There are a million ways to make dinner easier. Meal planning is one that saves you time and money while allowing you to choose healthy meals, eat at home around the table together and stress less.
Most of us have tried meal planning. You’ve probably tried several ways to do it. And if not, you should – because no family is the same. What works for some might not work for all. Either way – meal planning really can help if you have a good system.
My system is my favorite, obviously haha. What’s special about it? You plan every two-weeks instead of weekly or monthly or on a whim or however you’ve tried it. Two-weeks means you only have to grocery shop every two weeks and plan the calendar two weeks out and it gives you 14 days without having to think “what’s for dinner?”
My two-week meal planning method will be your favorite way to meal plan, let me show you the steps:
1: Set Yourself Up
If you don’t want to re-invent the wheel every time you sit down to think of meals to make over the next two weeks – you need to set yourself up for success and easy future planning. You need a list of favorite meals. Also a list of meals you’d like to try and learn to make. And if you are working with dietary restrictions or looking for healthy meals – you’ll need recipes or pinterest – somewhere that you can easily access your meals.
2: Use What You Have
Do you hate finding old produce molding in a drawer or at the back of your fridge? Me too! Such a bummer. Before you meal plan – the first step is to look at what you already have (in your fridge, freezer & pantry) and use that knowledge to help you figure out good possible meals to make.
3: Look Ahead
Your family season, how busy your schedule is, and what effort you want to take into making dinners on certain days are all things to consider when meal planning. You really need to see what’s coming up and use that to decide meals that are easier, on the go, or can be tossed in a crockpot for when you get home late.
4: Brainstorm
Taking the knowledge from steps 1, 2 and 3 – this is where you gather all of it together and make a list of 12-14 meals to eat. This is a great time to make a list of groceries as well once you know what meals you want.
5: Schedule it
The last step is to schedule your meals over the next two weeks. You’ll want to look at the busy days and plan the easy meals. You’ll want to guess how long your produce will last and use the most perishable first in meals that call for that so you don’t throw it away or have to buy more.
And that’s it – except step 6 would be to enjoy the next two weeks without having to wonder what’s for dinner. Yes you’ll still need to figure out breakfast and lunch – but let’s make that easy. Have 5-10 meals you rotate through over and over and just make dinner the meal that gets a bit more variety.
Try it out. Grab the two-week meal planner so you can have easier and more affordable dinners. It will walk you through these steps and give you the space to set yourself up for success, brainstorm and plan for 12 months!
