Before having kids, I’d never even heard of meal planning. But it turns out this is an essential skill for stay-at-home wives and mothers! And, not only did I not know about meal planning, I also couldn’t cook. Talk about being unprepared! Now here I am, after four and a half years of marriage, and I finally have a system down. After much trial and error, I have discovered the perfect way to plan meals and make a grocery list.
Step One: Make a List of Things You Like to Eat
The first step is the most difficult one. When I first married, I only knew how to make ground beef and pasta. I very quickly learned just how amazing parents are, making meals for the family every day. I am very grateful for all those meals – in retrospect. But I also know my kids are not going out the door without the skills to feed a family. Anyway, it is very difficult to have a variety of meals when you only know how to make two things.
Over time a dear friend helped me learn to cook. When we got started, she asked me “what do you want to learn?” And I didn’t have an answer.
But this is the first step of meal planning! First, you need to decide what you would like to eat.
Start by listing your favourite things to eat, and things you make often. Don't start this list with complex meals you never have time to make. That would be setting yourself up for failure. If you are interested in some more complicated dishes, try adding one to your list each week. If you don't make it, leave it off the schedule for a while. That way you can try again in a different season of life, without feeling too guilty about failing to go forward with making the dish so many time. Next, add your list of favourite things to eat to my free printable chart. (Or make your own). Don't worry if you don't fill out all the lines. Even mine does not use all the lines. I do use most of them though. But I wanted to have extra in case of food lovers downloading this meal plan!
Step Two: Make An Inventory
Now, take your list of possible meals, and write down all the ingredients you need to make them. Start by looking over your list and looking for all the different kinds of meat you would need to make any of these meals. Then, do the same thing looking for kinds of dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables, and so on. The idea is, if you had all the items on your inventory list, you could make any meal you wanted from your meal plan.
This inventory, however, is not where it all ends. If you had all the items on this list at all times, food might go bad before you could use it. And that is why we have step three.
Step Three: Make A Grocery List
Now it is time to look at your completed inventory list, and your meal plan sheet. What are the things on this list that you would definitely use every week. Or if you ran out, you would quickly go out and buy some more. Write these items down on your essentials list.
Next, fill in your staples list with the items that make meals you love, but that you could go without for a week or more if you needed too.
Finally, write down the items that are only nice items to have. You could meal plan successfully without these items, but they add more flavors and variety to your menu. Dessert items usually go on this list, because you can get by without them. Things for baking go here if you don’t do it often. My “nice things” list also includes some extra kinds of vegetables that we don’t use often. If we got them all the time, they would go bad. But they are nice to have every so often to enjoy as something different.
Set Four: Using the Grocery List
Now if my husband is out, and he asks if we need anything, I can consult the essentials column of the grocery list. And when I write a grocery list for him, it is easy to note which items to only get if they are on sale or fit the budget. As long as all the essentials are stocked, I can find things on the meal plan to make for the week.
The other way to use this grocery list is to do your meal plan for the week, selecting which breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and sides you want for the week. Then, check which ingredients you have on hand, and add all missing ones from the list to your grocery list. (Or, as I do, laminate your grocery list and then check off which items you need each week).
Don’t forget to grab our free printable, linked below, to fill out your ultimate meal plan and grocery list!
The Byzantine Life
Thank you for checking out this week’s article. Grab our free Ultimate Meal Plan Printable Set here! And don’t forget to look at our other articles on organization!
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