Hey Friends! Today I’m sharing all things meal planning. As a person who needs to be organized in everything to maintain my sanity, it is so important for me to meal plan every single week and take this very large headache off my plate. Meal planning is necessary for 2 main reasons. 1: It takes the guesswork out of what to cook for dinner. You know that dinner time is also right in line with The Witching Hour and things tend to get super crazy just as you’re trying to figure out what to cook. 2: Meal planning saves you money because you are buying exactly what you need to make your meals and nothing more. In this post I will teach you the tips and tricks I have developed to make dinners run smoothly for my family of 4.
The first thing is to have a designated space for your planning. I don’t know about you, but if I have a pretty pad to write all the things down, I am more likely to do that task. It’s kind of like having the right outfit to inspire you to work out. You can create this yourself by having the days of the week listed on one side and then create a shopping list on the other. I will link the pads that I love to use myself. I have gone through a few of them so I know what works best for me and should work for you as well.
I always make my meal plan on Fridays, do my shopping on Saturdays and either have my groceries delivered or picked up on Sundays to be ready for the week ahead. With doing it this way and spacing out the work, it never seems overwhelming.
FRIDAY: Go through your fridge and see what is left over from last week’s grocery shop or things that are about to go bad. For example, If I made too much rice and have a pepper that has seen better days, I will plan on making stuffed peppers the next week. Next, I will ask my family if they have any requests for the following week. My husband always says soup and my 4 year old daughter always asks for a pasta dish. Then its off to Pinterest for all the ideas! Pinterest is such a great tool because you can find easy, family pleasing recipes with a very quick search. I find that when I use Pinterest, I am excited to cook the meals every day. Also, if you are a visual person, this is the way to go.
SATURDAY: This is the day for placing your order. By ordering on Saturday, I still have enough time to add to my list if I forget anything. Sometimes, I will completely skip the ordering process and just make my list and bring it to the store on Sunday. But I only do this if I need things that are very specific for the week and cannot trust in the substitutions I am likely to get.
SUNDAY: Grocery day! If I am having my groceries delivered, I will usually get them in the evening so I can put them away while my kids watch a show. If I have chosen grocery pick-up, it’s the best of both worlds. With grocery pick-up, I can save myself the time it takes to go through all of the aisles but still run in after getting my groceries put in the car if there were any substitutions that I didn’t like.
Bonus tip for meal planning: Have you ever gotten a meal delivery kit? When they were first popular, I tried all of them from Hello Fresh to Home Chef. I kept all of the recipe cards. Then I used a 3 hole punch, and put them into a binder separating them by meat. For example, a red tab for beef and a blue one for seafood. Anytime I get into a recipe rut, I take out my binder and search for a few meals.
My favourite meal planning list: https://amzn.to/3k2zr06 (affiliate link)
I hope I gave you some easy to follow instructions to help you make your week ahead just a bit easier!
Ill catch up with you soon, byeee!