How to Make Meal Planning Easy

Meal planning makes a big difference when it comes to saving money and time. It can also reduce food waste and stress. Dining out or cooking a quick convenience meal is easy when you’re hungry. But it isn’t always the healthiest, and it can take a toll on your budget. It’s easy to prevent those last-minute runs for pizza or microwave dinners, with a little planning.

Meal planning isn’t as hard as you may think, once you create a system, it’ll take half an hour to an hour a week to put together a full meal plan. It’s great if you’re trying to eat healthily and save money. Through meal planning, you’ll waste less food because you’ll only be buying what you need. It’ll also take away the stress that comes with having nothing defrosted of planned for dinner. So if you’re new to meal planning, keep these tips in mind, and it’ll be a simple process that’ll save you time and money.

Keep it Simple

Establish a routine. Pick a day the week that’ll you’ll spend meal planning and creating a grocery list. Then pick a day that’ll you’ll go grocery shopping. For example, I create my meal plan and grocery list on Wednesdays after I get my sales ads in the mail. Then I go grocery shopping every Friday morning.

Keep your meals simple. Try to stick to meals that require a lot of ingredients or prep work. You’ll be more likely to stick to your meal plan if the meals you cook don’t require hours in the kitchen.

Stick to Themed Nights

Meal planning is a lot easier when you go with themed nights. Giving each night a theme takes the guesswork out of creating a meal plan for the week. It’ll save you a lot of time since you’ll have to think of a meal that fits the theme of the night. And, you don’t have to get too creative, it can be as simple as pasta night, slow cooker Monday, or Taco Tuesday.

Plan When You’ll Eat Out

There is nothing wrong with eating out, situations come up, and it makes more sense to eat out than cooking something at home. By creating a meal plan, you’re warding off mindlessly eating out and the toll it can take on your budget. Things don’t always go as planned, set aside an eat out fund for chaotic nights, and reduce the impact eating out has on your budget.

Eat Leftovers For Lunch

A great way to save time and break away from the typical sandwich for lunch is to cook extra food when you’re making dinner. Then taking those leftovers and having them for lunch. Most foods can be refrigerated overnight and heated up the next day for lunch. Things like leftover pasta, casserole, or lasagna make a delicious lunch.

Pay Attention to What’s in Season

When you’re creating a meal plan for the week, pay attention to what’s in season. It will not only save you money but allow you to enjoy locally grown produce that is rich in nutrients. Just focus on buying fruits and vegetables when they are in season, in season, and widely available.

Have a Plan B

Things don’t always go as plan. Some nights you might forget to thaw out an ingredient or forgot something on your grocery list. So have a backup plan before you order pizza. Keep one or more last-minute pantry for those nights when things don’t go according to plan. The ingredients should be able to stay in your kitchen for a few months without going bad. It can be something as simple as breakfast for dinner, ravioli, or fried rice.

Printable Meal Planner

To help make meal planning uncomplicated, I’ve included a free printable meal planner. Grab your free simple weekly meal planning printable here.

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