So we all have the question every evening … What’s for dinner? What is your answer? Do you run to the store to grab all the fixings for whatever you’re in the mood for? Do you hunt around and pull something together? Do you stress all day about what on earth you’ll feed the family? Meal planning takes care of ALL of that … and then some!
Meal planning? Does it actually help and its really hard right?
Let’s talk about what meal planning really is and how it can help your family AND your budget!
Meal planning is, simple version, think ahead and plan your meals … say what?! 😉 There is a bit of a learning curve to meal planning as everyone’s budget and life looks different but the core concept is the same. I monthly meal plan, plus a few days just to cover myself or in case I don’t get out shopping or certain meals just don’t work out(more complex ones may get ditched if mom is sick etc) so I’ll be using this as my examples.
Before getting into the HOW, lets break down the WHY of meal Planning!
Peace of mind
If you don’t need to worry all day, mentally or physically checking your refrigerator, freezer, pantry, cabinets for all the ingredients for something you MIGHT make tonight .. think of the stress gone from your day?!
When you meal plan, you can assign specific meals to specific days so everyone knows EXACTLY what is for dinner… or you can leave the which day part out and simply know you have what is needed for anything on your list and know you have options. Either way, because you planned ahead, everything is at home and ready to go!
WHEW, peace of mind, now you can … focus on work, children, chores, or (gasp) relax! Beginning to meal plan, while I slightly stressed on the actual planning a bit the first time, because that’s who I am, meal planning cut my stress in half if not more! It reduced my husband’s too because he didn’t have to worry about last minute texts say please go to the store after work and buy this that and the other 😉
Save money
This one is a biggy! Meal planning allows you to save money on several levels!
1. You can buy in bulk and know you’ll actually be using it all!
2. Buy larger portions(lower price generally) WHEN ON SALE for the whole month or even a couple months
3. NOT buying higher priced items “in the moment” as you would if just walking in the grocery store AT dinner time, hungry and looking for a “quick, easy” option.
4. Taking the time to PLAN around pricing and be able to plan in less expensive meals to balance out the more expensive
5. Have plans for using left overs *Watch for future posts on this* AS part of your meal planning! *** Enters 0 waste idea***
To give perspective here, I feed my family of 6-8(depending who is home) on average for around $275 mo. up to around $400 … my “month” is 38 days. A couple months ago I was experiencing significant amounts of Morning sickness followed by a rough miscarriage and was not doing meal planning, prep, cooking etc. Our grocery expenses were nearly 800 and that was WITH using a fair amount that we already had … I was dumb founded!
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Save time
There are SO many ways to save time with meal planning(and prepping).
1. LESS TIME IN STORES
With having a plan, I can do 90% of our shopping for the month in 1 trip(often a coupe stores to get best prices, but a Walmart run can do the trick too) then I”m just grabbing a bit of replacement things like fresh milk, salad/veggies/fruits and a few “loss leaders” that along with coupons will be coming in at some crazy low prices each week! I’ll stock up on those as they come.
2. LESS TIME PREPPING
By knowing HOW I’ll use various items, I can often do some of the prepping before even putting things away! For example, I use a lot of chicken, often shredded up(I use less meat this way and everyone feels as if they got plenty! ) So if I will be using shredded chicken in 15 meals for the month, I will put 15-20lb in a pot and boil it(or better yet, use my Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker and Warmer
Instant Pot, life saver by the way!!) once cooked I either shred by hand with 2 forks OR drop 1-2 breasts into my Ninja Mega Kitchen System (BL770) Blender/Food Processor with 1500W Auto-iQ Base, 72oz Pitcher, 64oz Processor Bowl, (2) 16oz Cup for Smoothies, Dough & More
” data-wplink-url-error=”true” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Ninja Blender(another life saver in my kitchen! ) pulse 2-4 times to shred it and dump into a large bowl. I shred it all this way then divide into 1-1.5lbs, put in a freezer bag, flatten and freeze! Alternatively, some of the bags will get veggies, seasonings, marinades etc that may be needed when i cook it so I can simply pull it from the freezer and dump into the crock-pot or Instant pot or frying pan and have dinner ready in minutes!
