Weekly Meal Planning Made Easy

There are always varied reactions when it comes to the topic of Meal Planning. I know I will either have your full attention or there will be a collective groan. I get it! I’ve felt both ways about it and still do. But planning is a fundamental part of cooking from scratch and I hope to inspire excitement for you to do weekly meal planning. 

Table of Contents:

• 3 Essential Elements to Easy Meal Planning
• 1 – How to create a meal plan
• 2 – Shop your pantry before shopping the grocery
• 3 – Ingredient Preparation
• Tips for Meal Planning

Reasons why it’s a good idea to regularly meal plan: 

• It alleviates stress when you and your family all know what to expect. One of the most frustrating questions can be ‘What’s for dinner?’. If you’ve planned ahead, fielding that question will be as easy as pointing to the paper posted on the fridge. Having a meal plan can add to ease in your schedule rather than feeling pressured to come up with something on the spot. 
• It helps with your budget and reduces waste. Meal planning requires you to be intentional about purchasing food and using what food you already have on hand. This will save you from buying a bunch of ingredients you later don’t use and have to throw away. In the same way that planning helps to reduce food waste, it’s also wallet friendly. Organizing a meal plan and grocery list can help to reduce cost by only buying what you need, using what you already have, and throwing away less. Planning also keeps you from relying on eating out which can have a significant impact on your budget. 
• Eating at home tends to be a “healthier” choice. When cooking from scratch at home you have control over the ingredients used in your meals. So, you can choose less processed, more whole food options. 

There are plenty more reasons, but you get the point, right?

Your regular weekly meal planning does not need to be complicated and you’ll find that you’ll naturally streamline it over time and adapt it to serve you. I want to offer as many suggestions and ideas as I can to nurture your imagination and make meal planning easy. It will probably take you longer to read this post than to actually do your meal plan. 

3 Essential Elements to Easy Meal Planning

There are 3 essential parts to consider when creating a weekly menu of from scratch meals:

Start by setting aside a time to plan. Add meal planning into your calendar and try to do it on the same day of the week regularly. Creating a patterned habit will help to add ease to your routine. Start by setting aside 30-60 minutes. After planning for a while you get a feel for how long it takes you and will most likely be able to get it done in just a matter of minutes. 

Decide how far in advance you want to plan meals. Typically planning a week of meals is a good place to start but you can plan a whole month if that makes you happy. 

Even if you plan out the whole month in advance you may want to check in with your plan weekly to be sure you have all the ingredients and everything you need to execute the plan.  

1. How to Create an Easy Meal Plan

What to assess first:

In the planning stage you will decide how extensively to meal plan. This is highly individual and can depend on the size of your family, and how much time you have to dedicate to prepping and cooking.

 

Some questions to ask yourself are:

• Do you need to plan for every meal or just dinners? This may depend on who is in the house during the day. 
• Do your family members eat at work or at school? Do you want to prepare meals to take with them?  
• Do you need to or want to cook every day? 
• What does your schedule allow? 
• What days are ideal to make a homemade meal? What days of the week are harder to cook at home?
• Can you make larger portions to stretch a recipe over more than 1 meal? 
• Can you make enough to freeze to take pressure off of a future meal?
• How can I plan to use any leftovers so nothing goes to waste?
• How much effort/energy can I reasonably dedicate to creating meals?

After you’ve asked yourself the previous questions you are ready to decide on what meals you will cook for the week. It’s fun to get the family involved so you are all on the same page and everyone knows what to expect. Often asking your family what they would like to have for dinners can provide some inspiration for meals. 

A fun and helpful strategy could be having theme days like taco Tuesday, meatless Monday or bbq Saturday, which doesn’t rhyme but who cares, bbq is good pretty much every day. 

Decide how many meals you will cook that week:

With busy schedules it can be a lot to commit to cooking every meal every day of the week. I tend to cook 3-4 dinners each week and plan for leftovers or eating out for the remaining dinners. It’s also helpful to plan on using leftovers for lunches during the week.

