Right about now I'm feeling pretty good about the start of my latest adventure in meal planning. I've made some failed attempts in the past, so I'm excited that I planned my 4th and 5th week of meals last weekend. It takes time to do the planning, but it simplifies life so much that it's worth every minute. I'm so excited to share my reasons for meal planning with you and to give you a look into what my process looks like when I write my meal plans.
Aside from the reasons listed in my post
Using the Time I Have: an Intro, there are three reasons that I decided I needed to get serious about meal planning:
1. Meal planning will save us money.
I don't know about you, but for me grocery shopping without a list can be a little dangerous for our budget. Grocery shopping without a list while hungry is even more so. This kind of shopping ends up with a cart half full of what we need and filled up with impulse items we don't. I discovered both of these to be very true both for myself and my husband so I started making a list before grocery shopping.
It was a step in the right direction, but we often ran out of what we needed for meal and were constantly making little trips to the store to pick up things we had forgotten. This caused our grocery bill to slowly creep higher and higher. Another flaw in the way I was constructing my lists was that I wasn't "shopping" in my pantry and fridge before going to the store so I would pick up duplicates of things we already had. Honestly, one reason I decided to start meal planning is that I recently discovered we had not two, not three, but FOUR bottles of soy sauce. While we definitely use soy sauce, there was absolutely no reason for us to have four bottles. I ended up intentionally tracking down recipes that included soy sauce just to try and use some of it up.
2. Meal planning will save me time.
At first, even I was skeptical that this would come to be a reason, but after having the last month of meals planned, I can honestly say it is definitely true. It typically takes me about 1-2 hours to sit down and put together a 2 week meal plan and grocery list. After it's put together though, I don't have to stress about what I'm going to make, what meat needs thawed, and I can work prep time into whatever the plan for the day is. No more is "what's for dinner?" the all dreaded question. I know already and I don't have to scurry about looking for a recipe and digging for ingredients in the cupboard before I can give an answer. I can plan quick meals on the nights we will need to rush out the door, and the more complex meals can be planned for evenings that are more relaxed.
3. Meal planning will help me feed my family better.
Living on our own and then working opposite shifts for a large part of our marriage has left both my husband and I with some very unhealthy eating habits. We both want to eat healthier, but in order for any changes to take place I have to be intentional . The biggest one I've been working at recently is making more fruits and vegetables a part of our diet. If not during meal, at least having them in the house for snacks.(I especially love to get apples, we love them and they keep in the refrigerator for a relatively long time compared to other fresh fruit.) We've also been trying to eat fewer frozen/prepackaged meals. I won't claim we never do or promise that we're going to become a whole foods only household, but less sodium is definitely a good idea since high blood pressure runs in both of our families.
Okay, now that you have my reasons I'll give you a quick play by play of what meal planning looks like for me.
First, I take a quick glance in the pantry and freezer to get a general picture of what we still have. Then I gather up my favorite cookbooks and pull up my favorite websites to find recipes(
allrecipes.com,
foodnetwork.com, etc.) to scour for recipes. I especially love Allrecipes because it allows you to add recipes to your list and will automatically make a grocery list of your ingredients in their exact measurements for you.
Once I've found enough recipes that sound good and that include ingredients within our budget I begin writing out 2 weeks worth of dinners. I do this with our weekly schedule in mind. For instance, on Wednesday nights we have prayer meeting so I usually do something quick, on Fridays we rarely have any commitments so I can plan something that I know takes a little longer or something new that I'm not sure how long it will take me to pull together for the first time. I also put breakfast and lunch options on my meal plan, but these aren't quite as much for specific days as they are a reminder of what we have in the house to eat.
After getting the meals planned out I go through each day at a time and write down all the ingredients I will need only omitting things I'm absolutely sure we have on hand. Once this is completed I go into our kitchen and "shop" in our pantry, fridge, and freezer. Any items on the list that we already have or that I need to modify quantities on are marked off or edited. After finishing the grocery part I go around the house and look to find out what other items need to be added to the list as well.
This is what one of my finished meal plans looks like:
Sunday-Tacotot casserole
Monday-Roast with onions, carrots, and potatoes
Tuesday-Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, and corn
Wednesday- Hamburgers and sweet potato fries
Thursday-Baked chicken breasts and couscous
Friday-Maple apple chicken burgers and baked beans
Saturday-Chicken fajitas with chips and salsa
Breakfast/snack Options:
Instant Oatmeal
Cereal
Granola bars
Pop-tarts
Apples
Baby carrots
Lunch Options:
Leftovers
Ramen noodles
PBJ sandwiches
Soup
Pintos beans with cheese and white rice
Finally all that's left is shopping at the store. Having such a detailed list has really helped us stay in budget and cut down on impulse buys. The first shopping trip we took after I started meal planning we saved nearly $100!
While I usually plan two weeks at a time, realize you could do this weekly or monthly as well depending on how it will work best with your family. Also, remember to be flexible. Life happens and even our best plans need to be modified. Sometimes days need to be shuffled around or something needs to get dropped so leftovers don't go to waste. I hope this will be as helpful to you as it has been for me!
