Let me start this off by telling you how much I hate meal planning. To be more specific, how much I hate meal planning For my family. I love to prepare meals and I love to plan, but I don’t love to plan meals for my family.
I used to plan meals faithfully every other week (because that’s how often I get paid), but I stopped a while ago. There have been many “What do you want for dinner?” conversations of the last six months. He has grown old. Almost as old as meal planning. See paragraph 1. Anyway, my husband and I decided that for budgeting purposes, we NEED a meal plan because it makes grocery shopping MUCH easier and more affordable if there is a specific list to follow. When I plan meals, I don’t run to the supermarket every night to buy this or that… instead, if I plan meals for two weeks, we can buy food for two weeks.
And to that I say Ugh. What if! I’m not a big fan of buying in bulk, but frankly, it works for our family’s budget. So ugh for buying in bulk, but yes for a healthy budget. (And healthy dinners, too!) So honestly, for the hour or so it takes to sit down and select all 14 or so dinners, it’s really worth the headache. One hour, 14 meals, every two weeks. I CAN DO THIS!
So. I have explained WHY we need meal plans. Now I’m going to show you what works for real planning.
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You need a calendar, a pen, a sheet of paper, and your wonderful Internet//Pinterest//favorite cookbook to select your dinners.
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Think of your family’s favorites. What dinners work for them? What events are coming up that I should plan for? Are you trying to cut out dairy or gluten? Do you want to try some vegetarian dishes? For me, I want to see my family eat less dairy and refined sugars (ie heavy breads and pastas) and more whole foods. So I’m incorporating menus that reflect those choices. I also have to consider what my daughter will and will not eat. She has certainly come a long way, but she is still picky about what she likes.
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Fill in the dates on the calendar with the meals you have selected.
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Create your shopping list from the recipes you have chosen.
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Add other miscellaneous items you may need for breakfast, lunch and snacks.
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Go shopping! And then, if you’re really ambitious, cook some meals for the week ahead. I am not that ambitious.
FYI: We shop at Costco and Aldi. Costco is great for organic meats, juices, and breads. Aldi is amazing for just about everything else and is also very affordable. Also, I like to shop for specialty items at Trader Joe’s. Shopping day is tomorrow, so I’ll keep you posted on how it goes! The husband and I are working very hard right now and in the coming year to watch our budget. This year our spending has gotten out of hand. I hope this meal planning helps with our monthly grocery bill!
