Meal Planning Tip #3 - Duel Purpose Meal Planning Sheet

Traditional meal planning sheets didn't work well for me because I have never had any interest in assigning meals to every day of a week. I just needed a list of what I had bought ingredients to make that week. But then I would forget to prep ingredients ahead of time or to start early enough on a harder meal. So, I decided on a compromise. It's not really complicated, but has helped me out SO MUCH! I just took a traditional meal planning list template and changed the shopping list area to a dinner list. Super simple, but changed everything for me. Now I didn't have a list of the meals I bought ingredients for in a separate place from a list of what I'm having what day. I don't like assigning meals a week a head, but I do like assigning them for the next day or two.

Here's an example of the list I'm currently using. It's temporarily drawn out with Frixion pens on a reusable notebook. Once I get a chance, it will be drawn with permanent markers so I can wipe it clean every week as I plan out new meals.

I write all the meals I bought food for on the right side of the page. As they get assigned to days, I mark them off. If for some reason we don't end up eating a meal on the assigned day, I rewrite it on the meal list. This also allows me to easily shop from stores more than once a week and just keep adding meals to the list as we get them. I can easily erase the week and keep using the same meal list until it gets to the end. Then I erase the first items, write whatever meals I have left up there, and erase the rest of the list. It's very easy to use it as a revolving list.

           

Meal Planning Tip #2 - Meal List

One thing that really helped me was creating a list of meals my family likes to eat. It's easy for me to get stuck cooking the same things over and over and forget things we used to eat. It's like we get in a rut for a little while, try some new things, and then get in a rut eating those over and over. I easily forget things we haven't made in a few weeks. Making a list of meals is a big help. 

One clarification, in our house, my kids make breakfast for themselves. I'm not a morning person and this helps me out a lot! I make sure they have plenty of healthy things to eat that they can make for themselves. Yes, this list includes cereal, but I only buy them the healthier ones. They each get a box a week and after that, they have to eat something else. So the breakfast list is just to help me make sure everything is in stock in our house. They know to eat one serving of a main dish, one fruit, one yogurt tube, and one protein (cottage cheese or sausage links) along with a glass of milk. About milk, yes there are a lot of choices listed! My kids that are growing like weeds drink whole milk, my kids who aren't growing much at the moment drink 2%, I drink soy, and one of my kids is lactose intolerant.

Here's a sample:

Breakfast: 

Cereal

Oatmeal

Grits

Cream of Wheat

Leftover French Toast, Pancakes, and Waffles

Yogurt Tubes

Sausage Links

Cottage Cheese

Milk (whole, 2%, Soy, and lactose free)

Meal Planning Tip #1 - Shop From Your Pantry First

Let me start by saying menu planning has been a big learning curve for me over the last 15 years and I by no means have this all figured out. But, I would like to share things I've learned over the years to hopefully help you as well.

I always used to get overwhelmed because the process felt like too many steps and I always got hung up on one. So I decided to just keep trying and every time I felt like I failed, look at where I got stuck, and troubleshoot that step. I have so many tips to share but I will start with this one today.

Look around your kitchen (and house?) to see what food you still have that you may have forgotten about. That random box of pasta, the few remaining potatoes, some meat in your freezer, etc. Then plan meals including those items first. Sometimes I realize I have almost everything I have for a meal and just need to buy a side item.