More easy meal planning tips for simple dinner planning
These great meal planning tips will help you come up with family meal ideas and quick easy dinner ideas, making your dinner and meal planning that much easier.
I recommend not skipping tip number one for sure. And you can try one or all of the rest to see which ones work best for you.
Meal Planning Tip 1 - Define your goals
Whether it's being more frugal, eating healthier, adding variety, or being steady and sure by cooking your favorites, think about what you want your meal plan to accomplish.
Setting your goal will help you decide what recipes to look for and choose for your plan.
Meal Planning Tip 2 - Be Flexible
If you like a lot of variety in the food you cook and serve your family, like me, you won't do well with a rigid plan. So be flexible.
Plan around six different dinners and only commit the night before to what you'll cook the next day. Defrost any meats as necessary the night before by moving them from the freezer to the fridge. That's about all the commitment you'll need to stick with this plan.
With flexibility like this in your plan, you can feel spontaneous and free, while still benefiting from having a plan.
Meal Planning Tip 3 - Designated Days
Having a designated day is a great way to fill your weekly meal plan. This way you can focus on a variety of foods and prepare balanced nutritious meals all week long.
I use this way to plan to take advantage of what's available at my local grocers. Like having fish on a Monday, the day I know they bring in their fresh catch. This usually means a quick trip back to the store, but for fresh fish, it's worth it to me.
Here is just one of many ways you can slice and dice a week by designating days:
Monday: Fish
Tuesday: Pasta
Wednesday: Stir-fry
Thursday: Vegetarian
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Pizza
Sunday: Roast
Meal Planning Tip 4 - Budget Conscious
If one of your meal planning goals is to save money, there are a number of ways you can accomplish this.
Check out the specials in the weekly circulars issued by your grocery store and plan meals around what's on special this week.
Make meals that do double duty. Create a meal for one day that, with a little tweaking, makes a whole different meal the next day. For example, roast enough salmon one night to have with rice and veggies. The next night, flake the remaining salmon into a salad of mix greens and grape tomatoes with homemade vinaigrette – Yummo!
Meal Planning Tip 5 - Fill your freezer
You can do full out freezer meals, or monthly meal planning as it is called, if you're super organized and so inclined. This takes a lot of prep work and you'll also have to designate a whole day to cook meals that will last you a month.
Alternatively, you can freeze a couple of meals each week and add those meals to the week's meal plan during the month.
I do this often to help me cut down on the days I have to plan for during a given week. When I'm making chili or a meat sauce for example, I'll do up a double batch. It takes the same amount of time, so why not! I'll serve some for dinner that night, and freeze the rest for a dinner next week or the week after.
Meal Planning Tip 6 - Other considerations
If you have a busy family, or a family of picky eaters, make sure to take them into consideration when you're developing your meal plan.
What activities does your family have planned for the week? If Tuesdays is soccer practice, it might be a good idea to have some quick and easy dinner recipes planned for that night. Even better still, have a meal that's already prepared and all you'll need to do is heat it in the oven or microwave.
You can also get your family involved in the planning. Ask them about their favorites (yes, we know about the nuggets and pizza, but what else). Or give them a couple of ideas of meals you're thinking about and let them choose.
