Meal Planning

meal plan

I’ve been meal planning {on and off} for around 5 years. As a busy Mama, with three kiddos home all day every day, a household to run as well as a business… life can get pretty crazy. Without a mealplan, I find myself at 4pm every. single. day. panicking about what we’re going to eat that day. That leads to the same thing over and over, not much variety and only things that can be thrown together in a hurry.

I’m not naturally an organised person, but I’ve learnt that it pays to make myself be organised. I’ve found that writing endless lists/plans means that my brain doesn’t have to try and remember every thing {which usually leads to me forgetting half of it!}

A meal plan works great for me – it means I know each morning what we’re having that night, so I can plan ahead, take things out of the freezer {if necessary}, do some prep work, etc…. It also means that shopping is far easier – I buy the things we need, not whatever I think, so we have less waste and spend less money too.

I meal plan for four weeks at a time – I find it easier to do a few weeks in one go, than having to find time to do it every single week. Having said that, it only takes me twenty minute to plan four weeks out.

I either laminate the meal plan or write in pencil so that I can move things around if necessary. When I plan the four weeks meals, I take into account evening activities -for example, Mondays I help out with a Rainbow group, so we need something that is either quick to make when we get home or can be left ready.

On the weekend, I look ahead to the meals I’ve planned for that coming week, check our plans and G’s work plans and move meals around if I need to. Planning for four weeks at a time means that we get a great variety of meals over the month, without too much repetition. Sometimes I’ll simly fill in a day’s meal with say ‘Pasta’ so I can pick a pasta recipe nearer the time. I also keep a list of meals from recipe books/the internet that I’d like to try so I can add one or two in when I make the meal plan.

mealplan

I’d love to share our printable meal planner with you, click on the image below for a printable PDF file :)

FAMILY MEAL PLANNER

22 Comments

  1. nessjibberjabberuk

    September 9, 2014 at 10:10

    You are very organized! I never have done any meal planning but my husband goes running at least four times a week so I have to make meals to fit in with that.

  2. Rachel

    September 9, 2014 at 10:26

    I think I will just move in with you to be fed, so organised x

  3. Mummy and Boo

    September 9, 2014 at 11:10

    I absolutely love this! I’m a big fan of meal planning and meal prep (I follow a strict meal plan for fitness) but I’d never thought of writing it out like this – will definitely be grabbing your printable!

  4. Manneskjur

    September 9, 2014 at 12:40

    Awesome printable – we do a weekly meal plan scribbled on paper and magnetted to the fridge – this way looks much nicer!

    1. Polly

      September 9, 2014 at 21:20

      I’m all about pretty things :p

  5. you baby me mummy

    September 9, 2014 at 13:37

    Thanks for sharing. I think we need to do this x

  6. Sue

    September 9, 2014 at 13:47

    Hi lovely mama, thank you for sharing the meal planner. I am mega disorganised and spend way too much money nipping to the shop to buy bits I need.
    I’m off to do a meal plan now :):)
    Xx

    1. Polly

      September 9, 2014 at 21:20

      Hope it helps!!! Making myself be organised saves so much stress ;)

  7. Jen aka The Mad House

    September 9, 2014 at 15:10

    Thanks for the planner. I am a meal planner too and I much prefer it that way. It means that I can get everything done and have much less food waste. Off to pin and share that beautiful planner

  8. sam thurley

    September 9, 2014 at 17:51

    Thank you so much, I have looking for a planner for a while. Its so much easier if you can plan ahead and my boy like to know exactly what hes got each night. Saves loads of time and “Whats for dinner” moment xx

    1. Randhil

      October 2, 2014 at 02:36

      Yeah that’s what I’m talking about bayb–nice work!

  9. Maura

    September 9, 2014 at 17:59

    HI,

    Printed off and ready to use! I’m too much of lets wait and see what we feel like… I need to be more organised, so here we go.

    Luv
    Maura
    x

  10. Jess @ Along Came Cherry

    September 9, 2014 at 20:41

    I love reading other people’s meal planners and I really need to do this. It’s becoming such a stress in my life as everyday I never know what to make and end up doing to the shop to buy a load of stuff which costs a fortune. I really need to start using my ingredients in a better way. I just wish I could afford a chef! x

    1. Polly

      September 9, 2014 at 21:19

      I used to get so stressed everyday trying to come up with something for dinner, and then still making the same thing every single day. And I definitely spent way more money, as I’d just buy whatever looked good at the shop, but then not actually have the stuff we needed, or have bought stuff we didn’t end up eating that just got thrown away. It seemed like a huge mission to start meal planning, but once I got into the habit it’s really easy.

  11. stacey kirkbride

    September 9, 2014 at 22:20

    Thank you so much for sharing the meal planner template!

  12. Kahler

    September 9, 2014 at 23:30

    Thanks for putting this together, at the moment I’m just like you Polly in the comment above! I’m sick of having lots of different stuff but always having the same thing for dinner lol Time to get organised! :)

  13. Emma TheMiniMesAndMe

    September 10, 2014 at 09:53

    I will be printing the planner off – that’s really handy to have.
    I plan our meals before we shop to prevent waste of food and money but half the time I forget what we are meant to be having oops x

  14. Fritha

    September 10, 2014 at 17:17

    We SO need to get into meal planning. I feel like the day we finally do will be the day I’ll be a proper grown up ;) xx

  15. Lottie :: Oyster & Pearl

    September 10, 2014 at 23:40

    Wow, I’m so impressed! I’m deeply disorganised but this week managed to plan at least three or four meals so am feeling quite pleased with myself.

  16. Nayna Kanabar (@SIMPLYF00D)

    September 12, 2014 at 10:58

    Meal planning is such a great idea as it also allows to to get your shopping done and only buy ingredients you need and so you don’t waste.

  17. Julie

    September 17, 2014 at 19:38

    This is great! You’re so organised! I have no idea what I’m having for dinner from one day to the next! x

  18. Cook it: Veggie Chilli and Cornbread - Enchanted Pixie //

    September 24, 2014 at 08:00

    […] glad that the weather is cooling, after a summer munching salads we’re ready to change our mealplan around and add in some different dishes – and warming autumn food is so tasty! One of our […]

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