• About
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

The Kitchen Chair

Sit and Stay A While

  • The Kitchen Chair
  • Home+DIY
    • Organization
    • Cleaning
    • Crafts
      • Knitting
  • Food and Drink
    • Kitchen Tips
    • Meal Planning
    • Recipes
  • Parenting
  • Travel
    • Disney
    • US Travel
    • Kentucky
  • Shop
    • How to Win Sweepstakes E-Book
    • Instant Pot Shopping Page

How to Make Meal Planning Quick and Easy

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you! I never endorse products/services that I don’t personally use and/or trust. You can view my full disclosure policy for details.

I spent last night working on our meal plan for the week.  When I first started, it felt overwhelming and took me forever!  I feel like I have it down to a science now.  It usually takes me about an hour (at the most) to figure out our schedule and plug in our meals for the week.

Here are some tips to help you make meal planning quick and easy.

Quick and Easy Meal Planning Tips

Look at your schedule for the week so you know what kind of time you have for each dinner.  

Plan your meals around your schedule.  Don’t try cooking a 45-minute meal on a night that is hectic.  You will end up frustrated and it will be a disaster!!!

I tend to meal plan immediately after plugging in my schedule with appointments and meetings for the week.  I know Tuesdays are Cub Scout nights, and we are not all at home at the same time.  So, for that night, I typically use leftovers from Monday or make a crock pot food where everyone can scoop out their own dinner when they get the chance to eat.

Check the weather and temperature.

This might sound silly, but I do take a look at this.  We live in a 1890 Victorian house and it has no central air, so I don’t make things in the oven on 90 degree days.  No one really wants to eat chili on an unseasonably warm fall day either.

Use your food log.

I mentioned this in One Brilliant Meal Planning Hack.  Write down frequently used recipes.  If a new recipe is used, and it is a winner, write it into the meal log. 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe, and get your FREE Meal Bank and Meal Plan printables!

* indicates required



Use the food log to help plan your meals without spending a ton of time looking through recipes.  

Don’t try more than one new recipe a week.

Focus on those frequently used recipes.  My rule is that we don’t try more than one new recipe a week.  Usually, that new recipe is tried on a weekend when I have time to figure it out.  

There was one evening I decided to make a new recipe on a Thursday night after we got in from Crossfit.  I was tired and hungry.  It was listed as a 20-minute meal, but it ended up taking me about an hour to make.  I was practically in tears – tired, hungry, frustrated, and by the time it was done, I didn’t even want it.  It was a disaster.  Don’t do that!  

Use a themed night.

If you know that Tuesdays are for tacos, you will automatically have a plan for that day!  Themed days is an easy way to help you plan.

When I use the food log, I often break the food into categories and that makes it easy to find something for a themed day.  Maybe I want an Italian night, and I can go straight to my Italian category.  

Use a meal planning service.

If you want to make things a lot easier, use a meal planning service like the $5 Meal Plan.  The $5 Meal Plan offers a 14-day trial that is absolutely free.  This means you get forty different recipes during the trial to figure out if it’s right for you.

For just $5 a month, they will send you a delicious meal plan where every meal will cost about $2 per person, and in most cases less. (Erin, the creator of the $5 meal plan, makes these meals for her family of 6 for $5 per meal!)  If you avoid eating out once a month, this will pay for itself!

There are two ways to use $5 Meal Plan: the pre-made weekly meal plan and shopping list or the fancy drag and drop Meal Plan Builder.

Each week, your meal plan will arrive in your inbox on Friday at 11 AM Eastern.

The meal includes a menu and a shopping list.  Each week, it features at least one 20-minute meal, freezer-friendly meal, and one slow cooker meal. Get ahead of your meals by using these time-tested shortcuts!

The menu will include:

  • Five dinner entrees with sides – Each week we’ll include one freezer friendly, one slow cooker, and one 20-minute.
  • We will also include one lunch and one breakfast, plus,
  • A random goodie each week – sometimes it’ll be a dessert, sometimes a beverage, and sometimes it’ll be a snack (sometimes more than one!) – Treat yourself to something fun!

Sign up for the $5 meal plan here!!!

I hope these tips help you with your meal planning and makes it more streamlined and simple!!!  Meal planning is one of those things that just take practice.  Once you get into the groove of doing it weekly, it’ll come to you very easily.  Do you have a great meal planning tip to share?  I’d love to hear it!

 

How to Meal Plan

Pin111
Share5
Tweet
116 Shares
«
»

Food and Drink, Meal Planning, Uncategorized 2

Subscribe

Comments

  1. Caroline says

    September 16, 2018 at 3:08 pm

    Great article! I can’t wait to try these tips!

    Reply
    • Manda J says

      September 19, 2018 at 12:49 pm

      Thanks Caroline! Once you start meal planning weekly, things get in a groove!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Hi there! I'm Manda J, a working mom on a journey to find a work-life balance. My passion is to help other moms do the same. I love to write about saving money, frugal living, parenting, family travel, easy recipes/meal planning, and blogging. I'm so glad you are here! Read More…

Follow me!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Get connected

Subscribe to the newsletter and get FREE access to the resource library and printables!

If any of my posts help you in anyway, feel free to buy me a coffee as a thank you!
Restored 316 Feminine Wordpress Theme Design using the Genesis Framework

Featured Articles

Candy Eye Balls

Halloween Peanut Butter Eyeballs (AKA Peanut Butter Balls)

Weekly Dinner Meal Plan of 8/23

The Best Gifts for the Nintendo Switch Fan

woman pressing snooze on an alarm clock

School Morning Hacks to Make Life Easier

Manda J (thekitchenchair.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Privacy Policy/Disclaimer

Privacy Policy/Disclaimer

About Manda J

Hi there! I'm Manda J, a working mom on a journey to find a work-life balance. My passion is to help other moms do the same. I love to write about saving money, frugal living, parenting, family travel, easy recipes/meal planning, and blogging. I'm so glad you are here!

Subscribe for Updates

Copyright © 2020 · Darling theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2020 · Darling Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.