Meal Planning for Beginners

One of the biggest lessons that I've learned in my adult life is that I have to know what and when I'll be eating.  If I don't have a plan, and I get hungry....well, you better watch out! I get hangry.  This is where my meal planning comes in.  I started meal planning when I moved into my very first apartment at age 20.  My aunt had told me about it, so I decided to try it out.

Growing up, my mom did not meal plan.  She rarely went to the store with a list even.  She would walk down the aisles of the grocery store, putting things in the cart that she knew we would eat.  She must be the smartest woman alive, because I can think of maybe one or two recipes that I know by heart.  These were the times of no cell phones.  She couldn't look up recipes on Pinterest.  She couldn't even call home to see if someone could tell her what she wrote on the whiteboard on the fridge.

That was totally normal for me, though.  I knew nothing different.  But I was a little overwhelmed with going to class and making my own food.  I had been accustomed to someone else making my food for the last two years.  So when my aunt told me that she wrote out all her meals each week ahead of time, I knew that I needed to try it.

I literally started from scratch. I had several cookbooks, but Pinterest still wasn't thought of yet.  I had many recipes that I had collected from being in 4-H, and my mom was a wonderful cook, so she gave me some, too.  When I started this process, each week, there was a ginormous mess on my kitchen table.  Now that recipes are "digital," it takes up a little less room. ;)

 

Here is my process for planning my meals:

1. I gather up my family calendar, cookbooks, a pen, and a pad of paper.
2. I look through my calendar, making note of when we will be away from the house at meal times.  I also look to see if we will need an early supper or if my day will be so packed that I need to utilize my crockpot.
3. I will then write out my days and all of the meal slots for those days.  For example, I'll write Monday and underneath it, I'll label: Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, Snacks.  If Thursday night is Date Night and I know that I won't be cooking, I'll mark through it.
4. Then I will plan my meals accordingly.  I always try to incorporate at least one or two new recipes a week.  This allows us to try new foods and experiment a little bit.
5. After my plan is constructed, I will then make a list of all the ingredients I will need to make these meals.  I then go through my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to see if I have any of them first.  After I've taken inventory, I will make my "master list" that I organize by section of the store.  This allows for easy shopping.

There you have it!  There really isn't much to it.  It does take awhile for the first few times you plan.  However, the more you do it, the faster you get!

A couple other tips that I have are:

• Create a list of "go-to" meals that you know your family loves!  This will make it easy when you feel stumped or stuck.  A couple of those meals on my list are Taco Salad and Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce.
• Create a schedule of repetition.  I am a creature of habit, so most of the time, my breakfasts are the exact same thing all week long.  I'll change it up for the next week.
• Don't be afraid to use your crockpot in the summer.  I know that the most popular time to use it is in the fall and winter.  But I just hate my house being hot in the summer.  So pull it out and let it do the work for you!

For some more tips regarding meal planning, check out this video:

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