For years, meal planning felt like one more thing I was “supposed” to be good at. I am the first born I am supposed to be good at everything – right?
I have always loved cooking. So I would make ambitious Pinterest boards. I would buy ingredients for meals that looked beautiful but required 14 steps and three specialty sauces. By Wednesday I was exhausted and we were ordering takeout or eating box macaroni & cheese – not that there’s anything wrong with box macaroni & cheese it has its time and place 😉
What finally worked wasn’t a new cookbook or a color-coded spreadsheet.
It was lowering the pressure and building a simple system that fits real life.
If you’ve ever stared into your refrigerator at 5:15 PM wondering what on earth you’re going to feed everyone this is for you.
The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
For a long time, I thought meal planning meant being creative. New recipes. New flavors. Trying something new and different every night. But creativity isn’t what makes weeknight dinners work.
Consistency does.
I stopped asking “What sounds exciting this week?” And started asking, “What is realistic for our actual schedule”. For years we have lived our life through sport and activity seasons. When you’re running one child to football practice and another child to dance after cheer practice there isn’t always time for exciting – but there is time for tasty, nutritious, filling meals.
I quickly realized if Tuesday was busy it does not need a new recipe! It needed tacos or something I could make without thinking. Bonus points if it could be something I had prepped ahead – Post coming soon!
If Thursday is chaotic, it needs leftovers or a slow cooker meal that was prepped in the morning (or even better the night before).
Meal planning stopped being about impressing anyone and started being about reducing my own stress – and that changed everything!
My SIMPLE Weekly Meal Planning System
- Always check the calendar 1st! We use a family calendar and everyone is responsible for adding their own activities and schedules. Before thinking about food look at your schedule. Does one kid have a late practice? Are there appointments or meetings? How busy our week is determines the type of meals I plan.
- SHOP YOUR PANTRY AND FREEZER! Today everybody is worried about rising food costs. Waste is not an option. Looking at what you already have will lower costs and reduce waste. If you have peppers and cheese getting ready to spoil and chicken in the freezer, all you need is some onions and tortillas then BOOM you have the makings of an easy week night fajita or quesadilla! Sometimes not everything can be used in a timely manner. This is where freezing comes in handy – Post coming soon!
- On average I choose 5 or 6 dinners not 7. We always have one left overnight and one flexible night (freezer, takeout, or something simple – insert boxed mac & cheese here ;).
- When bringing things home from the store I try to set myself up for success. This means washing and chopping produce. Setting a schedule for when proteins need to be thawed out. I have even gone as far as to have a basket on my counter or even a shelf in a cupboard where I can layout ingredients needed so that during the after work/after school/before or after practice rush it was mostly all in one place.
- Optional: I keep a running master list of every meal I make. I have even categorized it into easy vs more entailed. I also keep track of what we eat each month so that I know if my family is going to get sick of Taco Tuesday because we’ve had it 4 weeks in a row. This allows me to rotate through meals giving us variety so that we don’t get bored while keeping keep life simple. It can be helpful make your menus 2 and 3 weeks at a time. This allows you to watch for sale items and pick things up in bulk when able. Trust me I understand that there are seasons that this does not work! Make use of practice times – I can’t tell you how many meal plans I have made while sitting outside of a baseball or dance practice!
Now that my kids are older and can get themselves to and from practices, work part time jobs, and have social lives, dinner looks a little different from when they were little. One thing hasn’t changed – I still need a plan.
We eat together as often as we can – but sometimes that’s only a few nights a week. Between work, practices, and everyone’s schedules, sometimes dinner means someone heating up a plate when they get home and that’s okay! We need to be slightly more flexible – but we still require structure if not my son will live on Taco Bell!
Here is an example of what a normal week might look like for us:
Monday – Pasta with salad. Jarred sauce, added ground beef or turkey, simple side salad (usually from a kit).
Tuesday – Taco Night! Seasoned ground beef (bonus if I have prepped Sunday or better yet frozen in batches), chopped toppings (Sunday or Monday evening), Spanish rice or spicy corn.
Wednesday – leftovers – no guilt – no extra cooking.
Thursday – Sheet pan chicken w/ potatoes and veggies. Everything is roasted on one pan and clean up is minimal.
Friday – Dinner at or on the way to the field. Let’s be honest this sometimes looks like a drive thru on the way to the game or concession stand food. But on easier more organized weeks it can be sandwiches, chips, and sliced fruit and veggies in the car/bus on the way to or from.
Saturday – Mini pizzas and a movie. Dough balls flattened and turned into individual pizza that everyone can customize. You would be shocked how many teenagers will stick around and even call friends over YES even on a Saturday night if personal pizzas are on the menu.
Sunday – Balsamic roast beef in the slow cooker w/ mashed potatoes and a veggie.
Nothing complicated. No new recipes. No specialty ingredients. No midweek grocery runs. The goal isn’t a perfect family dinner every night. The goal is having food ready so that no one is stressing what they are eating and when.
The Goal Isn’t Perfection – It’s Peace
Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated to work. You don’t need 14 new recipes each week. You don’t need a perfectly color-coded system. You don’t even need to love cooking. You just need a simple plan that fits your actual life.
For me and our family that means:
* looking at the calendar
* shopping our pantry and refrigerator
* repeating meals that work
* planning for leftovers
* prepping just enough to make weeknights easier
Some weeks are smoother than others. Some weeks my son still lives on Taco Bell! But having a basic structure means dinner isn’t a daily crisis – and that’s the win.
If you’re ready to make meal planning feel manageable instead of overwhelming, start small. Pick 5 dinners that you can make variations of and repeat.
Real life doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs a plan.
In a future post I’ll share the small group of repeat meals I rotate and how simple variations keep things from feeling boring without making life harder. – Jenn