I know I post every week a menu plan of what my family will be eating. The reason I started meal planning was to make my life a little easier, also I wanted to make sure our diets were well rounded, and help me stay on budget. After over two years of doing this, I can honestly say I have met all those goals and continue to do so. If you're interested in making your own meal plans this is how I come up with my meal plans (if not feel free to keep checking out my blog and seeing what my weekly plan is lol).
Step 1
Circulars:
I go through all the store circulars and see who is having the best sales (that is where I will be shopping). I mostly focus on the meat sales. Once I know what my protein options for the week are I move on to step two.
Step 2
Recipes:
What am I going to make with this meat? I always try to pick two different meats if possible (this gives us a little diversity, and also my meatless Monday recipe shakes it up). Next I turn to my binder of recipes. If I am not inspired here, or only come up with a few ideas, I move on to Pinterest and type in "Chicken Dinners" for example. Now I am busy and don't want my life to revolve around making dinner, so generally the first meal on my list I will cook a huge piece of meat (pork shoulder, whole chicken, a ham ect..) the meals that follow this first meal are going to be made with the precooked meat I just made. If I am only buying small pieces that week like legs, thighs, cutlets ect... than I cook it up that night but clean and prep it when I first get home.
Step 3
Sides:
I figured out what I am doing with the star of my meal, the meat, now for the sides. I decide this based on what I think will go nice with with my meat, and also what is on sale. I usually have a carb (rice, potato, sweet potato, squash, pasta, quinoa, or bread) and a vegetable (steamed, raw, baked, sauteed). Since nutrition is really important to me, I try to always make my plates look like 60% meat 25% vegetable, and 15% carbs. Sometimes I sneak extra vegetables in lol.
Step 4
Calendar:
Now that I know what I plan to make, I look at our schedules for the week and decide which day I will be making what. This keeps me from stressing out, if I know I don't have a lot of time on a specific day, I can make something very simple and quick on that day.
Step 5
Lunches:
Now that I know what my dinners are I can figure out my lunches. I love to do left overs for lunch! Use your leftovers to make, sandwiches, salads, soups, and pasta dishes for the next day. If you don't have enough have a back up plan ( canned soups, box mac and cheese, frozen ravioli, cold cuts, pb&j, or grilled cheese for some ideas).
Step 6
Breakfast:
I make different things for breakfast every day, but I follow the same pattern every week (that way I don't have to think to hard).
Mondays I do oatmeal (but there are so many different kinds of combinations you can make, so I make different flavors every week, and just keep a constant supply of steel cut oats in my pantry) Tuesdays I make eggs with either toast or fruit, again so many choices (omelets, scrambled, fried, sunny side, poached, on a sandwich).
Wednesdays I make smoothies (this is a great way to keep fruit from going to waste, and I always sneak in vegetables, organic protein powder, and flax).
Thursdays we have cereal (hey everyone deserves a break, and I love cereal).
Fridays is either toaster whole wheat waffles or whole wheat toast. To make sure we are still getting plenty of nutrients, I put either a nut spread or cream cheese on it, or sometimes I sprinkle it with cinnamon and powdered stevia (aka cinnamon sugar), and I serve with fruit.
Saturdays I bake or do brunch. I started this so we could all sleep in on Saturdays, and have a late breakfast. I make the breakfast a little bit bigger, and then we skip lunch. This way I don't have to worry about preparing lunch, and we can go out for the day if we want.
Sundays we eat with my mom and I am spoiled lol, I don't cook she does, and its a morning off!
Step 6
Snacks:
In my house I try and do one healthy snack after lunch (fruit, veggies, cheese, humus ect...), one not healthy snack after dinner (cookies, ice cream, candy ect...). I pick up different things, usually from Trader Joe's, and try and mix it all week long.
Step 7
The List:
Now that you have a game plan of what you are eating for the whole week, you can finalize your list, make sure you have everything on it to make it through the week. Check it against your budget, see if you need to make any changes, and you are done!
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