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The words ‘meal planning’ can strike fear into the heart of some, but believe me when I tell you, you probably need one. Meal plans save money, time and waste, so lets have a go at creating a meal plan, including my free printable!
For years, I’ve made meals with some sort of plan.
At times, I’ve planned every meal in a day, plus snacks, and at others, I’ve had a loose plan for each dinner in a week and a ‘fend for yourself’ policy for the rest (ever tried regulating what 3 teenage boys eat in a day??)
The Importance of Meal Planning
I have found, that the less we plan, the more we spend and the more we throw out.
Now part of living the homestead/smallholding lifestyle is reducing waste and making the most of everything we have. This includes food, so that much waste is not an option.
Food Waste
According to Business Food Waste, the UK throws away around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in a single year!
Worldwide, it’s over 1/3 of all food.
Yet there are people starving. It just doesn’t make sense.
Now I’m not here to say that you eating a full plate of food is going to change the world, but we can all be doing our part to lessen this obscene number!
Creating a meal plan – saving money
Even if you don’t live a homestead, cooking from scratch lifestyle, I’m sure we could all do with saving some money right now!
Because you only buy what you know you need, you don’t spend on things you don’t. It’s that simple.
I don’t know about you, but if I shop without a list, I buy all SORTS of stuff I don’t need, just because I fancy it, or it’s on offer.
So the more trips to the grocery store you make, the more things you’ll ‘just grab’. This soon adds up, and you don’t know where all of your money has gone!!
We have taken this to the extreme and shop once a month. If we need fresh fruit and veg, we go to the green grocers on the high street that only sell fruit and veg.
We have compared with our weekly shop method and it has honestly saved us over £300 a month.
Now you don’t have to do that, this is just an example of how one hard day a month (shopping, prepping, freezing, storing) saves us a LOT of money.
Reasons to meal plan:
- Easy to plan ahead to thaw meat etc
- Everyone knows what is for dinner – no more ‘mum, what’s for tea?’
- Can easily be swapped around if you don’t fancy what’s down for that night
- You can plan a varied diet over the week for optimum nutrition
- You know exactly what you need from the store
How to create a meal plan
I tend to break this down into 3 sections:
Check, plan, list.
- Check – I check what I have in the freezer and cupboards that I haven’t used up yet, such as meat, potatoes, veg, dairy that’s near it’s end. Then I decide how I can use these in the first few days to reduce waste.
- Plan – I start with the days that I know are difficult, or regularly themed. For us, a Thursday is a busy day, so something quick and easy like chicken and rice in the Instant Pot works well. Saturday is homemade takeaway night, so burgers or pizza are easy to fill in. Lastly we usually have some sort of roast dinner so that goes in straight away. From there it’s easy to fill in the rest from my dinner list on my phone
- List – Create a shopping list from the meals on the plan. This includes checking if we need anything like toiletries and laundry products. I check the pantry and cupboards to check if I need any more of our staple ingredients, but I try to have spares in the house , so if I get one out of the pantry, I put it on the list to replace that.
Tips and tricks
Have a list in a prominent place where the family can see it. That way, everyone can see what’s for tea that day! (this is particularly helpful to teens)
Keep a copy on your phone, so that you can quickly glance at it if you are out. This saves the dread when you get home and have no idea what you were having!
Have small alternatives that you can add for picky eaters, for instance, the same main, but different sides for those you know won’t eat. (Fajita chicken and rice, or tortilla chips for those who don’t like rice. Easy swap, saves the dinner power struggle)
Keep a running list of all your family’s favourite meals on the notes app on your phone, that way you don’t have to think every single week ‘wait, what do we like to eat again…?’ (again, ask me how I know…
This is a small section of mine. Believe me, it helps no end when I cannot think of a single thing we like to eat!!! It happens..
And remember, simple meals are some of the best meals. Sausages, mash and beans is perfectly acceptable to throw together on a busy autumn night. Make Fish Tacos another day. You are looking for a balanced diet over the week.
Themed nights can help. Monday is pasta night, Thursday is Mexican night, Saturday is Pizza night, and then just change the meal each week within that theme: Spag Bol one week, Chicken Tagliatelle the next.
Finding a Planner that works….
Now… as I said, I’ve done lots of different types of planning and have struggled to find a planner that worked for me.
Until recently, this is what I’ve been using. Less than ideal, since I have to draw in the lines each time, and it could be rubbed out at a brush..
I’ve used paper ones, board ones, digital ones, you name it. Never quite right.
So I made my own.
Free Printable Meal Planner Download
I have been using this for a few weeks now and it really has made a difference!
Other colours available: Sage Green, Grey Blue, Neutral
I can put down as much or as little as I want to plan that week, including snacks, and write any things I need to add to the shopping list right there on the page!
It’s also front and centre on my fridge so my teen knows what the plan is, meaning he’s less likely to eat something I’ve saved for the next day!!
If you fancy one of the other colours, you can download the PDFs below.
Head over to the recipe page and see what we’ve got to help fill in that meal plan!
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So much good advice here… I’m going to try this out this school year! Thank you so much!
So helpful!! Thank you.
Thank you for posting this!! I’ve needed this in my life!