Meal Planning

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A few weeks ago someone I follow on Instagram was asking everyone’s meal planning tips and tricks and we started chatting more in DM’s because I was telling her how I tackle it. And, to be honest, I think I have a really good system in place that has saved me money. I cook a lot from home. I plan out weekly what we are going to eat, cook, etc. And my family loves all of the recipes I cook. It’s also a really good time of the year to get back into a good routine especially with the kids going back to school. So today, I wanted to share my meal planning tips, tricks, where I shop, what I cook and how I plan it all out!

Every Monday or Tuesday I sit down with my cookbook (more on that below) and plan out what meals we are going to eat. This is for the following week. I like to work a week ahead because it gives me time throughout the week to write down stuff on my list that I might not have thought about. Or that we run out of during the week. And in the end it saves me those random trips to the grocery store for those one or two things you are missing.

So Monday I sit down and make my grocery list for the following week/end of the week. I grocery shop on Friday’s. I usually drop Sloane off at school and head right to the store. It’s so nice because all the shelve are stocked and hardly anyone is there! So my list is for dinners starting on Friday’s thru the following Thursday.

I look at my calendar to see what we have going on the following week. Dinner with girlfriends one night? I make sure to have leftovers or something easy for Kurt and Sloane to throw together. Do we have anything coming up that weekend? Or something that sounds good that I haven’t made in awhile? We typically eat at home- it’s just easier and a lot healthier right now with a toddler! But occasionally we do go out.

In my notes section on my phone, I list out what I’m planning each night for dinner. I’ve tried downloading apps that are actually for meal planning and creating grocery lists and I will download them and never learn how to use them. I find the Notes section in my phone super easy to use. My list might look something like this:

Friday- pizza

Saturday- out

Sunday- dinner at Grandma & Grandpa’s

Monday/Tuesday- enchiladas

Wednesday- shrimp scampi

Thursday- breakfast

How I Make My Grocery List

After I figure out what I am going to cook each night I then make my grocery list. I break it out into stores too. But I take it one step further. Since do most of my shopping at Trader Joe’s, I know the layout and exactly where everything is. When I am making my grocery list, I list it out in the order that I will grab them in the store.

For example, the produce is first, so I note the lemons or lettuce first on my list, followed by bread, cheeses, any meat, eggs, milk, etc. because that is how the flow of the store goes! It makes it so fast and easy! And I am so focused on my list and getting thru it that I tend to not grab a lot of things I don’t need that aren’t on my list. Here and there of course I do because Trader Joe’s especially has some great seasonal items!

Wear I Shop

Typically I shop I Trader Joe’s. There is one that is really close to us and I love it in there. And Kurt goes once a week to Aldi so I have a section in my phone for Trader Joe’s and Aldi that I will add to. And when Kurt asks for a list, I can easily copy and paste it into a text message. There is no rush trying to figure out what I need him to get. Trader Joe’s also randomly doesn’t have things. I usually go there Friday mornings and if I can’t find something I need for the week, I add it to the Aldi list. Kurt usually goes to Aldi Friday’s around lunch time so it works out great for us!

I also have a section for Kroger, Target, Sam’s Club- all of which I shop at but on a more occasional time. Kroger I usually go to around once a week because there is usually some items I can’t find or I am out of some sauces that I use a lot and need to stock up.

Sam’s Club I do try and go to about every six weeks. I know most people like Costco, but I have really grown to like Sam’s Club. Most items like toilet paper, paper towel, etc. you can buy online for free shipping and you get it within a couple of days of ordering! It’s so convenient.

Anyways, they don’t ship their meat and some of the heavier stuff so I make a trip about every six weeks. I have found that buying my meat at Sam’s Club has been a huge money saver for us! It’s so much cheaper and actually a lot better. Typically, I stock up on chicken breasts, ground turkey, shrimp (I like the raw, frozen kind) and bacon. This is what I use the most often in my cooking. Any other type of meat we need, I will grab on my weekly runs at Trader Joe’s so it very much helps to reduce my weekly grocery bill having these on hand!

What I Cook

Typically every Friday night I make a homemade pizza. It is so easy and a lot better I think than ordering out. I buy dough from Trader Joe’s and cook the pizza in our oven. I don’t get fancy- it’s almost always a pepperoni pizza! It’s good and it works. It’s also really nice because we typically have leftovers for the weekend so I feed Sloane pizza usually for lunch on Saturday. I always know it’s in the fridge and that it is an option!

