Saving Sanity with Meal Planning

Back in the olden days when I was just a youngin’ and caught my husband, we could not wait until I graduated college. So we got married. And lived happily ever after.

Mostly.

We celebrated eighteen years of marriage the end of May. It’s fun to look back and see how far we have come. We have a box of check registers from our first few year of marriage.

I think it’s good to keep ways to remind you where you have come from – whether it’s spiritually, physically, or in this case, financially. God has been good to us.

When we first married, I cooked probably at least four nights a week and we had leftovers on the other nights. We ordered the occasional Papa John’s pizza on the weekend but rarely went out because paying for college, an apartment, student loans from graduate school, insurances, and a beginning accountant's salary in 1996 did not go far. Things were tight. I was buying groceries and supplies with a budget of $60 a week.

Looking back, I cannot even imagine how I was able to cook that much plus buy supplies, breakfast, and lunch foods on that amount. The thing I started from the beginning that made it work was meal planning. I would plan out our meals for a week. I also shopped with a calculator. Sometimes I had to put things back because I knew after sales tax it would be outside my budget. When the babies came along, I would plan for two weeks because it was hard going to the store with a two month old and a 20 month old.

After 18 years, I still plan our meals for the week.

Why plan meals?
1. It saves money.
When I do forget something for a meal or run out of a food during the week (like milk or cheese) and have to make another run to the grocery store, I have found I do not go in just to get that one or two items. Inevitably, I end up seeing something else that would be good or I would like to get. That this sound all too familiar to you? If you go to the store 2-3 times a week to get groceries then you will also fall into that pit. You also save money in the fact that you actually have a meal you can make and you don't have to go out to eat.

If you are into couponing or price-matching then meal planning helps you there too. Or you can meal planned based on what is on sale that week (or meal plan around what you have coupons to buy). Back in the day, I used to do both. Now I find that most of the items I buy (fresh foods, organic, etc) don't have sales.

2. It saves time.
Since I don’t have to make more than one trip a week to the store, I’m saving driving and extra shopping time right there. (Have you ever realized how much time you spend in the grocery line waiting to be checked out? Obviously, I have. It seems to always be longer when I’m in a hurry.) It also saves time in that you are not scouring recipes online or in cookbooks trying to figure out what to make. Think how much time you will save by not looking in the pantry or refrigerator waiting for some foods to jump out at you that will go well together.

3. It saves stress.
I always have at least four meals planned for each week. I also try to plan at least two of those meals to be quickies for nights when I don’t feel like getting in some involved meal. (Check out my 30 minute Chicken Bryan recipe post.) Looking ahead at my week’s schedule, sometimes I see I will have a busy day and know by 4 or 5 o’clock I will not feel like cooking. On days like that I pre-plan a slow cooker meal for that day, starting it earlier when I haven’t reached exhaustion. Knowing what you will eat really does keep you from being stressed when on your way home from work or from ball practice or whatever.

Did anyone notice I said I plan at least "four" meals and maybe wonder what we eat the other three nights? We usually have a “leftover” night and sometimes have “free night” which means everyone fends for themselves. My kids are 12 and 14 now so I can do that. I don’t recommend it if you have a 3 and 5 year old. ;) Sundays, we usually eat a large lunch at my parents after church. At least one night a week (it seems) we eat out or order pickup.

Taking ten minutes each week to meal plan, I save my sanity.

I ensure my family is eating healthy meals.

I am making sure we have time around the table as a family.

Most of us are starved (pun intended) for time spent together as a family. Dinner at the table may be the only time of the day we can reconnect, talk about the day, and leave behind the hassle of work and school. Our relationships need this time whether it’s you and your spouse, you as a single parent, you and your spouse and six children. Research has confirmed that family meal time is good for the health, spirit, and brain of all family members.

“Recent studies link regular family dinners with many behaviors that parents pray for: lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression, as well as higher grade-point averages and self-esteem. Studies also indicate that dinner conversation is a more potent vocabulary-booster than reading, and the stories told around the kitchen table help our children build resilience. The icing on the cake is that regular family meals also lower the rates of obesity and eating disorders in children and adolescents. What else can families do that takes only about an hour a day and packs such a punch?” (quote)

There is no magic number but research shows that families who eat together five nights a week gain great benefits. Now don’t think your family is going to fall apart if you only have four nights a week. Do the best you can with the time you have. If you are a parent reading this then we all know that time is fleeting and what we invest in our child’s lives today will be worth it.

