My Easy Meal Planning Tips

Learn how to beat the dreaded dinnertime blues with easy meal planning tips!

Ahhh, the dreaded meal planning. Well, let's just say I used to dread it a whole lot more than I do now!

The task I once hated so much that I planned a whole month in advance so I'd only have to do it 12 times a year is now something I don't even mind a little. I'll show you why!

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I've been a firm believer in meal planning since I first got married, but it hasn't always been easy for me. I used to sit down with my three or four cookbooks and flip through them, trying to decide which meals we felt like eating that week. Then I'd lug the cookbook around the house, checking whether I already had the ingredients on hand.

It was a cumbersome task that took me a couple of hours (at best!) each week, and I hated it!!!! I hated it so much that I'd avoid it altogether and just grocery shop without a plan and try to wing it. That meant more nights eating out because I couldn't figure out what I had. It also meant a lot of frustration and stress.

Then one day I realized that we only ate a handful of the recipes in my cookbooks. If I could narrow my list down even more and simplify it, my meal planning days would be much easier.

If any of these struggles sound familiar, you're going to love this new, easy, simplified meal planning solution!

For a 30-minute (or less) meal planning session, you will need:

A Family Favorites Meal Planning page (which I've created for you for FREE, see below)
12-14 recipes of your family's favorite meals
A Weekly Menu Plan (find free versions online via Google or Pinterest)
Grocery list or online grocery service

That's it!

Here's how I meal plan now ...

First, collect 12-14 (or more!) of your family's favorite meals. For me, these are simple, quick meals my family loves. This can sometimes be the hardest part, finding something everyone enjoys, but do your best. I'm not a short-order cook at my house, and my oldest can be a little picky, but she sometimes has to eat things she doesn't particularly like, and that's OK.

Now grab my free family printable below and write down all the meals and their ingredients. You don't need to write out the full recipes, just the ingredients and how much of each one.

Meal Planning Made Simple! | 30 Days to Less of a Hot Mess

I keep mine in my Home Organizational Binder, along with my weekly meal plan sheets. (My weekly meal plan sheets came with my binder from Emily Ley, but there are plenty of free weekly meal plan printables out there. Just do a Pinterest or Google search.)

I do my meal planning on Sunday evenings, so when it's time to plan, I grab my Home Organizational Binder, and that's all I need! I don't need my recipe books or anything else, just the binder. I grab a blank weekly meal plan sheet, look through my family's favorite meals and choose 5-6 based on when we'll be home that week. Then I make my grocery list from the ingredients listed next to each favorite meal (and take into account what I already have in my pantry and fridge).

Personally, I use the free Walmart pickup grocery service, so I don't even write my list down. If you have a service like this in your area, I highly recommend using it! I even do Walmart+ so we get free deliveries (and other great perks)! I've used it when I've been sick and needed groceries, and it's amazing!

So I sit at the computer, find everything I need online and add it to my cart. Then I schedule my pickup time for the next morning, after I drop my youngest off at preschool and pick them up! I love, love, LOVE this service!!

Of course, you can also write your list and go to the grocery store like many people do. I know some people enjoy grocery shopping, but in this season of my life, pickup saves me a ton of time!

That's it!!

Once you get the hang of it, meal planning takes less than 30 minutes and isn't hard or even slightly unenjoyable!

If your family likes more variety, you may want to plan more meals, but mine doesn't mind eating the same thing every 2-3 weeks, so 12-14 meals works for us.

You can find several of my family's favorite recipes HERE.

And learn how I keep track of the food items we run out of every day here. I grab that list too when it's time to make my grocery list!