I don’t know about you, but I’m not a good “grab random ingredients at 5:00 and turn them into an amazing dinner” kind of cook. I do best when I have a meal plan and a recipe. Monthly meal planning helps me stay on track so we don’t end up eating pancakes for dinner too often—which disappoints my kids if I’m being honest.
What is Meal Planning?
Meal planning is scheduling your meals so you can always answer the question, “What’s for dinner?”
When you meal plan, you do all the thinking at once instead of standing in front of the fridge wondering what to make every. Single. Night while there are whining kids in the background.
Benefits of Meal Planning
Meal planning…
- Saves time — you get all the thinking out of the way ahead of time, plus grocery shopping is a breeze with a specific list
- Saves money — you are much less likely to order out or let food go bad if you’ve got a plan
- Reduces stress — there’s so much less pressure, especially helpful when everyone is hungry
- Is healthier — you can plan balanced meals and skip the fast food
- Reduces food waste — you buy what you need and then cook it instead of just buying a ton of things you might cook
- Saves pantry space — you can still stock up if you’d like, but there’s no need when you’ve got a plan and shop based on that
When Should You Meal Plan?
Meal plan as often or as infrequently as you want. Many people plan weekly. I like to plan monthly because I can’t commit to sitting down every week. I have friends that plan once every 6 weeks. The timing can be flexible as long as you’re consistent!
When I meal plan monthly, I have 30 fresh meals planned in 10-15 minutes. The monthly system allows me to not repeat meals unless I want to. It also allows me to balance proteins, so we eat a variety of foods. It also helps me to break out of my dinner rut. It’s easy to keep track of, too, because I just do it during the last few days of each month for the next month.
Monthly Meal Planning: Step-by-Step
Here’s how I make a monthly meal plan.
Step 1: Gather Materials
To start out, I gather my materials.
- A Family calendar (no sense in planning a meal when you’re invited to a barbeque, right?)
- List of favorite family meals/recipes or a cookbook
- Paper and pen (or computer/phone if that’s how you roll)
I use my Limelife Planner – this has blank pages and my meal list and my calendar, so it’s all in one spot. You could definitely use a wall calendar and a sheet of paper just as easily. I also grab a cookbook or two if I’m feeling like something new.
Step 2: Write Out the Dates
Next, I write the dates of the month out on my paper 1 through 28, 30, 31, 29… whatever.
Step 3: Fill in the No-Brainers
Setting up a few routine meals a few days a week is ESSENTIAL to my meal plan. I call these routine meals “no brainers” because I don’t have to think. By filling in up 8-10 no brainers on specific nights, you’ve cut out a third of your meal planning in seconds.
Fridays
Using my calendar for reference, I find all the Fridays and write ” pizza.” Pizza and a movie are a Friday night tradition in our house.
Tuesdays
On Tuesdays, I usually alternate between tacos and taco salad (make your own seasoning). Who am I to argue with Taco Tuesdays?
Bam. I’ve got eight out of about 30 meals figured out in about 15 seconds. These 8 meals are the basis for my entire month. First off, they’re quick meal planning wins. Second, they’re simple, crowd-pleasing dinners I know my family will be excited about. While this won’t ensure a smooth dinner with well-behaved children, it can’t hurt.
Step 3: Complete the Meal Plan
For my remaining 22-ish days, I look at my calendar, flip through my favorite meals, and look at my cook book. I schedule more elaborate meals on days where we don’t have evening plans and keep meals super simple and quick when we have activities or I lack prep time.
Meal Planning Hacks
Whole Chicken
I try to cook a whole chicken once or twice a month. We eat chicken with sides the first night, then make meals from the leftover chicken two other nights. Some of our favorite meals using leftover chicken are stir fry, fajitas, quesadillas, chicken casserole, chicken noodle soup, and white chicken chili. 5 or 6 more meals, done.
Bank on Double
Earlier in the month, make a double batch of a meal that’s simple to freeze, like baked ziti, soup, or shepherd’s pie. Eat one and freeze the other. Later in the month, defrost the 2nd batch and enjoy. Dinner doesn’t get much simpler than that!
Incorporate Goals
Meal planning allows me to be more intentional. We are trying to incorporate more vegetables into our daily routine—which is reflected in our meal plan (lots of salad). I’ve added salad once or twice a week (that’s 4-8 more meals checked off!). We change the toppings, dressings, and proteins to keep things different.
Schedule a Night Off
Don’t forget to give yourself a break — schedule at least 2 nights for “dining out” if it’s in the budget.
