinner on Thursday night. It also makes my grocery shopping quicker, smoother, and less expensive. If I didn’t plan ahead, I’d wander around the store grabbing things at random and rack up a much bigger tab than I had expected!
Ways to Plan
By no means do you have to have a fancy grocery shopping list or meal planning list, but I would recommend writing your meals out by day and creating a shopping list. You can always change up the days for meals later, but it’s helpful in guiding your grocery list if you plan by day.
- Something New Every Day – Some people really prefer to eat something different each and every day. In this case, you’ll be looking to plan for smaller meals but a new one each day. If you prefer to do this, try to reuse ingredients from other recipes throughout the week so you don’t end up with an extremely long grocery list!
- Dinner Leftovers to Lunch – In this case, you would want to make dinners with larger amounts of food so you have enough leftovers to eat for lunch the next day. This tends to be a more time saving and budget friendly option since you’re buying a little more in bulk and utilizing leftovers. With this option, I would also recommend keeping breakfast the same throughout the week so you can easily prep this and save yourself time in the mornings.
- Same Breakfast/Lunch & Carry Over Dinners – This is the option that I’ve found works best for me, at least at this point in my life. In this case, I prep one breakfast and lunch for the week in large quantities so I don’t need to make anything new. For dinner, I make enough for four so it lasts two nights instead of one and this is a huge time saver in the evenings for me. I also find this option to be most cost effective since it’s the greatest amount of buying in bulk and doesn’t require long lists of ingredients.
If you’ve never meal planned before, I would recommend trying all three options and then choosing which you liked best. From there, you can make it your own and go with what works best for you! Keep in mind, the way you meal plan can always change. As our needs change in life, so will what works best for us and our loved ones.
Finding Recipes
So obviously, I’ll start by saying – CHECK OUT OUR RECIPES! Beyond this, there are many ways to find recipes.
- Google It – If you’re looking to make something specific or just need meal ideas, search it up on google! There are an endless amount of recipes out there for almost every meal you can think of.
- Cookbooks – I know most people get their recipes online now, but I also really like checking out cookbooks. They can give you lots of good ideas that you may never have thought of before. Some, may even give you tips on allergy swaps. I like to sticky note recipes in books that look yummy to me so I can easily find them later.
- Go Out to Eat – Going out to eat is how I get the ideas for a lot of my recipes. I have something I really like at a restaurant and then try to make a similar version at home. Sometimes, I’ll even look at the website of my favorite restaurants, check out their menus, and try to make my own versions at home from there (the money saving version of going out to eat!).
- Pinterest – I’m on pinterest ALL. THE. TIME. Not only do I find so many yummy recipes and cooking videos I want to try, but I also get many of my recipe inspirations from pinterest. I also love how you can save recipes to your boards so they’re easier to find later on. Not only this, but lots of recipe blogs now have buttons on their recipes where you can save the it directly to your pinterest.
Once you find a recipe you like, try to save it in some way, shape, or form so you can easily pull from a list of recipes later. This makes meal planning much easier when you already have many meal ideas in your arsenal.
Making Your Shopping List
Once you’ve planned out your meals for the week, it’s pretty easy to make your shopping list. I find it helpful to split up my list by grocery store section so I don’t miss something I need from an aisle and have to go back again. However, you don’t have to do this – just making a running list is great too if that works for you. To make my list, I start by looking at the breakfast recipe I chose for the week and writing down those ingredients. Then, I move on to lunch, each dinner, and snacks. Once I’m done with this, I check if there’s any staples I’m out of, like certain spices, breads, or flours. If I’m running low, I’ll add it to the list. I’ll also double check our supply of toiletries and note if we need any more of those.
Summary
When you first start meal planning, it can seem like an annoying and tedious task. However, once you find what works for you, have built an arsenal of recipes, and have become used to the process, it’s fairly simple and can save you time and money. Not to mention, it helps with food waste – if you’re planning out your meals, you’re typically not left with excess amounts of food at the end of the week.
So, give it a shot, let me know what you think, and reach out with any questions!
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