6 Incredibly Easy Meal Planning Tips (That Will Save You Time and Money)
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Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Pretty much anyone who knows me knows I’m out of my skin excited every time the fall season rolls around. Even though I live in southern California now (originally a Maine girl), and desperately, soul crushingly miss the crisp feel and smell of fall, I have learned to recognize the subtle seasonal changes that come this time of year.
One of the biggies in my current season of life is the kids starting back to school.
While I loved the free-spirited, wide open schedule of summer, and our daily quest for adventure…
…I also love the slowed pace that comes with fall, and the return to some form of rhythm.
I don’t know how you roll in your house…but in our house summer tends to be wild and free with a dash of all hell’s breaking loose. There tends to be way less structure, far less routine, and way more money being spent.
Summer seems to beg for daily trips to your wallet, does it not? (oh don’t act like you didn’t get ice cream and ice coffees on the regular…pshh) So to turn that ship around, I want to help you get that budget, and that bit of summer chaos back under control…
So let’s get around to the topic at hand, shall we?…meal planning.
I’m not completely certain when I started consistently meal planning, but I can confidently say it has been for the better part of two years.
And for me, that is noteworthy. I get a lot of “brilliant” ideas, but my follow-through leaves a bit to be desired.
There are lots of ways to approach meal planning. You can sit down in one fell swoop and plan out the whole month…you can plan for every couple weeks, weekly or even every few days.
For me, I have found that weekly meal planning makes the most sense, and feels the most approachable.
Ps, if you are one of those uber-organized, beautiful little
This meal planning tutorial is for the ultimate beginner.
- By beginner, I am talking to you if you are the gal who is spending hundreds, if not over a thousand dollars each month eating out.
- I’m talking to you if dinner time seems to sneak up on you each and every night, ending with a phone call to the pizza shop, or making oatmeal for dinner (again!).
- I’m talking to you if you wander around the grocery store putting random things in your cart with no real plan of what you’re going to do with it.
Friend, I have been all of these girls…sometimes all in the same month. It boggles my mind when I think back to just how much money we spent per month eating out at restaurants the first year of my son’s life.
There was a solid year that we spent over a $1000 a month on restaurants or take out. Eek.
In most people’s budgets, reducing food costs is by far the best way to save the most amount of money, and it sure was for us!
We dropped our “restaurant budget” from not having a budget (but spending $1000-1200 a month in restaurants anyway) to $150 a month just from getting our act together and planning out our weekly meals.
Boooo yeah!
Honestly, our grocery budget probably hasn’t changed much, it likes to hang out in the $800-1000 per month range…but we no longer spend an additional $900 on top of that eating out in restaurants.
Our grocery budget is on the high side (currently for a family of 5) because it is of the highest value to us to buy local, humanely raised meat and healthy produce (preferably local and in season).
So are you ready to save some major cash? Meal planning could easily cut your grocery bill by 30% (or heck, more! especially if you haven’t been doing anything in this area).
6 steps to a weekly meal plan in one hour or less
1. Pull out your calendar.
This step is super-duper important, friend. Get your booty up before your kids wake up, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and pull out your planner. This step alone changed my meal planning life.
There are two reasons you need your calendar.
First:
plan when in the week you will sit down to meal plan. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Put it in your planner, put it in your phone, have your phone yell at you…do whatever you need to. Put aside an hour of your week, as if it were an appointment, to sit down and plan out your meals.
Second:
now that you have the time set aside, you want your meals to match up with the amount of time (and maybe even the amount of energy) you will have for a given night. The super busy nights are often the evenings that we end up piling our kids into the car and going through the drive-thru or pouring them a bowl of cereal.
So planning around those busy nights, by either throwing something in the crock pot in the morning or planning for leftovers will help you save money, avoid food waste, and feed your family a wholesome home cooked meal.
2. Check your fridge and pantry.
Whether you have produce left over from last week that needs to get used, dried beans in the pantry, or meat left over in your freezer…check there first. Any amount of food you don’t need to buy at the store is money in yo pocket.
*pro tip: put a bowl in your fridge with a sticker on it that says “eat first” and throw any produce about to expire in there so that you make sure to eat them before they go bad*
3. Pick 3-4 easy meals for the week.
And when I say easy, I mean freaking easy. Nothing derails me more than looking at the meal I have planned for that night and feeling overwhelmed by it before I’ve even had my cup of coffee.
That, my dear, is not sustainable.
I like to pick 3-4 easy meals, and at least one of them I make a double batch. The less I need to cook, the better.
Plus, those complicated recipes always make you buy a bunch of shit you don’t already have, that end up rotting away in the back corners of your refrigerator or pantry. Just say no to complicated (and food waste)!
4. Plug those meals into your planner for the week.
Now that you’ve chosen your 3-4 meals, pull that calendar back out and write what meal you’ll be having for dinner at the top of the day.
Including if you are having leftovers or going out to eat! That is part of the meal plan. Make sure every day is accounted for.
5. Create your grocery list.
Write out all the supplies you will need for the week.
Note: this is the step where you will also need to write in ingredients you need for super simple lunches and breakfasts and of course, snacks.
Don’t forget this step or you will come home and everyone will complain less than 5 minutes after you put the groceries away that there is “nothing to eat”.
6. Go shopping.
Pack up your reusable shopping bags. Pour yourself a coffee to go. Stick to your list.
**If you need a little help getting your creative juices flowing for meal ideas, start here.
Read also: 13 Freezer Meals You’ll Actually Be Excited to Eat
I’d love to hear how this goes for you in the comments below. Is there a particular step that jumps out at you that maybe you never even thought to do? Anything you would add? I’d love to hear it
