How to Meal Plan Like a Pro

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Meal Planning. It’s the weekly necessary evil that we all must do, like having insurance. If meal planning doesn’t happen, then meals don’t happen. And like I’ve told my husband who’ll often say things like, “You know what I’d really love? I’d love some sushi tonight.” Well, that’s all well and good, but if it ain’t on the list, it ain’t gettin’ made! Meals don’t just happen because you wish them into existence. Meals happen because you plan them. And this is my routine.

Step 1: Choose your Meal Planning day and your Grocery shopping day

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For me, grocery day is Monday, which means meal planning happens at some point on Sunday. I like to shop on Mondays so I have all my food set for the week ahead. It just works for me. (Please note that meal planning day and grocery shopping day can be any day of the week that works best for you and your schedule. They can even be on the same day if you like. Just remember that meal planning must happen before you actually shop. Or you’ll spend way more time shopping than you need to and less time cooking / eating. And who wants that! Don’t worry girl, I gotchu. ;))

Step 2: Choose your recipes for the week

This is the fun part! I’ll enlist my family’s help and take specific requests. And if said requests don’t seem too daunting to me, then I’ll often go ahead and make them.

I sometimes also throw in something that’s not a recipe, but is super easy for me to make, like grilled chicken, regular spaghetti or turkey burgers. Also, I’ll only pick about 4 meals for the week and plan on making a little extra so we can enjoy leftovers and I won’t have to cook something EVERYDAY.

Here are some current favorite recipes of mine that are a family crowd-pleaser.

Crockpot Spaghetti

Slow Cooker Chili

Thai Basil Chicken

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

As you can see, I love my slow cooker and use it often. It helps me a lot since I’m often shuffling kids around to their afternoon extracurricular activities. And so I don’t have to come home at 6:30 PM at night and get dinner started that late, my meal cooks for me while I’m out and about and is ready when I walk in the door. It is a true Godsend!

Step 3: Add your meal ingredients to your shopping cart app

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I use the ShopShop shopping list app. I’ve used it for years. It’s totally customizable and works great for me. The process of adding things to your list can take about 15 minutes or so. Make sure to check your inventory as you’re making your list as well. I can’t tell you how many times I went out and bought extra soy sauce when I already had an unopened bottle in my pantry. Checking your inventory saves you time and money.

Step 4: SHOP!

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You can either go to your favorite, most convenient grocery store or market and take the hour to shop yourself. Or, when I’d rather get some work done around the house instead of shop, I’ll use a shopper app like Instacart or Shipt.

Step 5: Put groceries away

This is my least favorite step, but that doesn’t make it any less necessary! I start with my frozen items, then my refrigerated items. For the produce, especially the fresh fruit, I’ll wash those first before putting them in the fridge. It saves me time later and I know I can grab me a couple grapes whenever I want without having to wash it first.

Step 6: Cook at your leisure

On cooking days, I’ll often start my either slow cooker or regular skillet meal about 2 hours before I know I need to pick up the kids from school. If it’s a regular skillet meal, I’ll cook it, let it cool and then refrigerate it until I’m ready to eat it later. For a slow cooker meal, and these for me are often recipes, I’ll give myself about an hour to prep (slice/dice) and toss everything into the pot.

If there any steps I missed or there’s something that you do differently that works for you, please let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!