Meal planning can turn into an arduous task each week when life gets busy. Keeping the family happy is important. But, falling into the same routine with food preparation can be exhausting. Making healthy meals can be even more difficult. Ordering a quick pizza for the family takes a just a minute phone call. For many family’s this is the default meal plan night after night. While great in a pinch, it gets expensive and unhealthy too often.
Create A Game Plan
I certainly suffer from the same cycle. Without proper meal planning each week, I am more likely to grab a quick meal on the road for lunch. When I plan I eat a healthier and less expensive meal. My long hours also create a challenge for cooking a great meal every night.
Parents that spend most nights shuttling children to after-school activities and sporting events might find themselves in a similar situation. When you are walking in the door starving with no game plan, you will not eat well as a family. Taking time to prepare a weekly menu can make weeknights much easier. And, It is a lot simpler than you think.
Take Inventory
There are two things you must inventory first before any effective planning can take place. 1. Food Supplies you have. 2. Your calendar.
Food Inventory
First, inventory what you currently have on your shelves and in your fridge. Before you spend time and money buying more food , it is important to go shopping in your house first. More often than not you have enough food in the house to cobble together several meals. Use up that half of bag of frozen shrimp you still have in your freezer with a few extra ingredients. By shopping at home first you will save money and a variety of meals. Also, you will prevent yourself from buying duplicate items that you already have. This simple step saves space and money in the long run.
Plan Around Your Activities
Inventorying your calendar is the next important step. Figuring out your family’s schedule for the week before you shop is a critical step. This helps prevent food waste. If you know that you have plans to go out for dinner on Friday night. Then you note a late hockey game scheduled during dinner on Tuesday. You can now plan that there are two nights no one will even be home to eat dinner. Why plan for seven nights of meals instead of five? If you know there will be a lot of late dinner nights it is important to plan. It might make sense to cook a meal earlier in the week that will provide healthy leftovers on busy nights.
Review the Circulars
When you know your plan meals, consider taking a quick glance at the grocery store sales. Plan your meals based on what the best deals are for the week. This will help you limit the menu choices. It will also help you get inspired with new ideas each week and save you money in the long run. Make your shopping list according to the ingredients you will need to cook each meal. When you go the store stick to the list. By avoiding the impulse purchases and you will waste a lot less food and money at the store.
Choose Some Recipes
Getting inspiration is important to keep meals fresh and fun. We tend buy the same old standby ingredients for meals. Pick a cookbook each week and plan recipes from that to keep the decision making easy. This will also change up the same old meals. For more ideas Pinterest recipe pinner is my go to. Currently, I am obsessed with the recipes in the book Milk Street: Cookish: Throw It Together, Christopher Kimball. Everything tastes great and requires very minimal ingredients, most of which you probably have sitting around your house. Get it here on Amazon.com.
Cook Ahead Of Time
I have very little time during the week to actually cook due to my late work days. That’s why I like to cook three big meals each week on Sunday. They could range from pots of soup, casseroles, or roasted chicken. Usually I double the recipes and use a Food Saver to vacuum seal half of the meals and freeze them. Doing this over time allows you to have easy to reheat leftovers during the week. Quick meals that can be defrosted two or three weeks later to keep meals always rotating.
Make it Fun
My friends and I have made a fun social event out of meal planning. We have a Crockpots, Casseroles and Cocktails party. Each couple makes one dish each. We each take a portion of the dishes home. Everyone gets three or four different meals for the time and price of preparing one.
For menu planning templates link on my shop Life’s Lists. Shop any and all of our meal planning related products with code MEALPLAN23 and you’ll receive 15% off at checkout!
Hopefully with a little planning and creativity your family will have more exciting, cheaper meals. Instead use the money on more fun things than groceries!
Happy Organizing!
Kristin
