Meal planning is one of my favorite weekly activities. I know that is probably weird for most people to hear, but I guess it’s just something that my Type A personality loves. I have gotten pretty quick at it and developed my own meal planner that makes the process go super quick. Here is how I meal plan.
Keep Track During the Week
Each week, I leave a copy of my meal planner on my fridge. Whenever I am in the kitchen and realize that we are running low or running out of something I will circle it or write it on my meal planner so that I don’t forget.
Take Inventory
I work a 9-5 job, so I typically do my meal planning and shopping on Saturdays. So, on Saturday morning I will start by looking through my fridge, freezer and pantry and take inventory of what I already have on hand.
Check Your Calendar
Once I do that, I sit down and check my calendar to see what the coming week is going to look like. I want to see if there are any nights that we plan to go out, any birthdays, special occasions or holidays, or any family activities or events (like gymnastics, soccer, swim lessons etc…) that require a really quick and easy meal for that night. If any of those things exist for the week, I will write them down next to that day so that I remember when I am planning my meals.
Use What You Have First
Once I have that information, I will look at my inventory items and see what I can come up with meal wise for the items I already have on hand. I have my go to meals written out of my menu planner so that I can easily reference some ideas. Once I come up with something I will fill it in for a day.
If I am having trouble finding a use for a certain ingredient that I already have on hand, I will google recipes with XYZ, or go to SuperCook where I can insert my ingredients and it will give me recipes that I can do with those ingredients.
Check What’s On Sale
When I’ve exhausted meals based on what I already have, I try to look at what is on sale at the store I go to, and base my meals off of that. I will also use my meal cheat sheet to help with ideas, or pick something I or someone in my family has been craving. I do this until I have a meal for each day, Sunday – Saturday.
Have a Plan for Less Used Ingredients
If one of my recipes calls for an ingredient that I wouldn’t normally cook with, I make sure that if there are going to be leftovers of it, that I find a way to use said ingredient in a different way so that it doesn’t go bad. An example for this is cabbage. If I want to make coleslaw in the summer, I usually only use half a head and the rest just sits in the fridge. So, if I am planning coleslaw for one day, I try to make sure that I do something else later in the week that will use up that other half of cabbage – so maybe a fried cabbage side with bacon or cook out some sausages and make sauerkraut.
Theme Your Days
One thing I do to make the planning process a little quicker is to make each night a theme. I usually do something Mexican on Tuesdays, something vegetarian (usually pizza) on Fridays, leftovers on Thursdays, etc..
Plan for Leftovers
I also always plan a leftover day (usually Thursdays), because somehow we always end up with something in our fridge that is just sitting there. Even if it isn’t enough for a whole meal, I can usually scrounge up something to make it a full meal. Sometimes an impromptu dinner with someone will also come up in which case one of the meals I planned for doesn’t get used, so we can do that on leftover day if we need to as well.
Consider Cooking a Whole Chicken
I also usually like to bake a whole chicken at some point in the week so that I can use the leftover chicken for a second meal later in the week, or use it to make broth for something down the road.
Make Your Grocery List
Once I have my meals planned, I will start to make my grocery list. On my meal planner sheet I have a built in grocery list, so I go through meal by meal and circle the ingredients I will need in order to make it. After I finish the list for my meals I will think about what other items I need to round out the week. Things like breakfast and lunch items; eggs, orange juice, bacon, deli meat, bread, cheese, chips, yogurt etc….
Once I have this I am ready to go to the store and do my grocery shopping!
You can get a copy of my menu planning sheet in the freebies section. I have 3 different templates for you to choose from.
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