Meal Planning – what is that? If this is you right now, don’t worry you’re in the right spot! Planning your meals has a lot of great benefits that can help you relieve stress and pressure from your day.
Not sure where to start or even what meal planning is? Follow me and I’ll help explain the steps I take and what works best for myself, and hopefully you!
What is Meal Planning?
Meal planning is sitting down and spending time planning ahead to a couple of days or weeks’ worth of meals. It’s the idea of looking ahead and making a plan to support a balanced diet for yourself and save time and headaches from the stress of now knowing what you’re cooking tonight. Nothing is more frustrating than opening the fridge, freezer, or pantry and not knowing what you’re going to cook. Meal planning helps cut down on all that stress and saves you time and money in thinking and planning ahead.
1. What do you currently have?
One of the first things you want to do is go through your fridge, freezer, pantry, and cupboards (and anything else you have that holds food!) and make a quick mental or physical list of what you currently have. Please ensure you make a special note of items that are going to expire or go back soon. The first time you do this it might take a bit more time, but once you get the hang and routine of this it will be much quicker and you’ll become much more familiar with what you have.
2. New recipes
Now take a couple of minutes and review if you would like to try out any new or interesting recipes you’ve recently come across. Again the first time you do this it might take some time, but once it’s routine you’ll make note of them throughout the week so you have them ready for your meal planning day.
For myself, I get food magazines and cookbooks quite often (I’m a good little collector of these!) and so I sit down and mark 3-4 a month and then decide on 1 per week. You can do whatever feels right to you – or no new recipes if there is nothing new you’d like to try.
3. Planning your week
Sit down with all those in your family, or by yourself and plan out your week. What are the busy evenings? What are the nights when you’ll be pressed for time or very tired due to the events of the day? Map those out on a piece of paper or your Notes app on your phone so you can keep those for the next step.
Outline on those nights if this is a night where you would prefer a reheated meal or a meal prepped freezer oven meal. This will help you can what works best.
4. Planning your Meals
So now is the exciting time, you’re going to take all the information you acquired in Steps 1, 2 & 3 and put that to use! Now I sit down each week with a magnetic menu that lives on my fridge, you can map this out however you would like. At the bottom of this post, I’ll link some suggestions of items to get you started if you’d like. In the meantime, you can use some scrap paper, a whiteboard, or the notes function of your phone. I do recommend a visible location that everyone in your space can see if possible.
Okay, now that you’ve gotten a place to record this. The first thing we want to note in our upcoming week is those nights or evenings that will be challenging. Simply put a star or a symbol so you’re aware those nights need special consideration.
On the nights before the star jot down a meal that you can make that would have leftovers or a meal that you can make ahead and freeze (meal prep). For example Monday is a stressful night where I work late. I might make lasagna on Sunday that I can reheat on Monday.
Next, let’s look at the list of what you have and what is close to going bad. So let’s focus on that, what meals can you make with the items that are close to expiring or going bad, and how can they be incorporated? On all the remaining blank nights start inputting meals using what food needs to be used so you can eliminate unnecessary waste when applicable.
Once that’s done, simply input in meals you like or meals you would want to have on any blank nights. Make sure to write down all parts of the meal such as vegetables, salad, or any sides. If you had a new recipe you wanted to try to ensure you input that into your schedule.
5. Grocery List
Now that you know all the meals you want to make for the week. Jot down a list of what you currently don’t have but need to pick up at the store to make the meal. For myself, I sit down to plan my meals on Sunday as I do grocery shopping on Monday, you can do whatever day works best with lining up with your grocery shop.
6. Meal Prep/Get Cooking!
Now it’s time to look ahead to the week and meal prep ahead anything you can make ahead of time. It’s also a good idea to share your meal plan with those you live with so they’re aware of the plan ahead and ask for nights you might need help.
I hope this post has helped you learn how to meal plan. It’s a super-easy way to help alleviate stress and tension with regard to cooking. If you’re looking for what benefits you can see from meal planning head on over to Click Here.