Related Post: Sticking to a Meal Plan
Finding Meal Plan Inspiration
I keep some cookbooks handy and try to include two new meals every month — I usually add them on a less-busy night because new recipes usually take more time and focus. Yes, I know the internet is full of recipes, but there’s just something about flipping through an actual book. You can borrow cookbooks from the library or purchase one or two a year for some fresh ideas. The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook is a book I purchased last year. It’s full of non-fussy, family-friendly meals.
I go through my cookbooks another time and use post-it’s to mark recipes I’d like to revisit. If I write meals from cookbooks in my meal plan, I use parentheses to remind me which cookbook they came from.
Sticking to Your Meal Plan
As I plan each week out in my planner, I write the meals for the day at the bottom of each day’s column. Writing them on a display board in your kitchen is also helpful, plus family knows what’s on the menu.
When I’m planning my grocery order, I refer to my weekly menu and make sure I have the ingredients I need. When I’m planning the next day, I refer to this and make sure I defrost any frozen meat. Check this blog post for more tips on Sticking to Your Meal Plan.
Monthly Meal Planning Made Simple
So there you have it. The key to this whole routine—what makes it manageable and quick—is the eight nights of “no brainer” meals and two nights of dining out. When those are completed, the rest of the month — just 20 days — can come together rather quickly.
Overall, I find creating a monthly meal plan well worth it. It keeps my evenings calmer and more predictable so I can save my energy for the important things, like fighting over homework and making kids take showers and clip toenails.
Want more inspo? Check out my December, January, February, March, April, and May monthly meal plans.
Want to try it? Grab a notebook and DIY it OR buy the ebook and meal planner I’ve created! Leave a comment below and tell me what you think!
Your system looks amazing, Melissa! My hubby is the cook in our house and he is a “fly by the seat of his pants” kind of guy in relation to meal planning. I’ve been “at him” to do some sort of meal planning for a while now but he’s been quite resistant. Your system seems really doable. Let’s see if I can give this another go and finally convince him that planning is worth the effort! Planning one month at a time makes so much sense given how quickly a week flies by.
As long as flying by the seat of his pants works for him, that’s not a bad thing! I don’t do well like that, though!
LOVE meal planning! And absolutely love a whole chicken hack.
It’s a sanity saver for me!!
Love LOVE your ideas!! This was exactly what I was looking for when I googled 😉. I keep trying to meal plan weekly but… I just don’t do it? I don’t keep up with it. Your system is perfect for me! A month at a time…woulda never thought of it on my own. 😁. Thank you for the ideas and inspo that it’s not this big mountain to climb…
I’m so glad you found it helpful! I ALSO couldn’t keep up with weekly meal planning. I love the one time a month planning and how it offers a larger picture so I can more easily avoid getting stuck in a rut!
WHERE DID YOU PURCHASE THE NOTE BOOK?
It’s from http://www.limelifeplanners.com — my favorite place for planners and notebooks! Quality and attention to detail are amazing!
I’d love to know if you also ever meal plan the other meals (breakfast, lunch, and snack times). I have three little ones and I’m exhausted from having to come up with something to feed my family 5 times a day everyday. I do have go-to recipes and go-to snacks but sometimes I feel like I’m always just winging it every time, and groceries aren’t optimized because I’m literally just buying our usuals and then thinking, “oh, I didn’t make this and forgot so I’ve wasted this zucchini), or I buy something wanting to give my kids extra exposure to some food but it doesn’t get used well or I don’t use up all of it. I also have the issue of having to purchase from about 3 different grocery stores (ALDI for the best prices to save money, Food Lion because our produce from ALDI is usually pretty awful, and then an ethnic grocery store I go to about once every month because I’m trying to add more food from my culture for my husband and kids). It gets exhausting.
Lois,
That does sound exhausting. I don’t plan other meals but I do keep simple items like oatmeal, frozen pancakes, yogurt, and eggs in the house and that’s what I prepare for my children. We also keep lunch simple (leftovers, sandwiches, etc.). While everything is balanced and we eat different food groups, dinner is the only meal I ever plan.
As for the wasted food and preparing cultural foods, meal planning can really help if you commit to it. I recommend planning two larger, intense meals a week and then preparing simpler meals the other days until you form a habit.
Another strategy you can take is to make meals in batches. Double or triple what you cook and then freeze it for the following week. That’s a great way to have those wonderful means but make them quicker!