The best way to plan your meals

Learn how to plan out your plans to use all of your ingredients to the best of their abilities

I don't know about you, but when I hear the word meal plan, I kind of start to shy away from the topic. It always has seemed kind of tedious and that it won't be super useful.

But at the same time, if you're anything like me, you may have a hard time actually deciding what to eat for meals. And when I struggle to make a decision, I usually end up eating the same thing overnight for dinner: cold cereal.

Now, cereal is always nice at times, but having it multiple times in a day can be rough. That's one of the reasons I started meal planning. But the main reasons I started meal planning is I wanted to make the most of my groceries, budget my money, and start having a schedule so I knew what to make.

So today I want to teach you how I have started meal planning in a simple and effective way! Let's start with the first step of figuring out what to buy.

Grocery List

Figuring out what groceries you need can be either really effective or not depending on how you do it. I have definitely had several trips to the nearest Walmart where I got everything I thought I needed and then had to turn right back around and go back because I forgot something important for dinner.

Those moments are kind of the worst.

So, a simple thing I started doing during the week is I have made a note page on my phone where I put all of the things I have run out of, or am close to running out of, and I make it a checklist for what to grab the next time I go to the store. Simple right?

This may not be a huge thing, but I have found it helps me keep all the things I need in order.

Another simple thing I've started doing is try to figure out what things I want to eat during meals. From there, I check my kitchen to make sure I have all the ingredients and then I write down what I don't have on that same check list. Then I make sure I get everything when I go to the store.

But what if they don't have all the ingredients you need? Well, I think that happens to all of us. But when you have everything written down, you can do one of three things. First, you could go to another store to buy the last ingredients. Second, you could go to the store another day to see if they restock. And finally, you could remove that dish from your options during the week and make something that takes the same kind of ingredients.

None of these things are necessarily ideal, but it's better than walking around not know what you are doing.

The simple task of writing things down and checking for what you need helps a lot with both cost and time for when you are actually shopping. From my own experience, it makes a world of difference.

Now let's get into the details in planning actual meals.

Breakfast

The quote "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" always seems to run through my head when I think about eating in the morning. I do have to admit though, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out what to eat every morning, day after day, week after week.

It can get a little dull. But that's why you have to come up with fun alternatives!

The way I do this is with my grocery list. When writing things down that you need to get, look in your pantry and figure out what kinds of things you'll be ok with eating in the morning. A lot of times during the week I tend to cycle through things like cereal, toast, eggs, muffins, and pancakes.

Toast and cereal tend to be what I eat on weekdays, but you can definitely spice it up a little on the weekends with your fun options!

If you can figure out what kinds of options that you will actually eat in the morning, write them down and make sure to buy them when you get the chance. Then, after a week or two, take a look at what things you actually used and evaluate what kinds of things you'll want to buy next time.

By giving yourself options to eat for breakfast, not only are you going to feel like actually eating more in the morning, but you are also getting a great start to your day.

Now that you have an idea of what to do for breakfast, let's talk about lunch.

Lunch

Now that I've talked about breakfast, let's be honest. Lunch is definitely the hardest meal for me. I have never been super creative for what to eat. In fact for years I pretty much have stuck to the staple of a ham sandwich.

But I have kind of gotten tired of eating just one thing. I mean, who wouldn't? So, I've been trying to figure out some good ideas for what to eat for lunch.

The way I've done this is by trying to figure out what some people eat (by asking people or by looking on Pinterest) or just by thinking about some things I wouldn't mind eating. Here is a list of some things that I have come up with:

• Homemade Arby's roast beef sandwich

• Gluten free Mac and Cheese

• Amy's gluten free cheese enchiladas

• Leftovers from the night before

• Blake's gluten free chicken pot pie

• Beecher's gluten free Mac and Cheese

This is just a small list of things that I have found over the past few months, and it has helped me a ton. Now I don't feel like I'm stuck in the same meal every single day.

And finally, let's talk about the meal that is most people's favorite: dinner.

Dinner

Dinner is definitely the meal that I plan the most. There aren't very many meals that you would want to eat several days in a row for dinner! So, I have been using meal planning heavily here.

The way I do this is I have a list of things that I make for dinner written out on my phone. When it's time to meal plan, I sit down with my husband and we go through each meal on the list and write down which meals we would want to eat that week.

Once that's done, I first check what ingredients match in the meals to see what we can use for double the purpose. Then I go and check in the kitchen to see what we have. From there, I write down things we need to make it.

One thing that is optional is figuring out what day you want to eat which meal. This is a big help when you're trying to use ingredients for two meals, but as long as they are made within the week, they will be ok.

If you can figure out a basic list of things that you want to eat, the week suddenly becomes so much easier to handle. It won't seem as overwhelming, and you can manage your time better too.

Meal planning doesn't always have to be something that is intense and tedious. It is mainly a tool that is used to help you get a better handle on your week. So, you should give it a try!

If there are any tools that you use that helps you meal plan, send me a message so I can try it out too!