Happy Meal Planning!
Talk soon!
I really need to get back on track with meal planning. You offer a lot of great tips in this post. Giving me the extra push I need to get back into it!
Thanks for reading – I’m glad to hear it helped give some motivation to meal planning again. Best of luck 🙂
I love meal planning! If I don’t, I end up being lazy and getting take out. I love working with what I have. Thank you for sharing these tips xx
Lynn | http://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
These are some great tips!! I always struggle with meal prepping and these tips are really helpful!
Great tips! I definitely need to get better at making a set list when it comes to the food shop, I’m terrible for picking up things I don’t need. Thanks for sharing!
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
I use a very different system to this as I’m not a fan of the rigid structure of traditional meal planning but I couldn’t imagine attempting to do my food shop without some sort of meal plan, it’s an essential x
Sophie
Huh. I really need to get better at meal planning haha. I love the idea of planning your meals, your week and having a grocery list. I am so terrible at planning meals so this came in handy.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the post and you found the tips helpful! I hope you can find a way to make meal planning and prepping work best for you and your schedule! Thanks for commenting.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the post – I was terrible at picking up those in the moment items as well. I hope meal prepping and planning helps with your future food shops!
Wonderful to hear you have found what works best for you – everyone organizes and plans differently and I’m always intrigued to hear of other ways to meal plan/prep! Great to hear you find it essential to your shopping 🙂
Wonderful to hear you love meal planning – I hear ya, I’ve fallen into those patterns as well when life gets busy. Glad to hear you enjoyed the post and happy meal planning!
I love meal planning! Although I don’t schedule when I’m going to eat them… I just plan 10 meals, buy the ingredients for them and then work my way through them over the week when I’m in the mood for each one!
Katie | katieemmabeauty.com
I’d love to be the sort of person to properly plan my meals. Often, I don’t and just end up finding what I can in the fridge. This is a helpful post, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful to hear about your routine and how you plan for your meals ahead, great to hear you follow wherever your mood takes you! Thanks for commenting! 🙂
Thanks for reading – I hope this post gave you some ideas on how to get started, and then you can make it your own for whatever works best for your schedule! Meal planning is super helpful with creating a grocery list which is a wonderful benefit for us reducing waste and saving our wallets!
I’m glad to hear you found this post helpful and hopefully it can give you a couple ideas if you’re looking to get more into planning. Thanks for commenting!
I was just thinking about how I needed to start getting into meal planning. This has to be a sign! Lovely read!
💚 Kat
This is a great informative post. I love meal planning, it really helps me during the week especially when I am at work.
That’s amazing to hear – sounds like it was perfect timing! Best of luck with meal planning – glad you enjoyed the post!
Wonderful to hear this post was informative and you’re a fellow meal planner! Best of luck with your future meal planning and thanks for commenting!
We have started meal planning at the beginning of the pandemic in an attempt to avoid take out at all costs and it’s been a lifesaver! Each one of us (three of us!) will be cooking in turns and we have designated days for meat and for veggie dishes, plus seasonally we change what we call hero ingredients and recipes! Such a fun way to discover new recipes and develop new stuff for our blog too! x
Awesome to hear – yes I totally as trips to the store were limited! It’s wonderful to hear you take turn and try to save on take out costs. I love the idea of calling them hero ingredients – great idea and thank you for commenting!
I love food planning, it very useful
Thanks for sharing
https://uncuaderno4cero.wordpress.com/
Great to hear! It’s so helpful and useful to plan ahead. Thanks 🙂
Meal planning is such a crucial part of my routine. I hate going to the grocery store, and planning my meals helps decrease the number of trips I make each week.
Sounds like we’re very similar in planning and routine! Yes – it’s lovely to have efficient trips to the store, especially now-a-days.
I need to be more organised and plan my meals. That would stop me being lazy and having the odd take away.
Yes, meal planning definitely helps reduce those takeaway meals as well as impulsive food buying at the shops! I’m glad this post sparked some ideas for you with orgnaization.