How To Make Meal Planning Simple and Easy

Since we moved to Omaha I have been planning every meal of (almost) every day for Kevin and myself. This has helped us save money, be more organized, and eat more healthy-ish meals.

Every week we alternate who purchases groceries which week and we have a $100 grocery budget- this excludes any nights we eat out. Because I plan out our meals, it’s not likely that we won’t know what we’re having for dinner and run through a fast food restaurant for convenience. Instead of spending almost $20 on 1 night of meals, we’ll spend $20 for 2-3 nights of meals.

Anyone who has been to my house can attest that I am the organization QUEEN. I have a monthly calendar, weekly calendar, daily planner, and a monthly bill tracker. This excludes everything I have organized on my phone as well. I told you… organization queen here. Having a career that has a different schedule week to week, scheduling out our meals helps to keep the both of us organized. We also go grocery shopping the same day every week (most of the time)- Sunday. Not only does this help in my planning, (I can start planning fresh on a Monday) but this is something we can do together and look forward to.

I say “healthy-ish” because planning these meals around the most healthy ingredients is not my main goal (I like recipes with heavy cream & butter, too!), but when I can incorporate more healthy options- I do! Most of the time anything you make at home will be more healthy than if you ate out at a restaurant because you are in control of the ingredients.

On Saturday or Sunday morning I will begin my meal planning for the week. I start by perusing the pantry to see if there are any dry goods we have on hand that I can get rid of and utilize in any recipes. I will then go through previous weeks’ meal line-ups and add some of the rotating recipes- stuffed pepper soup, lasagna roll-ups, Andouille sausage cajun pasta, Mexican bake, etc.- into the current week. If I still have holes in my week, I will turn to Pinterest for inspiration-whether that’s to use a recipe exactly or just to get some ideas brewing in my head. I usually plan meals for Monday-Saturday, leaving Sunday day open in case we want to do something. For the past couple months we have been getting the ready-to-bake Hyvee pizza for Sunday night dinner. It’s our night to indulge and it’s a night where I don’t have to worry about actually prepping & making a meal. LOL.

Once all the meals have been decided, I organize the week in the Notes App on my iPhone. Depending upon what events I have going on at work will determine which meals are made on which day. Below each meal I list out the ingredients that will be needed.

Once I’ve gathered all of this information, I log onto the HyVee website and shop for all the items needed. This gives me an idea of how much we will be spending and if I need to change out a meal or use a different brand because we are past our $100 budget. I also try to see if there are any deals where I could swap something in the recipe for whatever is on sale or if a certain item has a lot of fuel saver opportunity. (Hy-Vee has the fuel saver program where certain items get you a certain amount off of gas). In addition to the ingredients for the meals, I check with Kevin about what lunches he will be having- he’s a simple guy, it’s either a deli meat sandwich or PB&J’s- as well as whatever snacks I’ll be having at work throughout the week. It’s usually only a few rotating snacks- bananas, pretzel crisps & hummus, carrots & ranch, and Cheez It’s. Once these are all added to the list and the Hy-Vee cart to be sure we have everything and are within budget we head to the store. Like I said, we kind of enjoy our time together at the grocery store so that’s why instead of just utilizing the Hy-Vee pick-up since everything is already in the cart, we go to the store.

And that pretty much sums up how I plan out our meals weekly! I really do think that this way of planning has helped us save money & make better choices for meals. Just because this system works for me, doesn’t necessarily mean this exact way will be perfect for you, but maybe my organization tips can help you create your own! 🙂

Happy Planning!