Add subheading of free planning printable – see edit cal. 

Use the pages of my free meal planning kit to write down the meals you would like to make. 

Do you need a recipe?

Check your cookbooks and write down the book and page or do an internet search and bookmark it or print it so that you have it available and can attach it to your meal plan. 

Looking through recipes can often inspire your imagination for what meals you can make for the week. Using recipes can also improve your cooking skills and understanding of how to cook. 

Find Recipes

Use complex or unfamiliar recipes just once or twice a week, on a day that you have plenty of time to spend on it. Often new recipes can take longer than we anticipate and longer than the recipe says, so give yourself a buffer by planning in plenty of time. 

Building a meal:

A simple way to build an easy meal is to have 1 main element (dish) and 1-3 sides. 

Examples: 

Spaghetti with meatballs as the main dish, salad and bread are the sides. 

Grilled meat as the main element, roasted veg and fresh fruit as sides.

Beans and rice as the main dish, sides of guacamole, salad, and salsa on the side.

Fancier isn’t always better. Sometimes the simplest meals are the best. Try not to over complicate your menu. A simple meal with only 2 dishes is nourishing and satisfying. Be sure to eat what you love!

What to do With Leftovers

Let’s talk about leftovers. Leftovers are an amazing resource for you to use in your weekly meal plan. They create convenience for meals to be had at home. Make sure you plan for leftovers during the week. Leftovers work well as lunch or can become a buffet meal or charcuterie board with many different leftovers.

Another way to use leftovers is to make large amounts of some meals to create convenience foods for yourself. Some meals freeze very well and then can be used on busy days or when you don’t have the energy to make something from scratch. Adding this to your plan is super helpful.

Some things that freeze really well are soups, stews, casseroles, noodle dishes, rice dishes, and so many more. 

Plan on eating out

Another thing to consider when planning is eating out. I know this is counter-intuitive when cooking from scratch. But honestly, sometimes we need to have someone else do the work. 

Eating out is a great joy in life and can offer some inspiration for home cooking as well. If you like to eat out be sure to account for that in your meal plan. Determine which meals will be eaten a restaurant and note it on your plan.

2. Shop Your Pantry and Make a Grocery List

The next step in creating your meal plan is to what you have on hand and gather ingredients that are not in your pantry. Gathering ingredients can come in the form of grocery shopping or harvesting from the garden or a bit of both. 

We have the incredible convenience of shopping online nowadays which can make your grocery shopping more efficient. However, if you prefer to shop live, be sure you’ve set aside some time to do so during the process of planning. 

Shop Your Pantry/Fridge First 

A really good practice when meal planning is to shop your own inventory first. This will help to keep food waste low and keep you from spending extra money on ingredients you don’t need. Looking in your own food stores can also inspire meal creation. 

With a little practice evaluating what you have on hand can take just a few minutes. Over time you may even be able to keep a fairly accurate mental inventory. 

• Do you have ingredients that could be the main dish and/or side dishes?
• What things go together? 
• What things do I have that are in the recipes I chose?
• What ingredients do I need to purchase?

Now that you know what you have on hand you can fill in the gaps with any additional groceries you need. 

Create a Shopping List 

Write down what items are needed for this week’s recipes or pantry staple items that need replenishment. It’s a good idea to always have on hand some essentials that could be used to put a quick meal together or be used for lunches and snacks. 

