Meal Planning - What Is It and How to Start

Meal planning is the busy mother’s best friend. Well one of them. The method of choosing recipes, buying ingredients and organizing it all to simplify your life and get you spending less time in the kitchen and more time with your family at the dinner table.

There are several paths to meal planning. You can cook daily, weekly or monthly but you can still plan those meals in advance.

If you choose daily then you would most likely buy your ingredients once a week and have a list of your recipes and what days you will cook them. This is the main method I use. I do enjoy cooking so 30 minutes in the kitchen with a good recipe is no bother for me.

But maybe you prefer to get it all out of the way. Spend 2 hours on a Saturday cooking, shove it all in the freezer and brush off your apron as you walk out of the kitchen.

You might even get more of a kick out of spending an afternoon assembling and pre-cooking, again shoving it all in the freezer and not having to do more than set something in the fridge to thaw and pre-heating the oven each night (don’t forget the dishes).

These last two meal planning solutions are also known as freezer cooking. Cooking for your freezer.

So how do you start?

You can start meal planning by assembling the recipes of your family’s favorite meals. Preferably in your favorite recipe management software. Most come with a meal planning section. List what day of the month or week you will cook a certain dish. Print off a grocery list (this is usually included too) and you’re off. Sort your meals by those you can freeze, chicken, pork, what have you.

Another method is to get your hands on a meal planning cookbook. These cookbooks are sometimes sorted by weekly recipes. And the cookbooks include shopping lists for the week so that, yes, your grocery shopping is effortless and not driven by hunger.

Yet another way is to subscribe to one of the many meal planning mailer programs. Once a month or a week you will get in your email a list of recipes and your grocery shopping list. There are ones for a healthier lifestyle, low-carb etc. You don’t know in advance what your recipes will be but many come with a one week sample set so you can know what kinds of recipes you’re in for.

But how does all of this help you?

Well first of all you really don’t have to think about what you will be serving for dinner. I can’t begin to tell you what a relief this is. Just check your calendar for what is to be served that day and either pull it out to thaw from the freezer (if you’ve chosen freezer cooking) or assemble the ingredients you have already purchased before hand.

Second you save money with meal planning. There is no last minute shopping for forgotten ingredients. No shopping on an empty stomach. And no running to buy takeout because there is no food at home. This alone should have you jumping on the band wagon.

Third you and your family will be healthier. You are cooking from scratch and know what is going in your meals. My husband and I pretty healthy eaters. I’ve always cooked all of our meals from scratch but the first month we tried meal planning (with a cookbook) we lost a few pounds. I was shocked because we both workout and eat fairly healthy. We also really enjoyed the recipes.

And best of all meal planning is flexible. Your recipes and your days are not set in stone.

Meal planning can be quite freeing and fun. Amaze your family, surprise your friends. See if meal planning is for you.

Article by:

O Quinn is a stay at home mom who likes to cook but doesn't like to live in the kitchen. For more meal planning resources visit O Quinn at Homemaking Organized