Meal Planning 101

One of my passions is teaching others that healthy eating does not have to be expensive, bland, or complicated. One way I keep it simple is by planning our menu each week, usually on the weekend, and then prepping the foods for the entire week all in one day (or sometimes two). Like anything else, it takes practice and consistency to make it a lasting habit. I started practicing and implementing weekly meal planning and prepping about two years ago, around the same time I became a mostly stay-at-home-mom. We went from two down to about 1.25 full-time incomes, so it became important for me to use my grocery budget wisely, which means wasting as little as possible. Meal prepping is one way to accomplish this.

I originally shared my meal planning ways over on my friend Terryn’s blog, Faith Family and Beef, as Part I in an informative series about reducing food waste. You should check it out to read the rest!

Meal Planning 101

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone to the store and filled your cart to the brim with food to pack your fridge full. You had good intentions of making amazing meals with every last thing you bought. But then mid-week, or a week later, you discovered half of your produce is soggy and wilted at the back of the fridge. Did you cringe at the idea of all the wasted resources as you threw away x-amount of dollars -worth of groceries? Are you raising your hand? I am.

Believe me, we are not the only ones with our hands raised. Terryn has mentioned the staggering statistics about food waste in our country. We are definitely not alone, and that means it also has to be a group effort to reverse the problem.

We walked through a typical scenario that might occur without meal planning in place. Now let’s look at how we can change this with a meal plan and a little prep work at the beginning of the week (or whatever day works for you). There are many methods of meal planning, and which one works best for your family depends on many factors, not limited to, your demographic/ location, the size of your family, your budget, and of course your tastes.

Planning

I am going to give you a preview of my typical method. Let’s say it’s a weekend that I have a Bountiful Basket, so I have a large number of fresh fruits and veggies on hand. I do not want any of these quality, nutritious foods to go to waste, so I:

• Sit down with pen and paper, my recipe stash, and Pinterest.
• Plan the meals for the week around whatever produce I have. Bountiful Basket is an incredible value, but you do not know ahead of time what you will get.
• Typically pick out five main dishes to use for the evening meals, with enough leftovers for lunch the next day.
• Make my grocery list and get groceries.

If you don’t have Bountiful Baskets in your area or it isn’t a basket weekend, you could do the same thing on a Saturday with your local grocery store circular in hand. Look at what’s on sale, and plan meals around those items. And then, the prep begins!

Prepping

Sometimes I do a little bit on Saturday, but I like to only make a mess of the kitchen one time, so I will dedicate about 1 ½ hours on a Sunday (usually while the kids are napping), to knock out the prep-work:

• Washing produce
• Chopping veggies
• Portioning things into single-serving size containers

Just spending that 90 minutes each weekend pays off exponentially during the week. When week-nights are crazy and we are tired and/or pressed for time, most of the work is done for dinner, helping us avoid take-out or drive-through (saving $$ AND helping us eat healthier!).

Having everything ready and easy to grab for snacks or meals will help you know what all you have on-hand, and studies have shown that you are more likely to eat what you can easily see. So if you have washed, cut, ready-to-go fruits or veggies staring at you from the fridge, you are more likely to grab those and go! Properly stored produce also keeps for longer, helping you avoid finding the forgotten soggy carrots at the back of the fridge.

 

Meal planning has immensely benefited my family and can yours too. It allows you to eat healthier (less pre-packaged convenience foods and eating out), shop more efficiently (less trips to the store), save money (a list means you are less likely to impulse-buy), and last but certainly not least, eliminate food waste.