How To Make A Meal Plan
What’s for dinner? We hear it from our kids, from our husbands and we even ask ourselves. It’s time to turn that dreaded question into an easy answer. The solution is meal planning.
I have been making these meal plans for over 2 years now and find it saves me time and money. Plus, I always have an answer to the question….What’s for dinner? I understand that the very thought can be overwhelming, so I will break it down and show you exactly how I make a monthly meal plan.
Meal Plan Step 1: Pick a theme for each day of the week
One of the most helpful things to do is pick a theme for each day of the week. This narrows down your meal selection and helps your variety throughout the week.
Here are some of the theme’s I commonly use: Mexican Monday, Crockpot Tuesday, Cook n’ Go Wednesday, Try it Thursday, Favorite Friday, Soup/Sandwich Saturday.
Changing up the theme for summer and winter bring in more variety also. During the summer I have Sizzle Saturdays (for grilling), or Sunrise Saturday’s which is breakfast for dinner.
Wednesday’s are a busy night for us, so I keep my planning to quick meals called Cook n’ Go. Another theme I have done is kid’s choice. On this night, I cook my kids favorite meals. Be creative, the ideas are endless.
Another important tip is to make sure the type of meals for a particular night works for your schedule. What I mean is, don’t have a meal that takes an hour to cook on a night that you are pressed for time. It is very hard to stick to a meal plan if it doesn’t work with your schedule.
Meal Plan Step 2: Gather your recipes
I have recently organized all my recipes which helps my meal planning a ton. Click here to see how I organized my recipes.
Another source I use a lot is Pinterest. I have my recipe boards organized the same as my nightly meal themes. Mexican Monday’s is one of the boards I have. Whenever I see a great Mexican recipe, I save it to that board. At the end of the month, you can look through your boards and find all the Mexican recipes you want to make.
If you love a recipe, make sure you print it off because you never know when it could disappear. Having a recipe binder with the same categories will help keep things consistent and organized. Continue building your recipes until you feel like you have an adequate amount. Variety will help so you don’t feel like you are having the same thing every week.
Meal Plan Step 3: Writing down the plan
I print out a blank calendar each month to write the meal plan on. Don’t have a template, no problem! Here are several free templates to help make your own meal plan! CLICK HERE to print off the template that works for you…weekly, bi-weekly or monthly!
Write your meal themes at the top of each day of the week.
I find it easier to plan the meals for one theme at a time. If you have Mexican Monday’s, plan a meal for every Monday in the month and then move on to Tuesday’s. Complete each theme until the month is complete.
I tend to get all my groceries at the beginning of the month, then halfway through will get more milk, more produce and other things that won’t make it all the way through the month. Keep this in mind with your meals.
If you buy buttermilk to make waffles, plan to eat waffles before the buttermilk expires. The more plans you make, you will get in your own rhythm, but it is worth noting on your meal plan if a recipe has ingredients that expires quickly.
Meal Plan Step 4: Sticking to your plan
Life is busy and things come up…with meal plans you can’t account for everything. However, a meal plan won’t work unless you really try to stick to it. Find the balance.
One of the things I commonly do if things come up, or I forget to set meat out to thaw until it’s too late, is swap. If it is Tuesday, I will look at what is on the schedule for Tuesday next week and see if I can swap. Most times it will work. If you are really busy, on Sunday cook up all the meat you need for the week. All your meat will be ready to throw in a skillet or casserole and that will save you a lot of time.
Calendar:
I keep a paper copy of the meal plan in my recipe binder, but have a calendar on the wall too. It is a 12 x 12 glass frame and I write the meals on it with a dry erase marker. My calendar helps me see what meals are coming up during the week.
In the morning, I can also easily check what is on the schedule for dinner and see if I need to set anything out. If we skip a meal, I circle the meal on my calendar. If something comes up and a swap doesn’t work, I will check any circled meals and see if I could fit those in. At the end of the month, if any meals aren’t made….they are first to go on next month’s plan.
Another important tip is to make your grocery list while you are making your meal plan. Every time you pick a meal to make, take the time to double check and make sure you have the ingredients. If you don’t, write it down on your grocery list. This will keep you from missing your meal plan because you don’t have the ingredients.
Monthly grocery shopping tips:
Snacks! I buy snacks for the whole month. I am protective about when things get opened to make sure they last the whole month. If one bag of crackers gets eaten up…I try to wait until the following Monday to open the next bag. I also limit how many things are opened at once. It seems like everything gets eaten up in the same amount of time, whether one bag is open or three.
Baking is another thing I throw in the mix. In the middle of the month or towards the end, I bake a lot to help make the other groceries last longer. In order to stick to our grocery budget, I try not to head back to the grocery store until the first of the next month.
At the end of some months I end up with pickles and Velveeta….which I love to laugh about with my friends. They know me well enough not to come to my house for food at the end of the month!
All the steps seems like a lot, but it will help you with your grocery budget and it is nice to not have to think about what’s for dinner on a daily basis. If you are unsure, start with meal planning for a week. If you have other tips for me, I would love to hear them! Happy meal planning everyone.
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