Meal Planning Simplified (A Life Simplified Post)

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The other day my friend was looking for help with food budgeting and meal plans. With two teenage boys and a 4 and 5 year old that eat like teenagers;  meal planning and staying within a food budget is a big deal for us so I sent my friend some suggestions about what’s been helpful for us.

There are all sorts of menu planning helps available online; MoneySavingMom for example, has weekly menu plans available which are great. But it can also be overwhelming to sort through so many tips, forms and general information. I think you can really keep things simple by just doing what works for you and your family.

I thought I would just post how I do our simple meals plans as it might be helpful to others looking who are also trying to simplify. So here’s what works for us:

1. Get a notebook or something you can use to keep track of grocery lists, menu ideas, etc. I’m a paper and pencil kind of girl so I use an actual notebook.

2.  Take inventory of what you already have-shop through your freezer, refrigerator, and pantry and make a list of what you have on hand; start there. This will keep foods from going bad and also will keep you from buying something you already have at home thus resulting in less waste and expense.

3. Make a list of potential meals based on what you have on hand. Have a whole chicken in the freezer? It can be roasted, put in the slow cooker or made into a delicious chicken soup. Come up with some options for what you have that your family enjoys.

4. Plug in meals for the week/month, whatever you’re comfortable with. Like I said, I’m a paper girl I use a paper calendar that’s part of my planner but you could do it on Google calendar, whatever is easier for you. I try to do at least 2 weeks at a time and aim for 4. I also use pencil in case something comes up and I need to make changes. So feel free to leave yourself some room in case plans change.

So for example maybe I just do one week at a time and let’s say I have on hand: in the freezer/refrigerator- ground beef, chicken breasts, shrimp, tortillas, cheese, mixed greens, and in the pantry- 2 boxes of pasta, bread, tomato soup, rice I could do something like: pasta with shrimp, tacos or quesadillas, baked chicken strips, grilled chicken salad with leftover chicken from the previous night’s dinner, grilled cheese and soup night, and one dinner out and that could be one week’s worth of dinners.

*I tend to keep breakfast and lunches pretty simple; cereal, waffles, fruit and sandwiches, etc. so mostly I plan for dinners. But you can adjust according to what works for your family. 

5. Make a list of what’s missing/what you need to get from the store to complete your meals.

6. Create your grocery list based on days/meals that you need to come up with. (for example veggies, additional items for salad, taco seasoning, etc. as well as any additional items you may need from the store (paper products, cleaning supplies, etc.).

7. Go grocery shopping-sign up for your store’s club card or do a quick search for coupons for items you use often. I mostly shop at Safeway/Pack N Save because it’s convenient and I can use our club card for additional savings. We also go to Costco once a month to stock up on items we use in bulk.

Longer term I suggest keeping a list of pantry staples that you can re-stock for simple meals. Mine includes:

Oils-Olive and Vegetable

Vinegars-Balsamic/Red Wine

Salt & Pepper

Spices

Canned tuna and beans

Chicken and Beef broth

Tomato paste and marinara sauce

Red/white cooking wine

Rice

Pasta

Flour

Sugar

Potatoes

Garlic & Onion

This is just a suggestion based on what’s worked for us; feel free to customize based on your own family’s preferences and budget.

How about you friends? What do you find helpful with meal planning? Would love to hear about any tips you might have to share.

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2 Comments

  1. I actually just threw out a bottle of toasted sesame oil and extra balsamic – ironically, I keep buying more of stuff since our pantry was so overfull I couldn’t see what we had. So I love your idea of starting with the freezer and going from there.

    1. I find it to be helpful. There have been to many times we’ve ended up with several bottles of random things just because we didn’t know if we already had them or not.

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