Meal planning can seem like this super intimidating thing that takes tons of time, effort and creativity. Which, I think it absolutely can be a time suck if you set it up that way. I am all about simple, efficient and low-stress. This is where having a 12-week rotating meal plan has completely changed how I feel about dinner and grocery shopping.
My husband and I used to look at the $700 we had spent on food for the month and talk about how we should be meal planning.
Me: “Meal planning is a great idea! That would save us so much money. Do you want to do it?”
Him: “Absolutely, you making the plan?”
Me: “Let me tell you what I don’t have the time or energy for. I do not want to sit down and come up with a million meals and a grocery list. It’s already a stretch for me to just make a freaking grilled cheese for myself, let alone come up with meals for a month.”
Him: “Well I don’t want to do it.”
Me: “Okay, well let’s just do better about eating the food we have, instead of eating out all the time.”
Him: “Sounds great. Alright, I’m tired. Are you in the mood for Wendy’s tonight?”
I can’t even make this up. This is the exact conversation we would have month after month. Meal planning just seemed like so much work and I did not have the energy for it. Then I would have to make a shopping list and go to the store and actually get all the crap, then unload it and there go 6 hours of my life. Barf.
So instead, I would buy the same stuff every month with no plan for actually making meals. Neither one of us wanted to get creative and come up with the meals during the week.
You know when you get home from work and you are exhausted and hangry? That is the worst possible time to not have any idea what you should have for dinner. This was us, every day. So we would eat out.
Logically, looking back now, I’m not sure why we would ever expect to want to come up with meals at the moment when we were tired and hungry. Obviously, that would be the time we would be least motivated to eat the food we had at home. We are all creatures of convenience. So, guess what? Surprisingly, when done on a rotating schedule, meal planning adds this insane convenience factor to your life.
You get home from work, look at the calendar (no thought included in this – you could be completely brain-dead and there is still a meal staring you in the face), make the meal (you have all the ingredients for it, no questions) and enjoy the fact you ate the food you purchased and didn’t blow your budget eating out.
You are a meal planning superstar!!
So how do you get there?
First, you need to get set up with a basic meal plan.
This is not a time to be a dinner hero. Pick extremely basic meals that are actually realistic for your skill level and life. Seriously, I’m talking about Mac n’ Cheese (yeah, the good stuff), frozen pizza, a bowl of cereal (yes, I totally do this, and yes, I still eat Lucky Charms because they are delicious and it provides me with a puzzle while I eat).
If you are feeling fancy then you could try some spaghetti, tacos, chili. The point is to just have some meals that are reasonable for you to accomplish when you are home for the day. Maybe you just want to use a Crock-pot 24/7? That will work too! Whatever meals you want to make, you are totally in charge of what you eat.
Second, you need to decide how you want to design your first month of meal planning.
Again, you get to make this as simple or as complicated as you want. It really depends on how much you are okay with eating the same foods over and over again.
Choose 7 meals for the week, then repeat these meals for 4 weeks. This could look something like this:
- Monday – Chili
- Tuesday – Crock-Pot meal
- Wednesday – Spaghetti
- Thursday – Mac n’ Cheese
- Friday – Frozen Pizza
- Saturday – Brinner (breakfast for dinner)
- Sunday – Leftovers
Repeat this all month.
Choose a variation of the same theme throughout the month. This could look something like this:
- Monday – Meatless meal
- Tuesday – Mexican
- Wednesday – Italian
- Thursday – All-American
- Friday – Crock-Pot meal
- Saturday – Meat & Potatoes
- Sunday – Leftovers
Choose your meals that fit into this “themed” schedule. Mexican could be tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc. Italian could be spaghetti, lasagna, baked ziti, etc. The month is your oyster!
Choose a different meal for every day throughout the month.
In my opinion, this is like all-star, super advanced level meal planning. I am not even at this point. I just don’t have the drive to do this. If meal planning excites you, then this will probably be the most appealing option for you.
