“Mom, what’s for dinner tonight?”
I cringed every time my kids asked me this question. My response was usually an impatient, “I don’t know yet – stop asking me!” It shouldn’t have surprised me – inconvenient as it was – my family seemed to need to eat every single day, multiple times a day! Simple meal planning has been the answer.
In Fall of 2015 I decided to start a simple meal planning routine for newbies (like me). These posts are how I got started meal planning by just putting down on paper what we were already doing for our daily dinners.
There is nothing extravagant or elaborate about our meal planning process. Our meals are also simple and repeated weekly or biweekly. That’s okay with our family in the stage that we are in. We are all about uncomplicated and full bellies.
The Benefits of Meal Planning
We’ve found that this simple meal planning process HAS actually benefited us. Here are the benefits we’ve experienced:
- We have stopped eating out.
- We have saved money (see above! )
- We are more peaceful.
Meal Planning for Beginners (like me) Series:
- Meal Planning for Beginners
- Stress Free Meal Planning for Beginners: Finding What Works for You
- Stress Free Meal Planning for the Busy Family
- Meal Planning Ideas: One Chicken, Three Meals
- Free Menu Planning Printables
Meal Planning and Your Pantry Staples
Something I didn’t know before we started meal planning is how important it is to actually know what your family’s essential pantry staples are. When you know your pantry staples, you can whip up a quick dinner in a stress free jiffy.
Knowing your family’s pantry staples also helps make grocery shopping easy and stress free as well.
- 3 Steps to Know Your Essential Pantry Staples
- Our 10 Essential Pantry Staples (with a Free Printable!)
- Meal Planning from the Pantry
Give it a Try!
Using the simple process outlined above, meal planning doesn’t have to take longer than 5 minutes if you’re planning weekly like I usually do.
If you are not meal planning at all, try planning 2 meals for the week. If you’re already planning for 2-3 meals a week, try planning for the weekdays only (which are always more hectic around here). Take it in small steps as you’re building the habit of planning your meals.
The benefit of meal planning is that when 5pm rolls around and my kids want to know what’s for dinner, they don’t ask me anymore. They look up on the refrigerator and read from our weekly meal planner. Ahhh…
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I honestly don’t know how people get by without meal planning. I know it takes a little time upfront, but I’m often so frazzled by the end of the day, I don’t know I’d ever manage to make supper happen if I didn’t have a plan. I hope this series is winning lots of people over to the menu-planning side!
Me too Abby! I never thought I’d be a meal planning mom but it’s happened! Baby steps was definitely helpful – and keeping it simple.
LOL!! I often think….”you’re hungry, didn’t I just feed you yesterday?!” Meal planning is so great! Sometimes I just turn it around and ask them what they want for dinner. No thinking on my part! (But that usually means we’re eating pizza or tacos)! 😉
Hi Laura! You are so right! My kids could eat tacos or pizza any night of the week!
Getting into the habit of meal planning is one of the best things I did when my husband and I first got married. It does take some time in the beginning, but it saves time in the long run. As you noted, it does save a lot of money and bring peace to the house!
Absolutely Shannon. That’s so wonderful that you started that when you first got married! I’m sure it’s second nature to you now.
I’m a big fan of meal planning. If I don’t plan, we have the tendency to eat out which costs a small fortune, especially with a teen who eats more than his dad and I combined these days. Thanks for sharing, these printables look great!
I love your suggestion for beginners to start meal planning just a few meals at a time! Now that I’ve been meal planning for a few years, I agree that I can’t imagine doing it any other way. However, it can be intimidating to get started! I think that would feel much more doable and would already start saving time, stress, & money 🙂
Love your blog. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks you Brennan! It does make a difference to start small until it’s a habit!
I’ve always thought meal planning was way more complicated than this. I’m just starting out (and it probably won’t actually start until after New Year’s as we’re going on vacation), but I’m pleasantly surprised with how simple this actually is. Yay!
I’m so glad Emily! Meal planning has made life simpler for sure!
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