I will go into the cookbook I use below. But a lot of recipes are big so the meals typically last us two nights and maybe even a lunch too. If we have a lot leftover after two dinner meals, I will freeze the balance. So it’s nice to have a couple of one night meals in the freezer already made. I also really find that cooking a dinner and then eating the leftovers the next night makes it more manageable to actually cook. I know that I only have to cook one night and then the next night I get a break haha.

Saturday’s are kind of a random night. We might go out to dinner. Or I usually have stuff on hand for something simple like grilled cheese and tomato soup which is Sloane’s favorite! Or we might do frozen stuff like chicken nuggets and fries. I keep it simple because we are usually busy chasing around the toddler lol.

And Thursday nights are usually another easy night for us. We typically do a breakfast night- eggs, toast and bacon. Or pancakes. Or breakfast sandwiches, breakfast tacos, etc. I’m usually exhausted by the end of the week and I don’t want to make a big meal so I keep it easy!

My Favorite Cookbook

This cookbook is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And makes meal planning a breeze! The author came up with a great concept in this cookbook. She meal plans for you every week, gives you grocery lists, pantry staples to have on hand etc. She really kick started my meal planning for me and I have found it to be so helpful! Every week there are four dinner recipes and a new dessert recipe too! You can follow it week by week or mix and match and come up with your own menu.

She notates if recipes are freezer friendly & crockpot friendly, shows ways to make them dairy free and gluten free etc. There really is something for everyone too! She’s fun to follow on Instagram too because she shares her cookbook recipes as well as new ones. And shows how she might modify the plate for her toddlers (she has two young kids!).

Not only that all of the recipes are so delicious. Some are more complicated than others, but most take around 30 minutes to make and are real recipes and food you will want to eat. No crazy ingredients- just real food! Some of our favorites include sausage, arugula, apple & goat cheese flatbread, skinny bang bang shrimp with mango salsa, enchiladas and Asian lettuce wraps. Everything is so favorable! And they are recipes I would never think of myself or likely make. But it gets you out of your comfort zone. When I first got this cookbook, I made it all and I told Kurt we should keep an open mind. We might try something we really like. And that is exactly what happened. I never thought I would like Chicken Curry, but it is so delicious and such an easy meal.

Sloane even loves the meals too. I might modify them a bit for her and make them less spicy. She has tried stuff I normally probably would never have fed her either. This is how I realized she loves salmon. There is a really delicious fried rice and salmon recipe that she devours every time I make it.

Lunch Ideas

We are creatures of habits when it comes to lunch. I make this salad every week and it is so delicious! I’m kind of addicted to it. I prefer to use salami and I also use a parmesan & ramano grated cheese mix. Kurt also pretty much makes the same thing every week too. He makes the taco skillet listed in the cookbook above. It is really good and really filling. It’s basically taco meat, black beans and spices served with tortilla chips. I used to make it a lot for dinner until Kurt started eating it every day for lunch haha.

And we usually have leftovers from dinners during the week so we will eat those too! What I really love is the last volume in the cookbook, lists some more ideas on how to turn your dinners into lunches. For example, you make a Caesar salad one night for dinner. And the next day for lunch you can add chicken and a pita for a chicken Caesar wrap.

A Few Tips…

Go easy on yourself! Start small and aim to cook one or two meals a week if you are used to ordering out a lot.
Prep as much as you can. If you know you have a busy week, cut all your veggies for example on Sunday. Sometimes if I know I am going to be busy that day, even just setting out all the utensils and pans I will need that night to cook is helpful. I will even go as far as to grab all the spices and organize everything I need in the fridge that night. Makes it really simple when I am in a hurry!
Allow for things to come up. Friends might ask you over to dinner or you get a last minuet invite so live your life! I always try to be flexible with my meal planning.
If one person cooks, the other person does dishes (or involve the kids!). That way it’s even and you are both contributing to dinner. I usually cook so Kurt does the dishes and it works really well for us. We both feel like we are contributing plus it gets done a lot faster.
As you run out of stuff, add it to your list. I was just cooking the other night and I was running low on Italian seasoning. So I added it my grocery list. That way I am never out of the staples. Or worst, in the middle of cooking and am out of something I need. This is why I like to plan a week ahead just in case I run out of anything. I can easily add it to my list and grab it later in the week.

Overall, this really works for my family and I, so I hope I gave you some tips. Find something that works for you! And trust me, just buy the cookbook. You will love all the recipes. I’ve also noticed that I’ve started to save a lot on groceries. I always can count on having the main proteins I use often, spices, condiments, etc. so when I shop I am really just buying a few things for each meal.

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xoxox Amanda