So, you hate meal planning…
I hear you!!
Spending your precious little free time, using your brain and planning, kind of sucks…
BUT, the trade off is worth it. Those 20 dollars you spend going to the grocery store for that “thing” you need to make the meal that you didn’t plan for, really adds up! When you buy ONLY what you NEED, you save SERIOUS money!
As for time, how much time do you spend thinking about what you are going to feed the family? I’ll bet you spend at least 10 minutes a day trying to figure out what to feed the hangry people in your life. What if you could cut that down SIGNIFICANTLY?
You can! So, Here are 5 SIMPLE steps to meal plan in under 15 minutes.
Grab a coffee and let’s do this!
Step 1
Decide what meal you want to focus on. Most of us think about dinner when planning our meals, but breakfast and lunch can be just as sticky.
If you find yourself skipping breakfast, and then snapping at the kids because you haven’t eaten all day, breakfast may be a good place to start.
On the contrary, maybe you work and the kids go to daycare so you have a hungry family to feed at 5pm.
The purpose of picking 1 meal at a time, is to focus your attention completely for a set amount of time and breeze through it, which leads me to…
Step 2
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Have you heard of Parkinson’s Law? It basically states that work will expand to fill the time you give it.
If you have no limit, your meal planning could go on forever!! Just kidding… but not?
Step 3
Take a peek in your fridge and freezer for items that need to be used up. I’m talking produce and meats. If there are a lot of items, quickly jot them down.
Step 4
Make a master list of all of the meals your family loves for the chosen meal. Keep this somewhere accessible and add to it as the weeks go on.
I have a running list on my computer, but I like to keep a copy on my fridge calendar as well (link below.)
Step 5
Use your master list to fill in the week, using the perishable food you currently have in your fridge, then search for 1 or 2 new recipes. I recommend choosing only 1 or 2 new recipes each week to avoid the overwhelm, but also to ensure you don’t buy ingredients that go to waste when you decide you don’t feel like trying that millet bowl that sounded oh so good at the beginning of the week.
*NOTE: There are 2 ways to organize your week.
Option 1: Write the meals out in the order you want to make and eat them in. This makes decisions super easy, and helps you to avoid food waste (you know, when you forget about the mushrooms you bought for that millet bowl,) but does take some of the flexibility away.
Option 2: Write all of the meals you have the groceries for, down on a sheet of paper and pick and choose based on what you are feeling like making, as well as how much time you have available, each day. This provides flexibility but does require extra thought throughout the week.
There is no right or wrong way to meal plan as long as it gets the job done for you!!
Step 6
Make a grocery list based on the recipes you have chosen and what you currently have in your fridge freezer and pantry. Bonus points for creating the list directly in your grocery app. How amazing is it to NOT shop with little kiddos?!
Step 7
Repeat the process for the other 3 meals if you have the gumption to do so. This can also be spread over a couple days to ease the sting of free time “waste” (you will be so glad you planned when the wheels are falling off, you’re not feeling creative and you’re ready to feed the family chicken nuggets for the 4th time this week…)
-Hey! There is nothing wrong with chicken nuggets hehe
*NOTE: I typically choose:
6 dinner recipes to leave room for unexpected dinner invites or take out days.
2-3 lunch recipes to leave room for leftovers and good ol’ sandwiches.
3-4 breakfast recipes since breaky is the one meal I rarely tire of.
Do YOU have any meal planning tips that you swear by? Share them down below in the comments.
This post is part of a larger series where we focus on one healthy lifestyle hack each month and learn new techniques to make it work for you! If this interests you, I’d love to have you back.
Thank you for being here with me. I appreciate it more than you know.
-xoxo Nikki