Meal Planning Made Simple

One of my new year's resolutions was to start planning out meals for the week. I love writing it all out on our homemade chalkboard.

homemade chalkboard

I have found that the more structure I have in my life, the more freedom I have as well. When I plan out the menu for the week I know exactly what I need at the grocery store. This prevents me from making up meals as I shop and backtracking all over the store to pick up extra ingredients. So less time spent in the store means more time doing other things.


When I stick to my grocery list, instead of impulse buying, then I save money too. So more money saved on food means more money I can save for other things - or just simply cut down my grocery bill in general.


When the weekly meals are planned out in advance then everyone knows what's for dinner. When you have a plan then you feel like you have a since of accomplishment and feel proud that you are feeding your family a healthy home cooked meal.


So here is how I got started:


1. write out all the recipes your family likes & you like to make
2. keep all these recipes in an easy to find place (i.e.. type them all up or keep a recipe box)
3. get a chalkboard or dry erase board where you write down the weekly menu
4. then create your shopping list based on the ingredients needed to accomplish your menu
5. write out the list according to the sections of the store (i.e. produce, dairy, meat)

this week's menu

Some tips:


Remember that no week is ever perfect. You might get a spontaneous invite out to dinner or over to a friends house. You may feel like Friday night's dinner on Tuesday night. This structure will allow you to be flexible by always having ideas at hand.