Are you constantly racking your brain each time you need to plan dinner? Do you end up aimlessly going up and down the aisle at the grocery store picking up random items you think you may use only to have to throw them out at the end of the week? Or do you frequently need to pop up to the shops because you don’t have all the ingredients you need for dinner that night? The struggle is definitely real but with a few simple meal plan tips you’ll not only save your sanity but your budget too.
STEP 1: Preplanning is key
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” this couldn’t be further from the truth if you don’t carve out some time to pre-plan. Some of these things you’ll only have to do once so it’s well worth investing your time upfront to save a lot of meal angst later.
Firstly, have a rough schedule of meals, as a weekly guide, I usually go with:
- x2 chicken dishes
- x1 red meat dish
- x1 vegetarian dish
- x1 seafood dish
- x1 new recipe/kid’s choice and
- x1 takeaway
This gives me a starting point that I can then add too with certain recipes.
Secondly, make a list of your family’s favourite meals. My kids absolutely love pasta so Italian is a firm favourite in our house. Once you have your list you can keep these favourite recipes on rotation so you’re not constantly reinventing the wheel at dinner time.
Click here to download my free FAVOURITE FAMILY MEALS TEMPLATE.
Finally, keep your recipes in order. Having your recipes categorized and centrally located is going to save you precious time when preparing meals. Whether you prefer paper or online there are plenty of ways to keep your recipes organised. You can find thousands of meal ideas on sites like Tasty and Taste which will digitally keep your recipes in specified folders. If you prefer hard copies, put together a recipe folder with divider tabs that work for your family for example, Chicken, Seafood, Mexican, Asian or Italian – whatever works for you. If you have recipes in numerous books take a photocopy or rewrite it using my RECIPE TEMPLATE and put them in your recipe folder, that way you’re not flipping through countless pages or scratching your head trying to remember which book a recipe is in.
Once you have your recipes planned for the week it’s time to start your shopping list.
STEP 2: Preparing your shopping list
A shopping list is the holy grail for successful meal planning whether you shop online or instore having a shopping list is going to save you time, reduce food waste and keep your food budget on track. Below are my top tips for preparing your shopping list.
Tip 1: Make sure you keep your shopping list notepad handy. I keep mine in a drawer in the kitchen, others may like to have a magnetic list on the fridge or a chalk board/white board, whatever your method keep your list in the kitchen so when you run out of an item you can easily jot it down rather than trying to keep it in your brain for a week only to forget when it comes time to shop.
Download my free SHOPPING LIST TEMPLATE.
Tip 2: Give your pantry and fridge a once over and see what you’re running low on or what items you already have in backstock.
Tip 3: Keep a list of items you know you buy every week such as bread, milk, fruit, veg etc. I shop online and have a saved list of my frequent items that I can simply add to my cart each week. If you prefer to shop instore have a master copy of frequent items that you can carry with your shopping list. There’s been so many times I’ve been preoccupied both shopping online and instore where I’ve forgotten a major item and I’ve kicked myself when I’ve realised, I’ll need to make an extra trip to the shops.
Tip 4: If you’re on a tight budget, make sure you look up the weekly specials and add those items to your shopping list. Vegetarian/plant-based meals are not only nutritious but also budget friendly as well so consider adding an extra meat free meal to your plan.
Bonus Tip: Make meal planning part of your weekly routine. For me shopping online I know I need to wait 24/48 hours before there is a window to click and collect. We generally start running out of food on a Friday, so I know on Wednesday I need to organise my shopping list and put my order in. I literally put in my weekly calendar ‘order groceries’ every Wednesday. Pick a day each week that works for you and stick to it. Also, when planning out your recipes think about your weekly routine. For me I don’t work on a Wednesday so meals that take a little longer to prepare work well on this day, whereas Thursday both kids have after school activities, so I need to pick something quick and easy. Need some more inspiration? Check out the recipe section of my blog.
