Meal Planning

I didn’t start meal planning until I was 30.  What a mistake! I wasted so much money.

Meal planning is not something many of us are taught, but it is a crucial skill when living on a budget.  Sure it sounds boring, but if you make a plan you will have everything you need in your fridge at any given time without wasting a bunch of food each week.

Different ways to meal plan

There are as many ways to meal plan as there are people.  Everyone seems to do it a little differently, but the main goal is to make a list of what dishes you are going to make over the course of the week and then compose your grocery list based on those dishes.

Some people decide ahead of time which dishes are eaten for which specific meals ahead of time.  Others just decide on the day which meal they want to cook from their pre-selected list of possible choices.  

I prefer the second method.  I will pick 2 lunch dishes, and 3-4 dinner dishes per week.  Then I choose what I feel like cooking each day from that list.  Doing it this way keeps me flexible and allows for people to give input or choose what we are having for dinner from the list.

Whichever way you choose, you need a way to keep track of what you are making and what ingredients you need to buy.  Some common ways to do this are:

Trello

Trello is a free project management app that you can access from your computer and your phone.  

On this app, you create a board with tiles for each recipe.  In the recipe tile you can add a checklist for the items you would need to buy.  When planning, just drag the tile with the recipe you want to make into a “to make this week” column.  Then you can copy the checklist into a tile for “grocery shopping” and use it to automatically create your shopping list.

This method is particularly great if you have multiple adults shopping and eating together.  You can share the board and have each person choose a dish they will make for the group.  Then the person who is shopping has access to the list without having to ask people what they need.

It is also easy to make a meal plan from anywhere on your phone.  So if you are 10 minutes early to class or you are waiting in line at the bank, you could do your meal plan.

And you can easily capture any recipe from the internet and add to your repertoire.  Which is great!

But it does take time to set up.  You have to make each card and make sure you have the grocery list items in the checklist so you can copy them over.  And it can get confusing if you have too many recipes.

On paper

I still make my meal plan on paper.  I just haven’t had time to load Trello with the family’s recipes yet, and I like the feel of the papers as I compile everything.

Working on paper also works better if you have your recipes in books or printed out.  

As I choose each recipe from the cookbooks or printed recipes I have on hand, I write them down in my planner as being for “lunch” or “dinner.”  Then I copy the ingredients into my list on keep notes. 

As I make each item in the meal plan, I cross it off in my planner.

This system works really well if you are working from cookbooks or trying to expand your repertoire.  But you can’t really do it on the go.  I have to sit down in the kitchen to make my plan and generate a grocery list.  And anyone who isn’t in the room when I do this doesn’t get to help choose the dishes.

On the bright side, there is no setup work at all.  Just use what you have and grab a piece of paper to write everything down.

Google Calendar

This system is great if you have a pattern for your cooking.  If every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, and you tend to cook the same 12-15 dishes, meal planning in google calendar could be a dream come true. 

In this system, you meal plan weekly for a month or two.  You plan the days you will be making each dish and include the recipe in the description.  Then pick a grocery shopping day and create a grocery list on that day’s calendar.  As you do each week, set it to repeat the specific task at an interval of your choosing.  

After a month or two, your meal plan will automatically generate itself through the repeated calendar settings.  At that point, all you have to do is follow it.

This is a great system if you don’t mind eating the same things every few weeks.  It eventually automates everything and you don’t have to think about food at all.

On the downside, you won’t expand your cooking abilities, and there is very little flexibility.  But if you are very busy, automating your grocery list is a wonderful thing.

Meal Planning Service/ App

There are a ton of sites and apps out there right now where you can make a free account and then save recipes and use them to generate a meal plan.  Many of these sites have canned meal plans you can follow.  

These apps and sites are fantastic if you have no idea how or what to cook at all.  They can help you learn to cook and make finding new recipes easy, but most don’t allow you to add your own recipes or they make the process of adding your own recipes clunky.

If you want to do a mix of your recipes and theirs, it becomes difficult since you can’t easily meal plan everything in one place.  

How to Gather Recipes

Always start with any recipes you are already familiar with.  If your mom has a recipe card box or a family cookbook, raid it and copy your favorite recipes.  

Once you are good at cooking family recipes, it is time to branch out.  

You can do this a number of ways:

• Pick up cookbooks from the library and try recipes you think you might like
• Search a cooking site for recipes
• Use Pinterest or Instagram to find recipes
• Follow food bloggers and try some of their recipes
• Ask friends for their favorite recipes

Regardless of how you choose to gather recipes, make sure to copy them down into a place you can find again.  If you don’t you will be forever searching for the recipe again.

How to keep from getting bored

Meal planning can feel like it is sucking the fun out of food.  There is little to no spontaneity left.  You can fix this by trying out new recipes or by turning leftovers into entirely new dishes.

When you have gotten bored, try something new to shake things up.

Keeping budget in mind

One of the biggest benefits of meal planning is that you can control the budget and save money.  Start by making a food budget.  Next, pay attention to food prices and then you can plan meals around the budget.

If you are on a shoestring budget, you can make budgeting easier by calculating and recording the cost and number of meals it produces on the recipe itself.  Then you can easily factor in cost when making your menus. 

Here are some tips for reducing the cost of your meals:

• Eat less meat
• Eat more beans
• Bulk recipes out with rice or noodles
• Use dried beans instead of canned
• Buy spices in bulk
• Buy bulk when you can
• Make large batches of soup and freeze them for lunches
• Use veggie trimmings and left over bones to make stock instead of buying stock
• Buy things on sale and use coupons
• Use a grocery delivery service to keep you from buying impulsively

If you are really struggling finding and eating fresh food, find your local soup kitchen.  Often they will give you groceries if you need them.

Making your own cookbook

Meal planning gives you the opportunity to make your own cookbook.  This creates a compendium of family favorite recipes that you can pass down if you ever have kids.  It also keeps you from constantly having to re-find recipes or try to remember what you did differently that one time to make the dish perfect.

This cookbook doesn’t have to be on paper either.  It could be in trello or in a notes file somewhere.  But recording your cooking journey and keeping track of the changes you make to recipes to better suit your pallet makes life easier.

So make a personal cookbook or recipe file.  You will not regret it.

Wrapping it all up

Nutrition is important.  When you fuel your body with junk, you will struggle to focus and energy will flagg. So take the time to learn to feed yourself good, healthy food for cheap.  

Meal planning makes everything during the week easier.  You know what meals you will cook so that moment of “What do I make for dinner” never comes– freeing up your mind to process what you were learning.

Does your family meal plan?  What other life skills should I cover?  Let me know in the comments below.  And don’t forget to like and share.