How I Meal Plan

It is no secret that I LOVE to meal plan. I not only enjoy the process, but I see many benefits from planning out our weekly meals. It saves money, cuts down on stress during the witching hour right before dinner, and eliminates the need to run to the store multiple times per week (or through a drive-thru). However, I know many of my friends dread this chore. They don't like coming up with meal ideas, don't know how to get organized enough to plan, or just flat out don't like grocery shipping and cooking.

I often share pictures and descriptions of what we eat for dinner, but I thought this week I would share a little "behind the scenes" of how I meal plan. Here's how I do it. Is your process similar?

1. Once a week (usually Sunday) I sit down and plan out our meals for the week. I use this planner that has tear-out shopping list sheets. The first step is to take inventory of my freezer/fridge/pantry. Because if I can use up what we already have, I am definitely going to save money at the store!

On this particular day, I note that my freezer has ground beef, a whole chicken, chicken breast, and sole. I also have an abundance of bread, rice, lentils and split peas, and a half used box of lasagna noodles that need to be used. In the fridge I have mozzarella, leftover pizza sauce, and ricotta that needs to be used. I also have tons of fresh produce, including limes, carrots, citrus, and snow peas, thanks to my Imperfect Produce deliveries.

2. Next, I take a quick look at my calendar for the week. Do we have baseball or other activities that may take me away from home around the dinner hour? Those are perfect days to utilize leftovers or make a crockpot meal.

This week I have one day I will be away from home for the two hours leading up to dinner. I'll be sure to plan an easy dinner for that night.

3. Now it's time to start filling in my meals. Some people like to plan meals but not assign them to a specific night, but I do choose a night for each meal, because of #2 above. Now, this step is something I learned from my Mom many years ago. She always plans variety in their meals....one night is chicken night, the next is beef, next is vegetarian, then fish, and so on. I don't stick to a schedule, but I do try to have chicken once or twice a week, fish once a week, red meat no more than twice a week, and a vegetarian night. Recently I have been doing more research on the benefits of eating less meat, so I am bumping it up to 2 vegetarian nights per week and just 1 red meat night. It's hard with meat-loving kids! For example, last week I made homemade cheese pizza one night, and then last night we had black bean, quinoa, sweet potato chili with a side of biscuits.

This week I end up planning 1 meat, 1 chicken, 1 turkey, 1 vegetarian, 1 pork, 1 fish, and 1 leftover (vegetarian) night.

4. I can usually fill in at least half the week's meals with what I already have on hand. At this point I look through my weekly grocery ads to decide what store I'm going to. I look at what's on sale to provide inspiration for the other meals, and then turn to my cookbooks or Pinterest to decide on the exact recipes. As I choose each night's meal, I list out any ingredients I need to buy on my shopping list. I tend to list them by section; produce, dairy, meat, canned/boxed. This helps me get through the store quickly. After I have my shopping list completed for dinners, I fill it in with whatever we need for breakfasts/lunches/snacks.

*Other things I think about: Lucas will ONLY eat ground beef or ground turkey for a protein (unless you count chicken nuggets?), so I try to have one night per week where I serve each of these. Since that means he is only eating dinner 2 nights a week, I try to space them out a bit. On this week's plan I have them scheduled for Tuesday and Saturday. Also, if I'm taking on something a little more time-consuming (like the fried fish you'll see), I plan on super easy sides like microwaved rice and simple steamed veggies. I don't want to take on more than I can handle and make a huge stressful mess in the evening.

This process sounds a little complicated when I type it all out, but if no kids are around I can do it very quickly (15-20 minutes). If the kids are here, well, it could take all day. But again, I love the process and don't view it as a chore.

Here is what I came up with for this week's meal plan!

-Vegetarian Lasagna, Caesar Salad
-Leftovers
-Beef/Potato Hobos w/ roasted veggies
-Fried Sole, Couscous, Broccoli
-Salsa Verde Honey Lime Crockpot Chicken, Tortillas, Raw Veggies/Dip
-BLT's, Creamy Lentil Soup
-Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps, Rice, Stir Fry Veggies

I hope this inspires you to do a little meal planning for the week ahead!