If menu planning saves you money, why not get started? Perhaps there are a variety reasons why you can’t seem to get rolling. Perhaps you are overwhelmed by the whole concept.
If you still feel like your feet are dragging, then keep it simple. Don’t open your cupboards or your freezer. Just plan something!
The key is taking small, realistic steps. It is better to start doing something, then to do nothing at all.
For beginner meal planning, make a list of your family’s favorite meals. If you are coming up empty, ask your family tonight at dinner time. Most likely, you will have more than 5 meals on your list. This will give you the framework for more than a week’s worth of meals. Later, we will work on adding variety, rotation and smart cooking into the menu.
Based off your meal plan for this week, make a list before heading to the store. Be all inclusive as possible to avoid more than 1 store run this week.
I would never recommend not looking in your cupboards before meal planning on a consistent basis. However, if this is what you need to get started, then go for it! Usually, all you need is a little boost.
Before you know it, you will be ready to take your plan to the next level!
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I try to meal plan almost every week. This is to keep us from getting a bite on the go and save money. You stated that looking in your pantry should be a good way to menu plan. I actually have gone so far as to taking and writing inventory of all the food we have in our house. This helps me to spend less at the grocery store and get creative with the ingredients we have. Then as we use, I erase. I have a white board I keep on the side of my fridge with our meals for the week and all the list of foods we have "in stock." I just came across your blog and am LOVING it! Menu planning in my house is twice as hard as I don't eat meat, my husband loves meat and my 2 1/2 year old daughter eats only ground meat. Go figure! We love it though and meal planning brings our little family to the table and gives us more time together then fretting over what to make for dinner. Great tip for those Thanksgiving Turkey Sales. My husband buys up a few turkeys at discount and he uses our Kitchen Aid mixer with grinder attachment to grind our own turkey meat. We can control the amount of fat that goes in too. We then freeze and have it all ready in 1 lb. servings for our tacos feasts and other turkey needs throughout the year.
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