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Homemaking 101 Series: Menu Planning

by Marci Ferrell
Food Homemaking Homemaking 101 Series Menu Planning

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I’d love to help you simplify your meal planning. Check out my new menu planning course here.

If you're encouraged by the podcast & blog consider becoming a friend of Thankful Homemaker at Patreon

 My Simple Meal Planning Method in a Nutshell. @mferrell

 

If there is one area I will encourage you to get into a good routine, next to the management of your household, it would be meal planning.

This is an area that will look different in each household but choosing to do nothing over trying various plans to see which one fits your family would be a good option and save you a lot of time, money and stress.  Meal planning helps you to make healthier choices for your family and more of your cooking will be homemade with wholesome ingredients.

There is nothing worse than not planning to eat leftovers, buying duplicate items at the store that are already in your cupboards or wondering what you’re going to feed your family at 6:00 pm.  Meal planning saves you time & money.  It will minimize your trips to the grocery store and clear the leftovers out of your fridge.

I am one of those weird people who loves to grocery shop.  Give me the choice of a grocery store trip over a trip to a mall any day.  When we travel for vacation, I get so excited to visit a new grocery store.

Now in sharing my love for grocery shopping, I still prefer not to have to visit my local store more than once a week.  It is a savings of time and money!

If you’re reading this and you’ve never meal planned read my post here – What’s for Dinner to give you a basic overview of what I do every week.  I have had moments where I’ve planned meals monthly and biweekly but I’ve settled in to once a week very comfortably.  (Probably because I missed being at the grocery store every week!)

Let me share a few meal planning options below and some sites that will do it for you for a small fee. I like free, so I’m sticking with my own.  Plus, I have tried some of the paid meal planning sites in the past but they just didn’t work with my scheduling, and I like using my cookbooks and recipes.  You may prefer someone to do all the thinking for you, but you still have to shop and make the meals – and wash the dishes!

My Simple Method in a Nutshell: (This is a summary from my What’s for Dinner post)

1. Grab your calendar and look at your week.  Make sure to note when you may need a quick meal or maybe when you’re having someone over etc.

2.  Grab a notebook and a few of your favorite cookbooks. I’ve been using Pinterest more frequently in my meal planning.  I’ll pin recipes that look of interest I come across and come back to them to integrate some variety into our weeks.  You may want to incorporate your local grocery store’s weekly flyer for specials and consider any coupons you may want to use.

3.  Make a note of any items you have on have in the freezer or pantry that you would like to use.  (Allrecipes has a feature that you plug in the ingredients you have on hand to help find recipes to use up what you have in your cupboards and fridge. ) 

4.  I plan all three meals every day for a week at a time.  Work leftovers into your lunches, and it is amazing how creative you can get with using them up.

5.  Keep a simple list of your favorite Breakfasts, Lunches, and Dinners on hand to reference for easy planning.  (See my posts on Favorite Healthy Breakfast & Lunches)

6.  Write it down on a notecard, menu planning sheet, right on your calendar or whatever works for you.  Plan your grocery list from the menu plan and double check items you already have on hand.

7.  At the bottom of each day, I’ll write if there is anything special I need to plan for the next day.

Note: A great reminder from a lovely reader (see the first comment) Jennifer reminds you to save your meal plans each week then you have ideas already on hand for future planning.  Thank you, Jennifer!

Some cookbooks I enjoy using every week:  
Trim Healthy Mama
The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Feeding the Whole Family
Rachel Ray Express Lane Meals
Family Feasts for $75 a Week – this one’s a favorite!
Make it Fast Cook it Slow
Healthy Foods
More-With-Less
The Best 30 Minute Recipes

Some Other Ways to Meal Plan:

1.  Meal plan from the food you have on hand in your pantry and fridge.  This is a great way to save money and declutter your pantry and fridge at the same time.

2.  Meal plan from your favorite grocery store sale flyer each week.

3.  Monthly meal plan by writing out a month’s worth of meals.  You can choose to shop weekly, biweekly or monthly this way too.

4.  Pick a night of the week for a different type of meal.
Example:
Monday – Slow Cooker
Tuesday – Beef
Wednesday – Chicken
Thursday – Fish
Friday – Pizza
Saturday – Soup
Sunday – Pasta or Beans

5.  Plan together with your family.  (This may work for some families but not mine.  Here is how it went at my house.  Me: “What would you like for dinner this week?”  My Family:  “We don’t care, whatever you want to make.”  Me: “Thank you for your help.”)

6.  Have fun and set up meal planning boards in Pinterest for each meal category and type of food.  (Example:  Boards for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.  Or boards for Beef, Chicken, Seafood, Pasta, etc.)

7.  Have a fun way to post your weekly plan for the whole family to see. Tons of ideas on Pinterest.

 

Free Online Meal Planning Helps:

Bi-Weekly Meal Plans at The Better Mom

Free PDF Weekly Menu Planning Sheet

5 Real Food Meal Plans from 100 Days of Real Food

25 Grace Filled Journey to Real Food – 3 Week Menu Plan Included with Gluten/Grain Free Option from My Humble Kitchen.

Websites and Blogs that Meal Plan for a Fee:

eMeals – You choose your type of plan (Clean Eating, Low-Carb, Paleo, Classic Meals, etc.) and they send you a weekly menu with a shopping list.  You can choose where you will shop for some of the meal plans.

Build a Menu – You select from their list of recipes and where you’ll shop for a customized menu plan.  They even have Trim Healthy Mama Recipes to choose from. 

My Humble Kitchen – Real food menu plan already taken care of for you.  I recommend you take advantage of the sample menu plan.  If I were going to subscribe to a service, this would be the one.

