How to Finally Simplify Meal Planning

There are some things I’m really good at, but I’m afraid cooking is not one of them. I mean I’m not horrible but it’s just not my strength and I don’t love spending time in the kitchen. So being able to simplify meal planning was very important to me!

I always found getting dinner on the table hard.  After a long day at work the thought of trying to figure out what to cook, that I had all the ingredients for, had me stopping at the drive-thru far too often.

 

The drain on my bank account, the padding on my waistline, and most importantly the lack of healthy options made it clear this was not a viable option. So in an effort to eliminate the stress of trying to get everyone feed, I decided to give meal planning a try.

In all honesty, I failed miserably the first few times I committed to meal planning.  But I knew meal planning wasn’t just about getting my family feed, I needed to relieve the stress I was feeling and create a system that worked.

After all, it’s hard to be there for your family when you’re tired, lack clarity, and don’t feel well.  The thing is what you eat impacts how you feel and how you experience life. Knowing this I kept trying to come up with a way to simplify meal planning that would stick.

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What Is Meal Planning?

Meal planning is just a way to organize the daily meals you’ll be cooking. It’s a simple routine to help you put meals on auto-piolet!

You can plan out your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, or even your snacks. Essentially, it’s a plan you make before grocery shopping as to what you will be eating.

There are a lot of ways to meal plan. Some people like to plan out their meals a month in advance. They may use freezer cooking where they cook several meals at once and freeze those meals until they are ready for them.

There are many ways of planning out meals. As I said, you can do it monthly, weekly, or even daily. While meal planning is a personal thing, I prefer to plan out meals one week at a time I found this to be the easiest way to keep on top of it! But, ultimately it’s about getting healthy meals on the table with minimal stress and hassle.

One thing I noticed is that when I meal plan I am much more inspired and actually look forward to cooking. Everything was organized and ready to go!

What are the Benefits of Meal Planning?

Honestly, there are a lot of benefits to meal planning. I could write an entire post on just that subject. But for now, let’s stick to big ones!

It Saves Time –

Before meal planning, more than half of my meal prep time was just trying to figure out what to make with the ingredients in my fridge. It was crazy. Now I know exactly what meals we have ingredients for and when I will make them!

It Saves Money –

I used to dread cleaning out the fridge because it meant coming face to face with how much money I wasted. There was always food I didn’t use up before it went bad. Before meal planning, I was just buying random stuff that sounded good at the time with no plan for how or when I would use it. 

However, with meal planning, you know exactly what to buy and you use it! Meal planning really reduces waste and your grocery bill!

You’ll Eat Healthier –

Gone are the days of stopping at the drive-thru just because I had no clue what to make for dinner.

By planning simple, healthy meals everyone enjoys you’re less likely to end up at your local fast food joint. Preparing healthy meals does not have to be complicated. In fact, it is quicker than going out to the drive-thru and cheaper too!

How to Simplify Meal Planning

So how do I keep things simple when I’m meal planning? I follow a few guidelines to help ensure that I’m not overcomplicating things:

1. Prepare Simple Meals.

The best way to ensure you will stick to your meal plan is to keep things simple. Have quick and easy meals that can be prepared in 30 minutes. It’s okay to have a few elaborate meals, just make sure you leave those for the weekend or the days you know you will have a bit more time to prepare.

For your basic, every night meals stick to quick and easy. If you need some ideas for quick meals check out the Busy Budgeter’s 30 Meals Round-up, most of which can be made in 15 minutes or less.

Simplify meal planning by preparing simple meals!

2. Create Weekly Themed Nights

I have weekly themed meal nights which makes meal planning super simple. We have meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays (which just meant Mexican) Wednesday would be Italian.  When the kids got a little older,  my favorite night was Sunday.  Sunday night was my night off, it was “fend for yourself” night, better known as FFY night. This was basically the night to eat up all the leftovers.

By having themes for your meal planning, picking out your meals for the week is quick and easy and still allows you to have some variety.

3. Create a Master List of Quick and Easy Family Favorites

I have a master list of favorite family meals that I keep on a Trello board. If you don’t know what Trello is, it’s this fantastic free digital planner that I use to organize my entire life. For real! You can read how all the ways I use Trello here.

But for my meal planning, I add all our favorite meals to lists in Trello.  I keep the recipes or links to the recipes on the back of each Trello card. When I sit down to meal plan each week I take the meals from my master list that I want to prepare that week and simply drag and drop them into the list of the week’s meals.

I’m telling you it doesn’t get much simpler than this. Initially, this took a little while to put together, but once it was completed it makes meal planning so simple.

With Trello, I can also copy the ingredient list to my grocery list card so when I go to the store I can see exactly what I need.

If you’re interested in trying out Trello for your meal planning you can get the quick start guide by signing up below.

4. Use Your Planner To Meal Plan

In addition to using Trello, I like to have my meal plan in my planner.

My planner is specifically designed to have my schedule on one side of the page and a place for meals on the other side of the page. This way I can see what our schedule is like and know just how much time I will have to prepare meals that week.

On super busy evenings I know to plan a crockpot meal. But, now with the InstantPot, 30-minute meal ideas are almost limitless.

And hey, because I really want to make this simple for you, you can grab a free printable of the planner, which includes a schedule for meal planning by clicking here or at the bottom of this post.

5. Plan One Week at a Time.

I’ve tried planning meals a month at a time, but it just didn’t work for me. Planning that far in advance made it hard to stick with the plan when events came up.

Planning a week at a time allows me to move things around if something comes up.  Plus, I don’t have to worry about wasting too many fresh groceries because I didn’t make all the meals I had shopped for.

6. Consider Grocery Delivery

Nowadays every major grocery store offers grocery delivery. Even Amazon has grocery delivery with its Amazon Fresh program. Grocery delivery is so convenient. It saves time and can even save money because you avoid the temptation of buying things you really don’t need.

Having groceries delivered to your home is a sure way to simplify getting meals done at home.

7. Prepare your Fresh Ingredients Right Away

This is probably the single greatest thing I did to simplify meal planning. If you prepare all your fruits and veggies the same day you buy them everything is ready to go when it’s time to start dinner.

Honestly, don’t even put them away. Do all your washing and chopping right away and then store your prepared fruits and veggies.

I love these OXO food keepers. They are incredible and keep your produce fresh all week long (and longer). They are a little pricey, but in the end, I feel like they save money because so much less produce gets spoiled before it can be eaten up. Stasher bags are also a great option for this! I use them all the time!

8. Limit the Amount of Food in the Refrigerator

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when your fridge is overstuffed. Things get hidden in the back, and you forget what you have on hand.

To simplify meal planning keep a realistic amount of food on hand. Plan some meals around the ingredients you already have on hand.

Also, plan at least one or two meals for the week around any leftovers. This cuts down on your need to cook a full meal and prevents food waste because you’re eating what is already in the fridge.

I realize this means stopping at the store on a weekly or semi-weekly basis, but in the end, it really will save you both time and money!

I hope these tips will help you to simplify your meal planning and preparation. By keeping your meal planning simple you’ll find it pretty easy to follow through with your plan!