A while back (it could have been five months or a year ago), I heard that Americans spend an average of 30 minutes a day cooking. I would love for all my meals to take only 30 minutes especially when I think about how quickly it is eaten and what’s afterwards (clean up). Looking to confirm this statistic, I found it and also read that 1 in 3 Americans are obese (the largest percentage of industrialized nations). Do you think there is any correlation with how much time we spend in the kitchen?

So how do I meal plan?
1. Go through your recipes and pick 4-6 meals.
I mentioned it above but what I do is go through *my* cookbook – the 2 inch three ring binder that keeps all my tried-and-true recipes and pick out meals from it. I have it divided into regular cookbook-type sections but think I may make a list eventually for the front that has “30 Minutes or Less Meals” and “Slow Cooker Meals” for when I’m planning.

Do not forget about your side dishes! I grew up eating at a table (my mom’s) where we ate a meat and four or five sides (vegetables). We had a big garden and she did a lot of canning and freezing to ensure we saved money and ate healthy. However, for me, I try to have two sides but sometimes one of those are what I don’t consider to be a real vegetable (potatoes or corn, because of their starch and the one being a grain, technically). By the way, our Sunday meals are still that way! (Thanks, Mom!) Bread as a side is rare at our house and was that way even before I was gluten free.

Think about how to use foods for other recipes. Maybe you want a salad with your grilled chicken and will only use a little of the peppers and onions. You could also plan on having beef fajitas and use the rest of the peppers and onions for your meal. Or if  you cook a broiler chicken you could use what is leftover to make chicken salad croissants on another night. Leftover meatballs? Meatball subs. Get the idea? :)

2. Write down ingredients you do not have after you pick each meal.
Look in your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator while you have the recipe out to make sure you have everything. When I think I can remember all I need for a recipe without looking, probably 1 out of 3 times I forget something I HAVE to have (like the meat itself or a can of tomatoes or something).

3. Ask family members if there is anything they need. (Not WANT.)
While making my grocery list, I always ask my kids and husband if there is anything they need for breakfast or lunches. Snacks and desserts are at my discretion (except if the hubs wants something). I do usually get something as a surprise for my family though. This past Saturday I baked some Sister Schubert’s cinnamon rolls for breakfast that was out of our norm. Being gluten free can hurt sometimes, like this past Saturday. I dutifully ate my two scrambled eggs with pimento cheese and two slices of bacon though (which was delicious).

4. Lastly, make sure your list makes it to your purse (or pocket if you’re a man reading this).
Or better yet, if you have a smart phone download the grocery list app I blogged about recently. No more forgetting lists at home or in the car or at work. If you do like a paper grocery list, here is a meal planning list I made a while back and used for a long time. It was inspired by one I found on Pinterest from someone’s blog but added different colors and fonts.

Click on image to download PDF.

There are also meal planning apps and websites out there you can use. My sister-in-law was using eMeals to help her as a working mom of three ensure her family ate healthy. Some of these websites and apps offer plans for meals that don't take a lot of time using real food and not prepackaged mixes.

What else? Make sure you have a way of keeping track of the meals you have planned. Don’t only write it on your grocery list and then throw away all your meal plan ideas after you buy groceries. On my Outlook email calendar, I have a feature called “Tasks” where I keep a list of my meals. As we eat them, I delete them. Sometimes a meal rollovers to the next week and sometimes a meal will rollover a couple of weeks before I cook it. That’s usually when it is a meal that takes more effort on my part. ;) I do remember to put the meat in the freezer if I have to do that though. So have a way to keep your meal list.

I hope this post is something that can help many. It was something I started doing from the first out of necessity and because of my OCD personality (like having things planned out!!). Let me know if you have any questions whether it’s more details, if something isn't clear, or whatever.

What about you? Meal planner or three-times-a-week grocery shopper? Cooker or food-eater-outer? Do you have any tips to share? Please leave a comment below!