Simple Meal Planning Tips to Save Your Sanity

Want to start meal planning but have no idea where to begin? Today I’m sharing simple meal planning tips to help get you started and get supper on the table!

It’s five p.m. You’ve had a jam-packed day, the kids are cranky, and your husband is due home any minute. Then it hits you. Supper. You’ve pulled nothing out of the freezer, you’ve got no idea what’s in your pantry, and the fridge is bare. Looks like it’s take-out again. You want to change, but you have no idea where to begin. I’ve been there, and it isn’t fun. To take some of the not-so-fun out of meal planning, I’m sharing a few simple meal planning tips to help get you started and get dinner on the table whenever you need it.

I don’t know about your childhood, but I never remember my mom scrambling about feeling panicked over supper. She just seemed to always know what we’d be eating every day. There was never a day when I questioned if she’d be cooking. I knew she would be. I guess what I didn’t realize is that my mom had a plan. A very thought out, strategic plan to feed us kids and all of the friends that were always around. She never once complained about the extra mouths to feed, she just did it. She’s still this way. I guarantee if you stop by her house totally unannounced you will leave with a full belly. It’s just her way. Mom has always been a planner. I’ve learned so much from her throughout my lifetime, and I’m super thankful for her. Some of these tips I’ve learned from watching her, and others I’ve learned the hard way. Let’s dig in! (Pun totally intended 😉 )

Meal Planning tip #1

Check out your calendar before you meal plan. Are there after school activities this week? What about a date night? Dinner with your parents? Birthday party? Make note of anything extra during the week, and plan accordingly. Those nights you’re home late means quick, easy meals like a pot of soup, or an easy skillet meal. Don’t plan for seven elaborate meals, buy the ingredients and let them waste in the fridge.

Meal Planning Tip #2

Check the weather. I know it may seem strange but checking the weather while you’re meal planning is something you shouldn’t neglect doing. Who wants to eat a bowl of hot soup on a ninety-degree day? Likewise, who wants to sit down with a cold bowl of salad when it’s pouring the snow? If those things don’t sound appealing, then check the weather before you plan your menu for the week.

Meal Planning Tip #3

Having a seasonal meal rotation is a game changer. I’ve shared before that our family basically eats the same 16 meals over and over again. I mix and match them every two weeks, but they’re all favorites. I know they’ll be eaten by everyone. Our winter menu takes advantage of easy one pot meals like chili, potato soup, meatloaf, and roasted chicken. They’re all easy recipes I have memorized, and they take me minutes to throw together.

Meal Planning Tip #4

Follow theme days. Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, What’s New Wednesday, Italian Thursday, Favorite Friday…You’ve seen the cute graphics on Pinterest, why not try this method out to see if it works for your family? (I tried meatless Monday certain my husband wouldn’t miss his protein…he did. Quickly lol)

Meal Planning Tip #5

Always know what you have on hand. I’ve written a whole blog post about how I meal plan. I call it reverse menu planning. Instead of letting recipes dictate my meal plan, I shop my freezer, pantry, and fridge. I see what I have on hand and make a list of things we’re low on. This has saved us so much money by not buying random ingredients I’ll only use once. There are no more random bottles of strange vinegar in the back of my pantry, and that makes me happy.

Meal Planning Tip #6

If you’re totally new to meal planning, or cooking for that matter, you may not have a collection of favorite recipes yet. This is a great time to break out the cookbooks gathering dust and get some inspiration. Check Pinterest for new and inspiring meal ideas. One thing I’ve learned in my years of homemaking is not to be afraid of cooking failure. It happens. Especially when you cook three meals a day, seven days a week. Try it the first time exactly as the recipe is written. If you don’t love it, make adjustments to suit your tastes. Don’t be afraid to start creating your own collection of family favorites.

Meal Planning Tip #7

Get your family involved. Without fail, when I sit own to meal plan, I ask my husband and son what they’d like to have that week. They always have a few suggestions to add that I wouldn’t have thought of. This is a great way to get feedback on what your family likes and doesn’t.

Meal Planning Tip #8

Stop trying to please everyone. I have a picky eater. I learned that I cannot make two separate meals each evening. Adjusting ingredients has saved the day. For instance, one of my children doesn’t care for meat in their spaghetti sauce. Before I add meat to the sauce, I always save a cup or so of sauce out for that child. Maybe someone in your house doesn’t like tomato-based sauce. Save some noodles out before adding the sauce and use butter and parmesan cheese. Don’t feel like you must make two separate meals every evening. It’s too much, and you’ll be burned out before you’re one week in.

Meal Planning Tip #9

Utilize leftovers. A leftovers night is a homemakers life saver some weeks. I try to utilize a leftover night every Wednesday. We have church, and my husband is usually home from work long enough to eat and leave again. There’s usually very little time for kitchen clean up before we leave. It’s a really great way to use up what’s in the fridge and save on kitchen clean up!

Meal Planning Tip #10

Don’t forget about breakfast for supper. Anybody else think pancakes taste better at 5 p.m. than they do at 5 a.m.? ha! Breakfast for supper is another simple trick to save supper time. Breakfast can usually be thrown together pretty quickly, which means you can have a home cooked meal in less than half an hour. Major win!

Meal planning is another simple way to automate your homemaking.

Sitting down once a week a jotting down a few easy meals is really a life saver. It doesn’t take long to do, but it saves hours of time. Amazing how that works, isn’t it? You know I’m a big fan of saving money and having a meal plan in place does just that. We waste much less than we would if I never planned, and we hardly ever spend money eating out.

Looking for some more ways to save money? Check out my e-book Living On Less.

Since I am a full-time homemaker, and we homeschool, I use these same tips to meal plan for breakfast and lunch too. I have an easy rotation that simplifies every meal.

I hope that these meal planning tips are helpful to you. I’d love to hear if you are a meal planning pro or just getting started.

As always, thank you so much for spending a tiny bit of your day with me. I appreciate you!

Here’s an image to pin for later…