Meal Planning
There are many different styles of meal planning. I took a quiz years ago to see my personal style. I can’t find the exact quiz I took, but my style is more ingredient based and flexible rather than “this meal on this day”. I’ve tried the planning method that has you cooking every night. I’ve tried the one that you plan your meals out for the month, down to what you will eat on what specific day. But that never worked for me. Either something came up or I just didn’t feel like eating what I planned that night. Also, cooking a full dinner every night is exhausting and creates a lot of leftovers. Which can be a problem if your family doesn’t really eat leftovers. So here is what I do now that works pretty well for me.
Keep the Pantry & Freezer Stocked
I make sure I keep my staples stocked in the pantry and the freezer. (See my post here on why you need a pantry.) This ensures that even if I failed to plan I have something I can whip up. Even if it’s just buttered pasta. (Unfortunately this still does not prevent the occasional emergency Taco Bell run. We’re only human, right?) Here is a list of what I keep in my pantry:
Make a Loose Plan for the Week
Sometime around the weekend, I will try and make a plan for the next weeks meals. I will seek input from my husband as to what might sound good and try to brainstorm together a little bit. Then I will pull a few kinds of meat from the freezer; for example, a pound of hamburger, a package of pork chops, and a package of chicken breasts or a whole chicken. They will go into the fridge to defrost, and I will decide what to make as sides based on the pantry staples available. So my meal plan might look like:
In this example, which is my actual meal plan for next week BTW, I have compared my dinner plans to my calendar and determined which days make most sense to cook what. This however is a loose plan and if I would rather have the meatloaf on Sunday then I can switch stuff around. Also, if I run out of leftovers on Tuesday and suddenly need something for dinner Wednesday, I will figure that out when the time comes. For me, flexibility is everything when it comes to planning dinners.
Lunches
Honestly lunches are generally leftovers from a previous dinner. If I don’t have any of those, it’s generally ramen, mac n’ cheese, cheese quesadillas or a PB&J. I very rarely plan lunches. This is something I will be working on in the coming year as I will be needing to start packing my son a lunch for school.
Breakfasts
I rarely eat breakfast. A morning cup of tea is generally enough to hold me over until lunch. On the days that I am hungry, I keep some oatmeal packets at work. When I do plan ahead for breakfasts, I might make a batch of pancakes or waffles to keep in the fridge or bring a yogurt to work with me. One of my favorite breakfasts to make is Baked Oatmeal. I add seasonal fruits and one pan will last me all week. This, again, will be something I am going to work on this next year as my son will be starting school next fall.
Snacks
Beef jerky is my friend when it comes to snacks. I also get these meat sticks from Paleovalley. In the summer, fresh fruit is a staple. Afternoons are when I get my serious sugar cravings- so there are days when the snack is gummy bears or M&Ms. It’s all about balance, right?
Prep Days
This is a goal of mine – to spend an hour on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and prepare foods or ingredients for the next week. This might look like:
- Bake a pan of muffins for a quick breakfast or snack
- Cut up carrots into sticks, and
- Make homemade Ranch dip for snacks
- Grill a batch of chicken strips for wraps or salads
- Bake a whole chicken – de-bone once cooked and you have shredded chicken to use and you can turn right around and make stock with the bones. Freeze the broth or use to make soup that week.
Freezer Meals
This is another goal – every couple months to take time and prepare some freezer meals to make life easier. For me, this would look like:
- Marinated chicken packs
- Calzones
- Hand pies
- Meatloaf
- Cottage Pie
- Quiche
- Shredded pork & rice (for enchilada filling)
- Stuffed shells
The idea is that the meal is already prepared and frozen, and all you need to do is stick it in the oven to bake. In the case of the marinated chicken packs, all you need to do is defrost and they are ready to grill or bake.
Takeaway
Meal planning doesn’t strictly have to be done one way. If you’ve tried it before and hated it or it didn’t work with your lifestyle, maybe try it again. Try something new and see if it works. If not, try a different way. I have attached a pdf below of the planning sheet I used in the example above. I hope you find it helpful. ❤️
Meal Planning Sheet (443KB ∙ PDF file)
If you thought I was a lady that had her cooking stuff together, this is the post that will change your mind, LOL. As I was writing it I realized exactly how not put together my meal planning is. Umm, I don’t eat breakfast? Don’t really plan for lunch? This next year is really going to challenge me to plan better and be more prepared- as I’ve mentioned a few times, my son will start going to school next fall. But be all of this as it may, I’m not going to let my apparent disorganization stop me from publishing this post. I’m writing this for the ladies out there who are just as, or more, disorganized than I am who need some help figuring out how to meal plan.
I am also considering doing a video walkthrough of my process so I can better explain how I put it together. Would you find that helpful? Let me know if you would and I’ll make some space to get that done. 😊
Until next time,
Ariel