I also look at my meal plan for how many meals use ground beef, browned up, like Tacos, I’ll brown ALL of it, then divide out for the meals, Sometimes I even remember and dump the Taco seasoning into the freezer bag with the meat. Let me tell you, this saves SOO much time, I can dump it, frozen, in a pan, put a lid on with a splash of water to steam, because i’m only heating the meat … usually the meat is finished before I get fixings out and ready … Seriously!
3. DAILY PLANING
If everything is ready at home, you only need to decide which meal to make, like 10 seconds of thought and you can scratch worrying about dinner from your list until cooking time … if you tracked how much time is spent on wondering about dinner this, you’d be sad haha!
Less waste
How often do you clean out the fridge throwing out lots of pricey produce that you bought with good intentions but the never got used? How about left overs pushed to the back and ignored, enough to have been a whole meal… ugh!
Meal planning does WONDERS for this issue! Since each meal is planned, you’re buying only what is needed for those meals AND you plan in left overs AS a meal a week (There will be posts soon on how to “fix” those left overs to not be .. ugh boring left overs from the family ) .. No worries, I got your back 😉
With these plans in place, nearly nothing goes to waste … score some points for moving toward a 0 waste lifestyle! Does anyone else wish to get there but feel like its impossible??
Healthier meals(presumably)
Obviously this one depends on what you plan for meals … but facts are, if you are running in the grocery store after work to pick up things for dinner, odds are it wont be the healthiest options often … frozen pizza, fries and a frozen fried something to get heated, take out(Lol, we all do it) . All playing aside though, when thinking about the meals ahead of time most of us are more apt to think of healthy, balanced meals.
Also when seeing the meals in front of you its easier to see oh I’m super lacking green veggies or wow I’m heavily planning bready/starches or other observations.
Once you start seeing the savings you may start finding areas you may opt for healthier versions of things or add veggies/fruits you get less of normally etc.
So how does this all happen?
To begin meal planning grab a piece of paper, a notebook, bullet journal, a note app on your phone.. basically whatever you like to use to write things down and can find it easily again!
Write down your families favorite meals, I get bored of eating the same or similar things too much so I try to not repeat(or similar) more than 3 times in a month and pretty much that’s only Pizza and maybe home made mac n cheese hehe. However if your family likes, lets say spagetti, weekly, then absolutely count it for 4-5 times in the month! IF you have traditions like Pizza Friday or Taco Tuesday or take out Sunday or anything like that, list it, they count as days in your month 😉
I write numbers down the left side of the page 1- 38 (or however many days are in that month since I intentionally do extras) then I write down each meal, If I plan to have that meal 3 times that month, I write it 3 times in a row, then the next meal, as many times as I plan to have it, I put in “left overs” which I’ll create into a more enjoyable meal than random bits of this and that, a few times.
I do take a look at what the month looks like, is there a family birthday, a holiday, sports so I need to plan on the go meals or things to be ready when we walk in the door. I’ll write that info down because, I process it better that way and so that I’m reminded to not use a “on the go” meal on an at home night!
Learn from my mistake … when I first started I felt like I needed 30, individual, totally different, exciting meals. uumm, NO no no no noooo …. you’re learning something new to you, give yourself a fighting chance, stick to your usual meals, if you really want to, pick 1, only 1 … new meal to try during the month! If you love it you can always do it a couple times next month and add in 1 new one next month!
Next, go through the meals you listed, list the Meats you need for them (ie. you need boneless chicken for 12 meals, using 1lb ea. List it as 12 lb boneless chicken) This will give you a clear view of how much you need of everything! Read that <— as easy shopping list! Go through doing the same for veggies(each individual kind needed) Dairy, Grains(flour, pasta, rice, I add dry beans here too) Condiments, Fruit etc.
The final thing that I do before going shopping is to check my sale ads, see if I have applicable coupons AND I take some time to look through rebate apps like ibotta, coupons, Checkout51 because I LOVE getting money BACK in my bank account after I go shopping 😉
Now simply do your shopping! My husband want to be sure I add a public service announcement reminding everyone to leave your husband, boyfriend etc at home during this last step! Hehe.
