#Meal planning cheat sheet how to
#Meal planning cheat sheet download

You can download my printable cheat sheet HERE! My Cheat Sheet is broken into the same categories from above, so all I have to do is pick an item on the list based on what food we already we have in the house! I printed mine front and back, laminated it, and hole punched so I could add it to our home management binder. Isn’t that a fun schedule? We followed a meal plan very similar to this one growing up so I simplify followed the idea because it worked for my family of 8 back then! I break down my recipes into menu categories and assign each day of the week with a fun category to make it even easier to plan meals each day! The one thing I don’t do – try a new recipe every night! I stick with recipes that I know my family likes to eat and throw in a new one every now and then to see if they might like something different that I can add to our meal plan again later.Ĭreate Menu Catagories for Each day of the Week I don’t use all 170+ recipes, they are just there as suggestions depending on what we have in the pantry. My cheat sheet consists of 170+ different meal ideas. I use a meal planning cheat sheet (you can get it below) to help me come up with meals for the week. I typically look for items that we have yet to open/eat and if I think we won’t use it in the near future I donate it to our church. Go through your pantry and look for expired items. However, I do sometimes “clean up” the pantry where our snacks are located because the kids rummage through these items throughout the week and the basket needs some rearranging. You can read how I organized our pantry in this post. I don’t clean out pantry every week because our pantry is SUPER organized. If there is fruit that looks like it’s getting ready to go bad but still good enough to eat, I stick it in the freezer in a baggie or make a quick sherbert using my Ninja blender! Clear the shelves in the fridge so you have plenty of space for new items. Pull out all old food items, throw out expired items, etc.

I like to plan to use items we already have to keep our grocery costs down, but if there’s a special meal you want to make this week, take inventory of what you need to make it happen. Maybe your schedule changes from week to week…just pick a day and plan to stick to that day as your meal planning day for the long term.īefore you can plan what you’re going to eat all week long, you need to take inventory of what’s already in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. Maybe you work weekends so Sunday isn’t an option. I like to start our meal planning week with Monday since everyone is back in the grind that day but your schedule might be completely different. Pick a day or two that works with your schedule to do your meal planning, grocery shopping, and prepping. Since all of those tasks are out of the way on Friday, I can enjoy a Saturday with my family and Sunday I take care of the rest of the meal planning tasks. I also clean out the fridge and then go grocery shopping.

I’ve tried to do it all in one day and it ends up being too much work so my fool-proof solution is to start planning our meals on Friday by taking inventory of what’s in the fridge and freezer. The reason I start on Friday is that I get exhausted if I try to do everything in one day. I do most of my meal prepping on Sundays, however, I start the meal “planning” process on Fridays.

#Meal planning cheat sheet how to

Let’s go through step-by-step how to meal plan so you can become a pro at making healthy, budget-friendly meals for you and your family! But if you want to be successful at meal planning, you need to PLAN. After reading this post and learning the best strategies to meal planning, you will reduce stress, reduce your grocery budget, and eat healthier.įor those of you that don’t like to plan ahead, you are not going to like this post.