From as little as I can remember my mom would make a home cooked meal everyday. I loved it and my passion for cooking makes it so much easier. I’ve gotten good at meal planning over the years by minimizing my trips to the grocery store, sticking to budgets, and creating meals everyone loves without food waste. I honestly had no clue I wasn’t in the norm; that people frequent the store sometimes daily to make dinner. I have this conversation with friends frequently, yet they’re always baffled as to how I can meal plan an entire week with only 1 trip to the store. Well time to let the cat out of the bag and let you in on how I meal plan.
As the cook in the house the one thing I can’t stand the most about meal planning is figuring out what we’re going to have for dinner. Its the same thing every week: I ask for suggestions, no one has any, I make dinner, people complain. UGH! I feel like I make the same things on repeat because simply that’s all I can think about. It doesn’t need to be that hard though. I started a meal list when my husband and I got married but after having kids and their opinions on what they do and don’t like I hadn’t taken the time to sit down and update my list. I’ve included my family’s sample meal list split up by meat/main dish. This makes meal planning for the week easy.
It only takes about 10 minutes to sit down and list out the things your family loves, then keep it on your fridge for easy access. As you try new recipes and find them to be winners, simply add them to the list. Go back about twice a year to reevaluate your list. If you’re a family that doesn’t like to cook as much include your favorite take out/dine in restaurants. This helps you not to get into the recycle game where you are eating the same things over and over again.
Create a budget to help narrow down your choices in meals. If you don’t need to have a budget, all I can say is Lucky you; that is every cooks dream! For most people though this is essential. The best way to do this is look back on your past food expenses for the last 3-6 months to get an idea of what a realistic budget is for you. We use Mint to track all of our spending right from our phone which makes this step super easy. We are a family of 5 with two boys and lunches for everyone since my husband works from home. I cook a home cooked meal at least 4 days a week and our budget is about $700 which includes Costco for the month. This does not include our eating out budget.
Now you’re ready to start shopping. First things first, look at the sales at your local stores. I shop at 3 places primarily with the occasional special stop at a Trader Joe’s or AJ’s when I happen to be nearby. Fry’s, Sprouts, and Costco are my weekly/biweekly stops. Go through their weekly flyers to watch for sales on meats, fruits, and frozen items to determine where you need to shop. Now there’s three things to watch for when you’re looking at sales:
- Time is money as well. If you only need to go to a particular store for 1 or 2 items, unless they’re significantly cheaper than the other store it isn’t worth your time. You will spend more on gas getting there.
- If there is a great sale on meat, such as ground beef at a $1 a pound, STOCK UP!! You may spend over budget for the week but this will save you more money in the weeks to come. I always stock up on hamburger, chicken, pork, and even frozen items like frozen fruit, bread, etc when there’s an amazing deal. These items will stay good frozen for months. Its also great to have on hand when an unexpected night of having to cook pops up. BUY BULK WHEN ABLE!
- Don’t just buy something because it’s on sale. Be honest with yourself. If you don’t really like that item or rarely cook with it pass it on by. I’ve done it before where I buy a pork product and it sat in the freezer for literally a year. I ended up tossing it out and swore never again.
Once you’ve looked at the sale items go back to your meal list and decide what you’re going to cook with them for the week. I like to make 2 meals out of each main dish if possible to cut down on the higher priced items. If I’m buying ground beef I will maybe make hamburgers one night and tacos another. Any extra will be frozen and labeled for later use. Now you can make your grocery list for the week.
TIP: any leftovers not eaten within 6 days freeze as an easy grab and reheat meal later on. Taco meat, chili, spaghetti sauce, soups, etc. are great to freeze and eat later.
Now that you’re ready to shop you need to pick out the most crucial thing: a shopping day. This will be the day you do your shopping every week, however understand it may change based on an appointment or emergency. My shopping day is every Thursday or Friday for the grocery store, based on my schedule, and every other Thursday for Costco. You’re reading this and saying “but wait you said you only go to the store once a week”. You’re correct! Here’s my secret…do online grocery shopping. That’s it! You can’t avoid going into Costco but you can get your groceries by pickup or even delivery. Remember that whole time is money thing I talked about, this applies here as well.
TIP: plan your meals out for a week but if you have items that are going to go bad within a couple days of purchase, such as fruits or fish, plan to cook them as one of your first meals of the week or you may have to purchase those few items in the next grocery pick up and have it for dinner that night.
Last but not least lets talk food storage which is the most important step in making sure you aren’t running to the store multiple times a week. Fruits and veggies need to be washed, I use this on mine, and cut up within 24 hours of purchasing.
- Fruit just needs to be sliced and put in an air tight container. Your fruit will last you 6-8 days this way including strawberries. Obviously fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas don’t need to be cut up.
- Carrots, celery, broccoli, and brussel sprouts need to be cut and placed in a baggie or container. Cucumbers can as well but only expect it to last up to 7-8 days whereas carrots and celery will last upwards of 3 weeks.
- Kale, Green Leaf lettuce, Iceberg lettuce, etc. needs to be rinsed well, spun (I use one of these which are amazing), and placed in a Ziploc with 2-3 pieces of paper towel at the bottom to collect any moisture. Your lettuce will last up to 12 days this way.
- Bread should be stored in the fridge. If you are buying bulk freeze both breads and tortillas.
- Meats must be frozen within a few days of purchase or used within 6-7 days. If you are buying bulk make sure you split up portions into baggies and label them. I portion them out differently, such as 2 lbs of ground beef for taco nights and 1 lb for chili. If I’m making hamburgers that week I wait and pre-make several and freeze the others.
- You can flash freeze bread items such as cakes, pancakes, waffles, etc. by laying them out on a sheet pan, freezing them for an hour, then placing them in a baggie or wrapping with tin foil.
That’s it folks! Meal planning can really be that easy! You don’t have to cook every night so look at your weekly schedule and decide which nights are busier than the others. These nights you may have to plan on picking up a pizza or a to-go place. Maybe those nights mean leftovers, which is typically what our Mondays look like since I go to the gym in the middle of dinner. If you don’t want to do fast food or leftovers you may want to star the meals on your meal list that are quick and easy. For instance breakfast burritos, make your own salad, crockpot meals, etc.
Happy meal planning!
