Posted on September 2, 2010 - by Megan
Weekly Meal Planning Made Easy: 5 Success Strategies
Do find yourself staring blankly inside your fridge at 5 p.m. each night, wondering what in the world you’re going to make for dinner? This has happened to all of us more times than we can count. We know intuitively that we need a plan if we are going to eat together as a family and stay on a reasonable grocery budget, yet many of us feel paralyzed when we think about making one.
As we’ve gotten back in to the school routine, I’ve been more vigilant about approaching mealtimes with a strategy. Every Saturday morning, I sit down and plan my meals for the week, making a corresponding grocery list. The menu goes on post-it notes up on the calendar on our fridge. This way, I know exactly what we’re having each day. Here are a few things that help me succeed:
Keep a list of meals
One of the hardest parts of planning is figuring out what to make. We either draw a blank and can’t think of anything, or pour over cookbooks and magazines until we are swimming in ideas. As an alternative, I keep a list on the side of my fridge with tried-and-true meals I know my family enjoys. Every so often, I try something new and add it to the list, but most often I make my meal plan from the existing list. I now have about 25 dinners listed, so I can easily rotate through many options.
Plan meals in coordination with evening activities
There’s no point in planning to make a roast chicken that must cook for an hour and a half when you know you won’t get home from karate until 6:00. (This would have you eating at 7:30 p.m.) On days like these, I try to plan ahead and make something, like soup, earlier in the day. This way, dinner will be ready for us when we get home. All I have to do is warm up some bread when we get home.
Additionally, I know that I am just plain sick and tired of cooking by Friday. It’s the last thing I want to do, so this is our night to eat out as a family. On Saturday and Sunday, I want something easy, like breakfast-for-dinner or healthy frozen pizza and salad. It’s critical to consider your schedule and your energy level as you plan.
Shop once a week
As I mentioned above, I shop once a week. After making my meal plan, I create a grocery list divided up into shopping categories: Produce, Frozen, Dairy, Dry, etc. This makes shopping MUCH faster and helps ensure I don’t forget anything at the store. As I make my list, I go meal by meal, writing down everything I need for each night of the week. I also think through breakfast, lunches, and snacks. Believe it or not, this only takes me about 15-20 minutes, including planning the meals. I also save a ton of time and money not running back and forth to the store all week.
Don’t get too ambitious
Weeknight meals are not the time to be too adventurous. Save that for weekends or special occasions. Most importantly, don’t put pressure on yourself to be too creative or do too much. Keep it simple and healthy, and stick with what you know.
To that point, I build in one leftover night during the week, usually on Thursdays. I intentionally make more than we’ll need on the other nights so those meals can do double-duty for Leftover Night and lunches for Joel and me.
Plan out the whole evening, not just dinner
Our afternoon schedule is tight. We get home at about 3:45 from school, and the kids need to be in bed by 7:30. These are the fastest hours of my day. We have to do homework, play, take baths, have dinner, read a story, say prayers, etc. I’ve found that I need to start my afternoon with the end (7:30 in our case) in mind. I encourage you to map out a standard schedule for your afternoon/evenings and post it on the fridge. It’s also helpful to enlist your husband and kids in this as well.
Here’s an example of afternoon routine:
3:45 Home from school, unpack backpacks and lunch boxes
4:00 Snack
4:30 Homework
5:00 Playtime/Megan starts dinner
5:30 Kids shower,put jammies on, lay clothes out for tomorrow
6:00 Dinner
6:45 Kids floss and brush teeth, read story together
7:15 Say Prayers
7:30 Bed
What helps you get dinner on the table every night?
9 Comments
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02. Sep, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Joel J. Miller and Megan Hyatt Miller, cathylynnl. cathylynnl said: RT @MegHMiller: Weekly meal planning can be overwhelming. Check out my 5 tips to make planning easy. New post: http://bit.ly/czJ6lD [...]
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My name is Megan Hyatt Miller. I'm a little Emmilou Harris, a little Bonnie Rait, and a dash of Paula Dean—mostly because I identify with her unbridled use of butter and ample hips. I am passionate about living and telling a good story. I'm a wife, a stepmom and and an adoptive mom. I am passionate about adoption, racial reconciliation, and creating beauty and a sense belonging for those I love. To learn more, click here. Thanks for stopping by.
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September 2, 2010
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karen miller said:
Thansks for sharing. I too make a weekly plan, especially now that I am dieting and back working part time. Since there are just 2 of us, I take advantage of cooking one night for two. I like your list idea of sorting by type – haven’t tried that yet.
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September 2, 2010
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Holly said:
There are quite a few things I do to help the work to dinner transition (we get home at 5:15 and have the kids in bed by 7:30…too fast!!)
1. I have a backup meal or two planned. It may just be pancakes and frozen fruit or a peanut butter and banana sandwich, but that way if we get stuck in traffic and I lost my 30 minutes to cook I can get dinner on the table in 5 minutes and get back on schedule.
2. I also plan meals based on when the fruit or veggies will go bad…more sensitive foods closer to when I get grocery shopping done.
3. I plan very simple. Often a meat + fresh fruit salad and raw veggies. The less cooking, the less dishes, less time.
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September 2, 2010
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Megan said:
Holly, I love these ideas. I’m going to incorporate them into our routine. The back-up meal ideal is genius.
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September 3, 2010
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Ally said:
My best friend, a mom of 3 under 6 & wife, taught me her secret to meal planning last year. She started this after the birth of her 1st child 5 years ago. She plans 6 weeks of menus & grocery lists and rotates them, tweaking them once per quarter to add in new recipes & to suit the season (more stews in Fall, fresh veggies & lighter meals in Summer, etc). She clips coupons, but only for items she regularly buys & shops at places like Aldi & Walmart to keep costs down. Because she plans 6 weeks of menus you never eat the same dinner so close together that you get sick of it. Like you, their family eats out about once per week plus her church has Wednesday Night suppers weekly, so that helps!
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September 3, 2010
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Ally said:
Forgot to mention her best tip that i now use. She makes 1 casserole (lasagna, cheesy chicken & rice casserole, etc) each Sat or Sun for a weeknight meal. Easy to just pop in the oven & pair it w/ a simple salad. She also bakes 1 pie or cake for the week as well, but most of us aren’t dying to emulate June Cleaver like she does lol.
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September 3, 2010
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Gail Hyatt said:
The one that struck me was:
Plan the whole evening, not just dinner.
Fabulous!
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September 6, 2010
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KKSorrell said:
Loved this post! I make the weekly list, also, and it not only helps us schedule-wise, but also financially! Since I make my grocery list based on my menu, I am less likely to impulse buy!
I always want to make a good hot meal – no one pressures me to do so, but I just feel like “a good mom/wife does that” but I am trying to simplify like soup and grilled cheese nights. We always have a few frozen pizzas on hand, just like you!
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September 12, 2010
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Abby said:
This is AWESOME smart lady!!!!!!! I love it and can see that someday we will be on a similar schedule with kids. Will has been reading a book called Lights Out–all about the importance of sleep and we work to get in bed by 8pm–to read and then sleep. In order to make this happen we have already gotten on a schedule for ourselves….it will only get better when kiddos come along for the ride.
Your blog is full of so many fabulous posts!!!!!!!