Life-Changing Meal Planning Ideas You Need Now

Life-Changing Meal Planning Ideas You Need Right Now

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How has summer only just started yet it feels like it’s already halfway over?? I think this happens every year and I really never notice it until we’re basically in August. This year, I’m truly savoring everything about summer: The sunshine, heat, hopefully getting to swim, hiking, meals with friends. I love it all! For those with children, summer can probably feel a little tumultuous with less routine. That means it’s the perfect time to start meal planning if you’re not already doing so. I began meal planning about 10 years ago and I’ve gone through different stages and variations of it. When I first started, I prepped all my meals for the work week on Sunday and put them all in containers. I’m slightly less rigid (because I just can’t eat the same thing three meals a day for five days!), but I still have a plan. I hope you’ll gain some inspiration from these meal planning ideas.

If you love this post, consider checking out some of my other content:

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EASY STEPS TO HELP YOU START A CRUNCHY LIFESTYLE

HOW TO AVOID ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS

THE BEST WAYS TO LIVE A CRUNCHY LIFESTYLE THIS SUMMER

Table of Contents

Why should you meal plan

If you are a more laidback, Type B personality like I am, you may not see the need to meal plan, and if that works for you, that’s great! One of my favorite Internet personalities, Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone, is pregnant with her 9^th child and doesn’t meal plan. Instead, she packs her kitchen full of wholesome ingredients and will make whatever she is in the mood to make. For her, it works really well. As laidback as I am, I prefer to have a plan. If I don’t have one, I tend to get a little loosey goosey with my meals and eat less healthy. If you are someone who is like that, a meal plan may be for you. Having a meal plan takes the guesswork out of cooking and helps you stay organized.

If this sounds like it may be beneficial to you, don’t worry, because I’ve got you covered with plenty of useful meal planning tips that you can easily fit into your weekly routines and rhythms. I use these tips for myself every week and they have been extremely beneficial. In fact, I have to give props to my husband who came up with our system we use, which you’ll learn more about as you read. Let’s get started!

Meal Planning Ideas

Plan how many meals to cook.

First on the list of meal planning tips is to decide how many meals you want to cook each week. Like I said, when I first started meal planning/prepping, I made an entire week’s worth of meals in one day. Not only was it a lot of work, but I also got burnt out having to eat the same thing every day. This led to a significant amount of food waste because I would end up buying takeout or eating out due to the boredom of the meals I planned. However, my former system may sound really appealing to you. You might love the idea of cooking everything in one day and having it ready to go for the week. If so, go for it.

After my husband and I got married and moved in together, we realized we would need a system. What works for us is cooking dinners three nights per week, typically on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We eat leftovers the other nights and then one night, either Saturday or Sunday, we’ll do takeout and/or go out to dinner. Thus far, it has worked splendidly for us. It’s enough where I’m not cooking every night and I’m also not getting bored by eating the same food every day. Breakfast and lunch are on our own. Breakfast is usually sausage with fruit and something like pumpkin seeds or toast. Lunch is whatever I’m feeling. Sometimes I make an actual meal and sometimes I go light and just have a protein shake.

Take inventory of items and ingredients you already have.

Food waste happens so sneakily. You don’t remember that you already have cinnamon, and by the time October rolls around, you now have four bottles. Then again, that might not be a bad thing! Same thing with canned goods and even meat. When you store items away, it’s easy to forget they exist. I am so guilty of this. To avoid waste and help you meal plan better, take inventory of what you already have in your kitchen. You can try something like this pantry inventory or this editable Google Sheets kitchen inventory checklist. Keeping track of what all is in your kitchen will better help you with your meal planning routine.

Select Your Meals (Based on interests, deals, and your schedule).

The next of our meal planning ideas is to select your meals for the week. There are many ways you can go about selecting meals and it’s totally up to you! It’s important to eat wholesome, balanced meals, but nobody is forcing you to go on a diet and eat salads every day. Personally, I don’t like salads, so I rarely eat them. Instead, I plan meals that include foods I love, and I suggest you do the same. Planning foods because you feel you have to eat them is a sure-fire way to lead to food waste. If you’re new to meal planning and cooking, try one new meal that sounds delicious to you. If you end up loving it, add it into your rotation.

Another way to choose meals is to begin with items that may be on sale or cheaper and build out from there. Many times, stores will offer cheaper prices on meat bought in bulk. If you have ingredients in bulk, try to incorporate them into some of your meals. Another thing to consider is your schedule. I don’t have children, so cooking isn’t a time constraint. I can afford the time to make more elaborate meals in this season of life. If you have children, you might want to consider some one-pot, crockpot, or Instant Pot meals to help save time and dirty dishes.

Decide When and How Often to cook.

