“What’s for dinner?”
Is probably the question that I get asked the most.
How annoyed I get (interally of course!) at being asked that question for the millionth time, usually depends on whether there is an actual plan for dinner or not.
If there isn’t a plan – the question usually completely stresses me out.
Thankfully, there usually is a plan, and making a weekly plan is now just part of my routine that I don’t stress about too much.
If you are currently one of the people who at 5pm have no idea what to make for food and end up getting a takeaway or just eating something you don’t really want a little bit too often – then you need a meal plan.
It doesn’t have to be overly-complicated.
It just needs to work for you and your family.
Why we need to meal plan
Meal planning, as boring as it may sound – really helps our stress levels.
Not knowing what to make for dinner and it’s nearly dinner time, and nothing is defrosted and all you have is ingredients – is the most stressful thing.
Especially when everyone is hungry.
Having a meal plan that actually fits around our life reduces our stress levels even more.
Planning a never-cooked before fancy meal for a Tuesday night, which is also the evening everyone has swimming lessons is just never going to work.
But checking your calendar and seeing that Tuesday is swim night, and planning a quick and easy meal or something that can be chucked in the slow cooker in the morning ready for Tuesday evening just makes life a little bit easier.
Meal planning helps us budget
Having a meal plan allows us to buy the ingredients that we actually need which will help us save money.
It also helps us to stop doubling up on ingredients that we already have, if we check the cupboard quickly to see if we have the ingredients we need before making out shopping list.
Not having to go and get a takeaway because there is nothing in the house for food is also going to help you save some money!
What is the best way to do meal planning?
Meal planning needs to be simple.
Especially if you are a busy mum, nobody has time for complicated and elaborate meal plans.
There are lots of different ways that we can meal plan:
- fun themed meal plans (e.g. meat-free Monday, taco Tuesday, slow cooker Wednesday etc)
- protein themed meal plans (e.g. meat-free Monday, chicken Tuesday, beef Wednesday etc)
- repeating 4/6/8 week meal plan
- Just planning week by week
- Planning a month at a time
There is no right or wrong way to meal plan, it’s whatever works best for you.
How to make meal planning simple
Decide when you are going to do it
I personally think that setting a little bit of time aside every week works best.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t plan for longer periods of time if that works for you.
I really enjoy planning for a month at a time.
Even though I plan a month at a time, I still plan weekly.
For example, at the beginning of the month I will make a plan for the month using the themes that work for our family (I will get to that later).
Then on a Sunday morning (usually), I have a look at what our week is looking like and adjust our meal plan if I need to.
It’s very unlikely that if you are planning for long periods of time, that nothing will have changed by the time that date comes around.
Maybe you’ve decided you are going out for dinner or you have been invited somewhere for food.
Or maybe, you are planning a takeaway Friday night because it’s a really busy day that day.
The point of a meal plan is to give you a rough plan, and then you can tweak it and make it fit your life.
I think it’s why meal plans that personal trainers etc sell never work, because life just doesn’t happen perfectly.
Having to change your plan for the week doesn’t meal your meal plan is failing – it means it is working for you.
Which is kinda the point.
Have a go-to list of family favourites
I have a list of meals saved in my food, and then when I am stuck on what to make for food I just scan it quickly and chose something from that list.
They aren’t complicated or fancy dishes – they are the simple meals that we all like (well most of us!).
Having that list ready makes it easier when meal planning.
You don’t have to have all new recipes every week.
Set up a new note on your phone or a new page in your notebook and make a list of meals that are go-to’s for your family.
You can keep adding to it.
Then when you are meal planning, pick 4-5 recipes from that list.
Then add in a new recipe to mix things up a bit.
You can always add those new recipes to your list if they turn out to be a favourite!
I’ve also got a list where I add new recipes that I have tried to it, they are the ones I have to follow a recipe for so aren’t quite as easy but they are ones we all enjoyed and want to eat again.
I try to add one of those into the week as well.
Use a theme to make meal planning easier
Having a theme for each day of the week can make meal planning a bit simpler.
Instead of re-inventing the wheel every time you make a new meal plan, you can follow a loose template to help you.
It doesn’t have to be rigid, if on a Monday you said it was going to be meat-free but then actually have chicken – it doesn’t matter.
It’s just there to guide you when planning.
How you theme your weeks is completely up you and what makes the most sense for your family.
You could create it by protein type, meal type, cooking method type, culture type.
Or just make a bit of a mix.
Which is what I tend to do.
If you are stuck there are lots of ideas on pinterest and google!
Remember leftovers
Leftovers are under-rated.
In our home, leftovers either get used for lunch the next day or I will blend them up for Anest’s blended meals.
Something that I do sometimes which is helpful, is purposefully double a recipe, so that we can have the same thing the next day – with a twist.
So if I am making a curry, I will sometimes double the recipe and the next day we will have the leftover curry with a jacket potato for dinner.
Doubling recipes makes stocking up on blended food a lot easier as well, you don’t have to block out time just to batch-cook, and it also means you get a bit more of a variety of blended food which is important for nutrients!
You are allowed to plan in leftovers as meals.
My meal planning theme & method
The way that I do our meal planning is at the end of the month/beginning of the month depending on how organised I am I make a meal plan for the month.
I do it on Notion.
Then every week, usually a Sunday morning – I do a quick glance over our week and double check that the meals I planned still fit what is happening in our week and tweak them if necessary.
Then at the same time I will do our Tesco grocery order ready to be delivered on the Monday so that I have everything I need for food for the week ahead.
It doesn’t always work out, but the themes I tend to follow are:
Monday – Pasta night (or if we had a roast dinner on the Sunday we tend to have the leftover meat with chips, some veg and gravy)
Tuesday – New Recipe
Wednesday – Very Quick and very Easy
Thursday – A new recipe that we enjoyed/Slow cooker meal
Friday – Curry or we get a takeaway
Saturday – Quick and Easy/Family favourite
Sunday – A roast dinner or a comfort meal like cottage pie etc
Some weeks it looks exactly like that, other times it doesn’t.
If we have an appointment heavy week, it tends to be more quick and easy or slow cooker meals than anything.
Having a plan in place does make everything run a lot smoother and takes away a lot of stress.
Do you meal plan? What does your meal planning system look like?
Let me know in the comments!
Beth x