Here are some pantry staple suggestions:

• Rice, quinoa, and other grains
• Pasta 
• Frozen veggies – choose your favorites, ones that you know you’ll use. Other than eating raw, frozen veggies can be prepared like raw veggies by steaming, roasting, sauteing, boiling, etc. 
• Frozen meats
• Dry mixes – biscuits, pancakes, etc. 
• Canned foods – tomatoes, soups, tuna, veggies, fruit, beans, etc
• Baking ingredients – Flour, sugar, etc.
• Breakfast items – Oatmeal, cereal, and other grains. 
• Always have fresh meal building ingredients like:
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Broth or bouillon
• Salt and Pepper
• Spices and spice blends
• Vinegar
• Oil – Olive oil and avocado oil
• Fridge items:
• Milk
• Cheese
• Butter
• Yogurt
• Eggs

Schedule a time to go shopping or shop online and grab everything you’ll need for the meals you’ve planned.

3. Ingredient Preparation

Preparing ingredients is the third fundamental part of meal planning to cook from scratch. Ensuring you have enough time to do this will alleviate stress and pressure at meal times. Ingredients can be prepared right away after grocery shopping or harvesting or can be prepared at every meal. 

The French call this Mise en Place meaning everything in its place. There’s nothing more stressful and frustrating than scrambling to prep ingredients once you’ve started cooking. 

Chopping veggies and pre measuring ingredients can help make meal time prep go quickly. Portioning out snacks and lunch items can help keep you from relying on processed convenience food and take out. 

Part of this preparation process is making sure to take things out of the freezer that need to thaw prior to cooking. This could include meats, casseroles, veggies, etc. 

FREE Measurement Conversion Chart

It’s a good idea to note these things on your planning sheet. For example, make a note to transfer steaks or chicken from the freezer to the fridge 2 – 3 days prior to needing them. These items can thaw in the fridge before they are needed for meal prep.

 

Veggies may need a little less time to thaw and usually can be thawed at room temperature on the same day they will be used. Place the frozen veg in a colander inside a large bowl and set at room temp or in the fridge.

Often veggies will get a layer of ice on their surface which can taste like freezer burn. If this happens you can rinse the veggies under cool water to remove the ice. Allow the veggies to drain and they will taste just fine. 

Also, if you are making baked goods from scratch, be sure to account for rise times and cooling times in the schedule for food preparation. Particularly if you are making things with sourdough as this has longer rise times than conventional yeast. 

Over time your skills for knowing when things need to be prepped will improve. Give yourself some grace if things don’t always go to plan. Make mental notes and don’t give up. If dinner is a few minutes late, that’s ok. 

Tips for Meal Planning

Something I like to keep in mind when building a menu and grocery list is to choose meals that use similar ingredients. This helps to reduce food waste and makes your planning and meal execution more efficient. 

For example: If you have a recipe that uses half of a container of mushrooms, plan to use the other half for additional meals that week like omelets, pizza, steak topping, or in a salad. This method will keep you from having opened, partially used ingredients in your fridge and pantry. 

Likewise, if your recipe calls for 1 ½ pounds of chicken, and you’ve purchased 2 pounds. Cook up all of the chicken and use the excess for sandwiches and snacks during the week. 

It’s wonderful to have an idea of how to use small portions of things to make the stretch into additional meals. Usually I end up with a lot of vegetable odds and ends and I don’t want them to go to waste. Maybe you’ve had the same experience. 

Make omelets or scrambles. Sauté up leftover veggies and add eggs for a great lunch or a quick dinner. Leftover meat is great to add to eggs or a sandwich. 

• Make a roasted or steamed veggie medley. This works great for most leftover veggies and will give you an additional side dish for a meal or two. 
• Make a big salad to use up extra veggies. Add some grilled meat or leftover meat for a hearty salad. 
• Make loaded baked potatoes. Either russet or sweet potatoes are amazing with some roasted or steamed veggies piled on top. You can also add some crumbled bacon or sausage for a hearty meal.
• Make a leftover buffet or charcuterie board. These are easy ways for everyone to pick out what they want and to use up leftover bits and pieces. Add some pickles, olives, and cheese slices and you have a great meal.  

Remember to be flexible. Allow changes and adjustments when unexpected things come up. I hope that you will be inspired to intentionally plan your weekly meals. 

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