Depending on the number of meals you plan to cook, this will determine how often you cook. If you have a larger family, you may not have leftovers and may either need to cook every day or batch cook. If it’s just you or you and a significant other, you might be able to get away with cooking fewer meals. As I mentioned above, my husband and I typically cook three, sometimes four, meals per week, leaving every other day a leftover day. For us, this works great! You should also decide if breakfast and lunch will fit into your planning. Maybe making a breakfast casserole for the whole week appeals to you. You might also enjoy having ingredients on hand for sandwiches or salads during lunch.

Record your meal plan for the week.

Next on our list of meal planning ideas is to record your meal plan for the week, because it is way too easy to forget what you’re going to eat for the week. There are endless ways you can do this. You can keep it simple and write it down on a sheet of paper, or get a little techy and use Excel or a Word document. There are hundreds of templates on the Internet that are either free or inexpensive. My favorite is this meal planner from Knock Knock. Here are some other ideas you may want to consider.

Floral Weekly Meal Planner with Tear-Off Shopping List

Magnetic Weekly Meal Planner

Joyberg Weekly Undated Meal Planner

Shop around for the best prices.

Am I a weirdo for enjoying grocery shopping? Maybe, but I don’t care. It’s like therapy for me, as long as I can do it at times when it’s not a madhouse. I love making a list and physically going into a grocery store to shop. I really don’t have a desire to do a grocery pickup. However, I do like to shop around for the best prices online. This is one of my favorite meal planning ideas because, if you do it right, it can save you a good bit of money.

There are some things to be aware of, though. I personally “shop around” online through five or six different stores: Our commissary on base, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, King Soopers, Sprouts, and Natural Grocers. This sounds like a lot, but I rarely go to more than two stores each week. I’m picky about my meat and dairy, so I mostly am getting that from the latter two. Everything else on the list is up for grabs when it comes to stores. While you don’t have to shop across six different grocery stores, it’s still a good idea to look online and prices and add up your total. This will help you avoid sticker shock once you arrive at the register.

Determine when to grocery shop.

Next on the list of meal planning ideas it to decide when you’re going to grocery shop. I’m blessed to be able to do my grocery shopping in the morning on any day of my choosing. I avoid crowds this way, which makes grocery shopping much more enjoyable. In my many years of grocery shopping, I’ve noticed some patterns amongst stores. Typically, many will be fully stocked by Friday morning, due to the incoming weekend rush. When I worked full-time, I made it a priority to get in early on Friday to get what I needed. If I couldn’t on Friday, early Saturday morning was my next best option. This is my recommendation to you. By Sunday or Monday, the best items tend to be picked out. If you can get your grocery shopping done on Friday or Saturday before rush hour, do it! If those days don’t work out, it’s best to pick the same day each week and stick to it as best as possible.

Pick your food prep days.

Food prep can be done in a myriad of ways. As I mentioned before, you can prep for the entire week and have your meals ready to eat, or you can prep on multiple days. It really is up to what works best for you. If possible, you might want to consider prepping some of your ingredients over the weekend and storing them until you’re ready to use them. This is handy, especially if you’re planning a more elaborate meal. After you determine a sort of schedule for prepping food, stick to it as best as you can. Life happens, but it’s so much easier to keep to a schedule.

Consider buying items in bulk.

Buying in bulk is a great way to avoid the grocery store if you don’t like going. Buying in bulk also saves time and money. There are some items, like fresh produce and dairy, that this won’t work for (with the exception of block cheese), unless you are preserving them in some way. Otherwise, most other items are fair game for bulk purchasing. Some examples of bulk purchases include meat, grains, legumes, and canned items. Many of these store really well for a long time. Not only that, but you can typically buy organic options for a fraction of the price compared to their canned, smaller sized counterparts. Buying larger quantities of these items also ensures you always have ingredients on hand to make a quick meal if you run out of your planned meals.

Do some batch cooking to save time.

Next for our meal planning ideas is to do some batch cooking. Batch cooking is especially useful in the winter months, when soups and stews are popular. You don’t even need to know how to can to preserve them. When I lived alone, even cutting a soup recipe in half meant I’d have more than a week’s worth of meals. As I mentioned before, eating the same meal three or more nights in a row is not my idea of a good time. An easy thing to do is to make your recipe and set aside how much you plan to eat that week. Store whatever is left in individual containers and pop them into the freezer until you’re ready to enjoy them. Mason jars are one of my favorite crunchy ways to store food, and they freeze really well.

Use the same ingredients for multiple meals.

Last for our meal planning ideas is to try to use the same ingredients for multiple meals. This is advice best followed in the summer when fresh herbs and produce are plentiful. I don’t know about you, but I know that it’s rare I’ll use an entire bunch of cilantro or parsley for one meal. The same is true with foods like peppers, tomatoes, or other fresh herbs. If you plan to buy a (literal) bunch of cilantro, you may want to use at least two meals that take cilantro. One could be Mexican and one could be Asian. If I have peppers to use up, I’ll use some for a dinner recipe and throw the rest into a breakfast casserole. Use these ingredients as the stars of your weekly meals to help them stretch farther and not go to waste.