Meal Planning Made Simple

Hey there.

I’m Hope. I love to cook DELICIOUS food and spend time crafting, exploring the outdoors, taking pictures, and enjoying time with friends and family. Check out the rest of the blog to navigate through easy and healthy recipes, along with motherhood  and parenting content.

So, topic today is MEAL PLANNING. Ugh. I know, sounds boring.

BUT, it doesn’t have to BE and it does not have to be hard. It is a game changer with helping organize meals for the week so you don’t get in the rut of staring at the pantry or in the refrigerator, hoping something pops out.

I use a few easy tricks to plan meals and I wanted to share them with you.

Let’s get to it.

1. Designate one day a week to consistently plan meals/grocery lists. When you get in the habit of planning meals once weekly, it becomes second nature. I usually spend 10-20 minutes planning the meals and making a grocery list on Saturday and then grocery shop on Sunday. Easy peasy.
2. Plan 5-6 meals to make for dinners for the week and options for lunches
   • I personally prefer to have 5 weekday dinners set but not necessarily the day, depending on what we are craving that day.
   • I’ve learned to plan for what we typically eat, just so we don’t waste produce. For us, I plan on having enough for lunches and 5-6 dinners and extra frozen food in case we stay in, but we like to have flexibility if we eat with friends or family or go out to eat.
   • I usually cook a big meal on Sunday afternoon or evening, which always has left overs to start the week with. I also typically also try to make extra roasted vegetables or have vegetables ready for salads and a big pot of lentils, quinoa or pasta that can be thrown together for a quick meal or eaten as lunch.

I keep the meals varied – every week I try to include one of these types of dishes:

1. One night I’ll make a Mexican dish – tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, nachos, or quesadillas
2. One night I’ll make an Italian dish – vegetarian lasagna, linguine with vegetables, spaghetti, chicken parmesan, baked pasta, fetticini alfredo
3. One night I’ll make an easy chicken dish – oven baked chicken, breaded chicken, barbeque chicken, chicken wings etc
4. One night I’ll make a not otherwise categorized dish that are just our favorite random dishes– loaded baked potato bar, grilled salmon, salad bar, some type of sandwich (turkey burgers/ veggies burgers/ grilled cheese etc) a tasty ethnic dish (pad thai, ramen, sushi etc) or a second Mexican or Italian dish if we are craving that and I have the supplies.
5. Homemade pizza or frozen pizza (yes, frozen pizza is a GREAT go to after a long day at work and I have NO shame admitting that! I like California pizza kitchen, Newman’s own, and also the simple truth brand of pizzas). It is also so quick to use fast rising yeast or pizza yeast and make from scratch, layer with sauce, mozzarella and your favorite toppings.
6. During the fall and winter, I do soup usually once a week as well but not as often in the summer

If you haven’t already, I suggest investing in a good amount of glass or microwave safe containers and locate their lids for easy food prep. It makes all the difference!

Pyrex Simply Store Glass Rectangular and Round Food Container Set (18-Piece, BPA-free)

I hope these tips come in handy. What helps you guys meal plan? Any tricks you guys use?  Note: The link above is an affiliate link to Amazon.

As always, happy cooking! ❤ Hope Look me up on instagram and facebook —-> nonstopmomlife