Spain in Iowa's Traditional Menu Plan on A Budget

Plan to Eat – You enter your recipes easily from various websites and type in your own to plan menus easily and quickly by dragging them from your recipe book to your plan.  It is customizable which is a plus.  Once most of your recipes are in the system it would make menu planning quick and easy.

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Books on Menu Planning:

Just Get Started:

If you haven’t meal planned, take the time to start.  If you’re already a planner, share with us in the comments what you do and how you’ve benefitted from it.

 

Related Links:

Free PDF Weekly Menu Planning Sheet
Homemaking 101 Series
What’s for Dinner
Simple & Healthy Breakfast Ideas
Simple & Healthy Lunch Ideas

 

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Related posts:

  1. Real Food Free Online Menu Plans – Baby Steps to Healthy Living Series
  2. Podcast EP 77: Simple Summertime Meal Planning Tips
  3. Free Tool to Simplify Your Meal Planning
  4. Menu Planning Made Easy for Less Than Three Dollars a Month!!


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Comments

  1. Libby says

    at

    I so enjoyed this post! I’m weird too, I guess- I’d rather go to a grocery store than the mall any day!! 🙂 It’s just so much fun 😉

    We keep our menu plans too, in my mom’s planner. And she also keeps a list of our favorites and go-to meals in our cupboards, that way if we need ideas we can look and see what we’ve liked in the past. We’ve also started doing a Meatless Mondays- which is fun and somewhat challenging.

    Hope you are having a lovely day!

  2. Jennifer Neuman says

    at

    I’ve tried menu planning in the past, but never developed a habit (not sure why since when I did do it, dinnertime was so much easier!) But this year, I joined a 12/52/365 group where we pick three things we are going to do monthly, weekly and daily, and for my weekly, I chose menu planning. I’m hoping the accountability in the group will help … I’m determined to make this a habit because I know it’s better health-wise, budget-wise and sanity-wise. I’ve done the first two weeks already and today I will plan for the third week. I’m saving my menus so that maybe I can repeat a good week here and there, but my goal is to not repeat a meal more than once a month (unless it’s a family fave like Friday pizza night, of course). Thanks for all the ideas and resources because it can get hard to be creative!

    • Marci Ferrell says

      at

      Jennifer such a good idea to save your menus – I do that and didn’t even think to put it in the post this time. Thank you for the reminder. Thanks for sharing and I’m hoping your menu planning habit sticks for you too! Blessings!

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Marci Ferrell
Patience is our ability, under the control of the Patience is our ability, under the control of the Spirit, to persevere and endure in times of suffering or hardship.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Come listen in (or read) EP 118: Cultivating Patience with One Another at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣ shows us our em By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣
 shows us our emptiness and weakness,⁣⁣
 draws us to the throne of grace,⁣⁣
 purifies our affections,⁣⁣
 weans us from the world,⁣⁣
 and makes us long for Heaven.⁣⁣
~ J.C. Ryle⁣
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Read more of Trusting God in Your Trials at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Come listen in to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self Pity at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)⁣
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#rootedinChrist #rootedintheword #christian #christianity #thankfulhomemaker #bedeeplyrooted  #christianblogger  #christians #treasurechrist #joyinchrist #inchristalone #deeplyrooted #martynlloydjones #selfpity
Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣ ⁣ Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣
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Weekly Menu Planning Free PDF is at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest "God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest earthly gift to his people, second only to the living Word, Jesus. And because the living Word perfectly lived out the written Word, we are blessed beyond measure. Jesus fulfilled every precept found in Psalm 119, keeping the principles and commandments of this psalm, and he did so on our behalf.⁣
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Our failure to live wholeheartedly is covered by Jesus, who lived it perfectly for us. Ultimately, he is Psalm 119 in human form, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)."⁣
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~ Taken from Sing a New Song: A Woman's Guide to the Psalms by Lydia Brownback⁣
⁣
With my whole heart I seek you;⁣
let me not wander from your commandments!⁣
I have stored up your word in my heart,⁣
that I might not sin against you.⁣
~ Psalm 119:10-11
Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, an Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, and effort. But remember that opportunities for doing good are not interruptions in God’s plan for us, but part of that plan. We always have time to do what God wants us to do.⁣
~ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness⁣
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Listen in to 10 Things Helping Me to Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and s I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and systems that help me to get things done. It’s a practical episode, and I hope to encourage you, if nothing else, to take a look at how your days are going and ask yourself some simple questions like:⁣
⁣
What is working and what is not working?⁣
Where do I find myself wasting time?⁣
Where can I make better use of my time?⁣
Can I simplify my days or various tasks or automate them?⁣
⁣
These are just a few questions to ponder, and there are many more you can ask, but the main one is to seek the Lord and ask him, are you a good steward of your time? Is your desire to honor Him amid your days and in how you spend your time?⁣
⁣
Many more than ten systems or tools help me manage my days, but these items top my list. I’ve shared more in detail on some of these in past blog posts or podcast episodes, but I wanted to put together an episode that walked through how I use each one.⁣
⁣
An episode like this one is more helpful to me than you because it helps me to think through my days and systems and tools and determine what is working for me and what isn’t.⁣
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Listen to 10 Things Helping Me Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sani Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sanity, reduce stress, eat healthy and avoid the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?” It sounds great, right, and we’d all love to do it, but how do we get there?⁣
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Menu planning is the answer to all those questions above. We have a jam-packed episode today filled with tons of tips, examples, and ideas, so stick with me, and I know there will be something that will appeal to each of you in some way.⁣
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Listen in at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable.⁣
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Come listen to EP 70: Finding Forgiveness After an Abortion at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
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