Meal Planning: 2 Different Ways

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

I shared earlier this year about how I was trying out meal planning one month in advance. While I was excited at the get go, that soon petered out. That method might work well for some people, but it didn’t really work for me.

I found another method that I love and have been using for the last few months (proof that it is sustainable!).

Method 1:

1) Chose one day a week to be your meal planning day. For me, that’s Monday.

2) Take a notebook, go through your fridge, freezer, and pantry and write down the items that need to be
used ASAP (e.g. food nearing its expiration date).

3) Next, look over your schedule for the week and see what you have planned each day. For example, when
I have a midwife appointment, Kris and I have to leave just minutes after he gets home, so I pack something
for the road that’s not messy (usually sandwiches and veggies).

4) Then plan your meals around the food that needs to be eaten - if you have a bag of potatoes that are
starting to sprout, make roasted potatoes for tonight’s dinner.

5) And finally, because I am super forgetful, I make a checklist of things I need to do the day before to prepare
for each meal (take meat out of the freezer, soak beans, etc.)

And Method 2 (this can totally be combined with the first method. I eventually want to get to the point where
I’m doing that!):

1) Take each day of the week and assign a dish or cuisine to each day. For example, Monday could be
baked potatoes, Tuesday tacos, Wednesday Italian, etc. You can be specific (hamburgers) or general (rice, Mexican,
etc.)

2) Write out variations for each day. This helps you not make the same food every week and also gives
you inspiration for those days when you don’t feel very creative. On baked potato day, write out potatoes
with chili, taco toppings, butter and spices, or broccoli and cheese sauce. Or for taco day - w/ refried beans,
with chicken/beef/fish, or burritos.

3) And if you’re wanting to expand your repertoire of meals and recipes, add one day each week where
you try a new recipe or style of food.

With any method of meal planning, I like to have at least one leftover meal per week - for us, it’s usually Sundays.

I stick to my menu about 50% of the time - sometimes there are plenty of leftovers, or my husband wants
to cook something different (he’s a master griller and Instant Pot chef!), or I just don’t feel like cooking what
I had planned. I love the structure of knowing what’s for dinner and the flexibility to know I can change it
whenever I want. :-)