“Well begun is half done.” — aristotle
I’ve had an on again, off again relationship with meal planning over the past 16 years of cooking dinners. There have been seasons where I’ve been really organized, and seasons where I was barely getting by and winging it. There is a time and place for both, I think. In general, I totally recommend having a plan… In my opinion, there is nothing so stressful as having no idea what to make to eat at the witching hour of 5-6 pm. I’m going to lay out what works for me currently. This is not one size fits all. You figure out what works for you and adapt as necessary.
ALL TOGETHER NOW…
Start with calendar, notepad/laptop etc, and recipe collection. I use pinterest pretty much exclusively to collect and organize my recipes, pulling from a variety of sources : blogs, other pins, and online magazines. I have a pinterest board for fall/winter recipes and spring/summer recipes. There are still a few recipes I have printed out in a 3-ring binder, but mostly everything is online now.
I plan for a week at a time. I’ve tried doing a whole month at a time, and bi-weekly, and found that currently it works best to keep things simple and just focus on a week at a time. To start, I look at our calendar and figure out what days we need meals planned for, and then start plugging in recipes… In pinterest, I re-pin the recipes I’m using directly to a dinner this week board for easy reference. We do tacos on Tuesday, usually pizza on Fridays, soup or slow cooker for lunch on Sunday and breakfast for dinner Sunday night. Currently, I assign specific meals to specific days; but in the past, I’ve also planned dinners for the number of nights needed, stuck a list on the fridge and made whatever I felt like cooking that night from the list. Plans change, days are hard, unexpected things arise… at least you know you have ingredients on hand to make something.
As I add recipes to the calendar, I write down the ingredients needed for each recipe in a notebook I’ll take with me to the grocery store. I shop at Trader Joe’s, and have my shopping list broken down in categories as they are laid out in the store. I highly recommend taking the time to map out your local grocery store and write your list in the order you travel. It really saves time in the long run! I also use the app wunderlist to keep track of grocery items we run out of during the week, and make sure those are added to the list.
Meal planning takes place at some point over the weekend (or during naptime on Friday), and typically takes 30-45 minutes. Over the summer, James and I started shopping together on Sunday afternoons. It’s been soooo nice starting the week with a stocked fridge and pantry, and it’s kind of like a mini date 😉
We get most of our toiletries, a few grocery items TJ’s doesn’t carry, and paper products from Target… I try to limit myself to Target trips once or twice a month for the budget’s sake. I have contemplated using Amazon Pantry or the like, but haven’t gotten my act together to figure it out. If anyone has any experience with making that work for your family, I’d love to hear about it! Over the past year, I’ve also started using the app Boxed to purchase keurig cups, bulk toiletry items, snacks for the kids, and diapers. It’s like costco without having to go to costco. Yes PLEASE. In this season, time is money and not having another errand to run is definitely a plus.
So there you have it… my meal plan in a nutshell. Oh, and I know I didn’t touch at all on breakfast or lunch. I’ve been doing a little experiment with school lunches this year… still evaluating how it’s working. Post coming on that in the next few weeks… 🙂
Questions, thoughts, let me know!
JanA says
Okay I feel like I can maybe do this. Thank you for breaking it down and not being an elitist food snob who thinks all this stuff is obvious. You’re a huge help to people like me!!!
Danna says
Thanks for the tip on Boxed. I do a lot of those items on Amazin subscribe and save so I’m curious to see how the prices compare.