How 30 Minutes of Meal Planning Can Save You Hours of Frustration

Homeschooling Mom’s Blog
Michelle Schaeffer,
WordPress Expert, Entrepreneur & Business Owner




“What’s for breakfast, mom?” “What’s for dinner, honey?” “We’re hungry!”

How many times do you hear those questions in a typical week? How many times do you wonder, yourself, what to cook for the next meal?

Do you run to the grocery store at the last minute to pick up a missing dinner ingredient? Or drive through and pick up that less-than-ideal meal because you were in a rush?

Sometimes cooking dinner is the last thing I feel like doing at the end of a busy day! And I know I’m not alone.

The good news is that you can tame the meal time chaos and end all the questions by taking just a few minutes at the beginning of the week to plan out your meals. Think of all the time you’ll save when you don’t have to figure out what to make for dinner, make those last minute trips to the grocery store, or run out for deli or fast food!

Here are some tips to help you plan a week’s worth of meals:

1) Start with a menu page.
Create a weekly menu form that you can fill in each week and post it on your refrigerator. This way it’s easy for everyone to see what’s planned for each meal.

I use a grid style plan with 8 rows, labeled down the left side:

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
And 5 columns and across the top label them:

Day / Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner / Snacks

Armed with your menu form ready to fill in, proceed to step 2.

2) Plan your meals.
Start with what you’ve got. Do you have any specific foods you need to remember to cook this week? Veggies you want to prepare while they’re still fresh? Add meals using those ingredients to your plan.

Next look at what you’ve got in the pantry that you can cook this week. Add those meals to your plan.

Tip: Ask your kids or spouse what meals they’d like during the week. You might find that planning a weekly pizza night every Friday, Mexican lunch every Tuesday, or other regular meal events makes the family happy and your meal planning easier!

Continue adding meals until your calendar is filled. Then add some snack ideas to the far right column (popcorn, yogurt, whatever your kids typically eat for an afternoon or after-school snack).

3) Create your grocery list.
Once you’ve got your meals planned the next step is to create your grocery list. Look over the meals you’ve planned and create your grocery list of any items you don’t already have at home.

Now you can shop and buy just the items on your list, knowing that you’ll have everything you need for a complete week’s worth of meals!

(Weekly and Monthly Meal Planning templates are available for download.)
***Would you like a free email course about meal planning, crock pot cooking, or freezer cooking? Visit http://michelleshaeffer.com/help-for-work-at-home-moms/ now and let me send you helpful tips and ideas that will make it easier for you to balance homemaking, homeschooling, and working from home. ***

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Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she’s learned to help other small business owners and entrepreneurs.

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These are great tips. I hope this helps you in some way.

To Your Success!

Lori