7 Tips to Simplify Meal Planning
Your time is precious! Here are 7 tips to simplify meal planning and save your sanity.
1.) Make your game plan for the week
We all know it can be exhausting to go to the grocery weekly but there are several benefits. First storing just a week’s worth of food in your fridge ensures everything can fit & easily be found, which reduces the potential for food waste. Also planning & shopping for just a few meals shortens the time spent doing both activities. Your grocery trip becomes a more efficient fill in trip versus a big stock up one that involves an overflowing cart & a lengthy check out.
As you start to make your meal game plan, think about your schedule for the week ahead and how much time you will have to make meals. Cooking & trying new recipes personally brings me joy so if I have a week that is more flexible, then I might plan to try a few new recipes. If it is a busy week, I’ve learned from past experience that it is best to stick with “go to” meals & keep it simple (see tip 3). Lastly, when making your plan, shorten the number of days you buy for by factoring in carryout (Friday pizza night!) or leftovers.
If possible do your meal planning & grocery trip on separate days so the entire activity doesn’t feel like a lot of time. Time block your meal planning & it will go quicker with utilizing tips 2 & 3!
2.) Find your “go to” recipe site
I used to spend hours scrolling Pinterest looking at recipes to try or flipping through old cookbooks. The amount of choices was overwhelming & meal planning took way too long. I then discovered a website called HalfBakedHarvest.com. I loved the recipes I tried and literally cooked from the site almost exclusively for a year. It saved so much time because I knew a recipe I selected would be good, putting a stop to my endless Pinterest searches. See if you can find 2-3 “go to” recipe sites that fit the cuisine, complexity, etc. you like and take back some time!
3.) Have “go to” meals that require minimal thought/brain power
These are recipes that the family likes “enough” and are easy- require minimal focused attention for you to make & ideally doesn’t involve looking at a recipe. Incorporate these in your weekly meal game plan. If this feels too repetitive, you could change things up by maybe serving a different vegetable as a side or a different topping to go with the meal.
Here are some of my “go to” meals:
Salmon marinated in a freezer bag with orange juice + green beans
Fajitas (Tyson frozen chicken strips) or Tacos (browned ground beef)
Bowtie pasta with Italian sausage, canned tomatoes, and cream
Calzone using Pillsbury pizza crust dough
I’m also a huge fan of buying side dishes or toppings that “feel” fancy to elevate a dish but really require no effort- I’ll buy boxed couscous blends that just involve dumping everything in a pot, or take normal tacos up a notch by buying Cojita cheese instead of the normal shredded cheddar
4.) Streamline that grocery trip
Similar to having “go to” recipe websites & meals, it will save you time & money in the long haul to pick a “go to” place to buy food. Finding a store that balances your definition of good price, quality, and variety will help consolidate trips (savings you time & gas) as well as help you save money if the store offers a rewards program for purchases.
Another way to streamline the grocery trip is to write your grocery list like you are shopping the aisles which helps you save time from back-tracking in the store. There are apps that can help with this like Yummly or AnyList. Or you can group items on your paper grocery list by aisle. For example as I write down the ingredients from a recipe, I add produce/vegetables to upper left corner of my paper list, dairy in the lower left of the paper etc.
If it works in your budget, Instacart is a huge way to streamline the grocery trip too!
5.) Enlist help!
Communicate the meal game plan to your partner/family so they can help get things started on a given night. This could be as easy as writing the meals (and the source if a recipe) on the back of your grocery list and then posting it on the fridge when you get home from the grocery (this is what I do! nothing fancy here). There are also apps to help with scheduling between family members like Cozi or just Google shared calendar, or even fancier products like a message board hung in your kitchen. Regardless, let those in your household know what the plan is for the week to help set expectations & to enlist them to help with meal prep.
6.) Create a Capsule Pantry
Notice what types of recipes you tend to lean towards & what your family eats. It is helpful to then have the basic ingredients on hand for those so your trip mainly involves picking up a protein/vegetable at the store. Apparently there is a term for this I just heard on a podcast called “Capsule Pantry”. Basically have the base ingredients for the types of dishes you like on hand so you could create something quickly & without a recipe if needed.
I like Italian dishes so on hand I’ll have a minced garlic jar (time saver here!), canned tomatoes, pasta noodles, basil, relevant spices, & olive oil. Since I use these ingredients frequently, it is easy to see if I’m running low, and I’ll take a second when I’m cooking to add these items to my grocery list posted on the fridge.
7.) Have kids? They might as well have a Capsule Pantry too!
I think the term Capsule Pantry should be coined for kids too :). These are things you have on hand to quickly make a lunch/give a snack/or get dinner out early if you are on a time crunch. Having consistent & healthy foods stocked also helps level set expectations with your kids (“this is what you can choose from/you guys know your options!”).
Things we have on hand at our house are:
Cheese sticks, fruit like apples/pears/berries, Rotisserie chicken, yogurt, Mac and cheese, tortillas & shredded cheese, bread/cheese slices, yogurt covered raisins, fig bars, and then frozen vegetables cooked in microwave/stove top and then stored in containers for the week.
Last bit of advice with kids & meals. Consider what your kid likes to eat when meal planning but save yourself some time and have them eat what you are eating for dinner. Try your best by offering a balanced plate but no sweat if they don’t eat it.
Have other Meal Planning tips? Would love to hear in the comments below!!