You Pinspire Me
With all the hype everywhere about “Back to School” and getting organized, I sometimes get a little annoyed. There are so many lists and ideas and ways to stay organized (just do a search at www.pinterest.com ), but I don’t have the time for all that effort. If you haven’t noticed yet, this blog is about how to simplify the things you need to do. I can’t sit down with a spreadsheet and the flyers and create an elaborate meal plan – it’s just not the way my mind works. But I also run into trouble when I can’t think of what to make when meal time actually rolls around. So instead of a complicated menu plan, here is my extremely simplified “Meal Planning.” I had to put it in quotation marks because it hardly qualifies as a meal plan. I don’t have specific foods for specific days. I don’t write down what to make far in advance.
All I did was create a list of meals that everyone in our family likes, which are easy to make, and are fairly inexpensive. I didn’t even print it out on a computer (although you can if you want – I’m just going for quick and easy!). Now when I’m mentally planning my day or week, I can just glance at the list and instantly get a list of ideas for supper. I keep it on the fridge so it’s always visible. I can also refer to it when making my grocery list. I asked my husband and kids for their input, and there’s space to add more.
It’s really so simplified that it can hardly be called “meal planning” – but it works for us. It doesn’t require a big time commitment, and it will always be accessible.
Have you done meal planning before? How did you do it? Did it work for you?
Marya R
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Can i have the recipe for tuna dippers, it sounds good
Here it is. Our kids LOVE it (anything that is dip-able is great) and you can sneak veggies into them! https://youpinspireme.ca/tuna-dippers/
I totally agree that meal planning makes dinner time and life a whole lot easier!! Now I just have to get back to doing it.
I don’t meal plan. I love the idea of it, but I don’t like planning something for a few days out because what if I am not in the mood for it by the time the day arrives.
We have been doing this for about 6 years now. We make a 12 meal list with everyones input & go shopping for everything we need for those meals all at once. We have noticed that it actually saves money because that 1 trip to the store for all 12 meals keeps us from needing to go back to pick up random food items. And you know when you go to the store you most likely pick up something you don’t need lol.
Making the time to meal plan, no matter how simple, is the way to go.
We’ve attempted to meal plan, but to no avail. I would like to try and start meal planning around weekly sales, so we can hopefully save some money while we’re at it.
Meal planning works wonders especially if you have a large family.
My meal planning looks like yours. Although, my goal is to get a little bit more organized. We’ll see!
I do meal and business planning the month before. As I sit down and write my goals down for my business, I also go over what I want for dinner the next month. I also try not to serve the same thing over again the next month. It’s a little hard because I have a gluten allergy and the rest of the house is fine. I like to keep it simple and healthy as well.
I love it! I usually do something similar, but need to be more organized this year. Having a homeschooled tween, a preschooler and a baby under 1 means no schedule makes mommy go something something. LOL
I am the queen of meal planning! I love having lists and things down on paper! Great post!
LOVE that this isn’t elaborate. I tend to steer away from the fancy ones because I just feel like it’s setting me up for failure.
That’s EXACTLY how I feel!!
I love your list. I am doing something similar so I have a reference point, but not spend countless hours in the planning. We must do what works for us and not what everyone is doing.
Thank you! Can we please just simplify-lol. It’s anxiety inducing when you look at all of the many ways to be “perfect” by following 1o simple steps, that ultimately lead to more and more steps. Good old fashioned listing is so clear and to the point. I like how you indicated within parenthesis, sides and combinations.
Yes! All about simplifying here!!
I need to work more on my meal planning. Thanks for the advice.
I’ve tried meal planning and it has never worked for me. What I do instead is write on the calendar what we have for dinner that day. Then when I’m out of ideas I can look back and realize it’s been 3 weeks since we had tacos (or whatever).
That’s a great idea!!
I haven’t started meal planning but I’d love to start. I would prefer a simplified one like yours!