Meal planing is a topic that I feel should get a lot of attention for multiple reasons… planning your meals for the week and the day will help you save money and time, which are both equally important, but more importantly it will guarantee a nutritious meal to nurture your body.
When I think about eating something, I think of what I will get out of it.. I don’t want to spend precious energy to prepare a meal that I won’t enjoy and feel satisfy. At the same time I want this meal to be balanced, easy on my digestive system and to give me optimum benefits and therefore I feel that meal planning plays a big role in helping me achieve a healthy eating lifestyle.
Here is how we plan our meals;
- On a piece of paper I create 3 columns;
- First colum - I write the day of the week Saturday to Saturday (in case we don’t get to the store until Sunday Morning)
- Each day gets two rows… one for Raymond and one for me
- Second column – I write lunch
- Third column Dinner
- Then I look at our calenders for the week to see if we have any social plans for lunch or dinner during that week
- The next step is to figure out the nights we are busy and need simple & quick meals and the nights we have more time to make a new meal.
- In deciding on the menu, it is important to select things that have good leftovers for lunch the next day
- Now that I have a Menu in place for the week, I start my shopping list, and break it into Fruits & Veggies, Meat, Dry Goods & Misc
Quick Notes: I buy enough of Veggies that would only last for one week and no more so on shopping day our fridge is usually empty
- Having separate columns will help me not to forget anything on my list, our grocery store that we shop at (Central Market) is set up like a maze, so as you walk in you go through veggies and fruits, then meat and seafood, next is dry goods and bulk items, and the last part is freezer section and the bakery.
- First step is to write down the items that we buy every week, i.e. ingredients for my green juice or Raymond’s OJ
- Next comes the items that we have around the house at all times and are low or running out
So again I am using this week as an example;
- The last thing is to look through our dinners for the week and figure out what ingredients they need. A quick check through the fridge, freezer and the pantry helps eliminate buying things that we already have at home
- And off to the store we go!
Do you plan your meals for the week?
How do you organize your shopping list?
Do you prefer to shop once a week or as needed?
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As you can see from our Menu above tonight was Ravioli Night. I rarely eat ravioli, but when I do there is only one brand that I buy the Nuovo brand, in my opinion defiantly worth the extra couple bucks that I have to pay for it. Raymond made the sauce; mushrooms, red bell pepper, asparagus and Bertolli Marinara…. He added Chicken Sausage to his and I added Emamame to mine. After adding our choice of protein we baked the ravioli in the oven at 350° for 15 min.
Well my friends the dog show is on and I am off to watch the sporting group, it seems like one of Sadie’s cousins’ is going to be on the show so I promised to watch the show with her 
- Gelareh
This is great to see. I am also a really careful mealplanner when I have my stuff together, and sometimes it is a bit tiring or feels tedious. It really saves money though, and helps with the healthy eating!
The weeks that I was not organized enough for a good meal plan and grocery list, it always astounds me how much harder it is to stay ontrack nutritionally and how expensive it gets, too.
so organized! i’m a charts/lists person too for sure. i don’t plan out my meals anymore, but i did for a long while until i got into the habit of just doing it mentally. it’s so grounding though when i am feeling overwhelmed with grocery shopping though!
Oh wow I’m so impressed! You’re so organized! This is actually really helpful…people always say they plan their meals but I’ve never totally understood that – now I see what they mean! I’m not a total planner…I have a few staples I always have in the house, but I do tend to grocery shop multiple times a week. I guess since I have to carry my groceries home I need lots of little shopping trips!!
Holy cow! You are ORGANIZED. I’m a bit of a planner, but not nearly like you are. I like to have a lot of flexability in my meals. Something about creating a meal on the fly is fun for me.
Wow, you’re so organized! I make a list of the staples and any new foods I want to try, but then I supplement those things with whatever looks good/is on sale. I’m organized in many parts of my life, but grocery shopping isn’t one of them!
I love how organized you are…you are my inspiration! I love anything to do with Excel or spreadsheets or charts! I am a total loser, yes.
How cool that your mom and sister observe Ramadan too. Talk about the longest month of the year. And it is only getting harder. I am actually nervous already for Ramadan 2010!
wow you are so organized!!! i am impressed haha i need more of that in my life.
I love your approach to meal planning. I’m such an organized “list” person- stuff like this gets me happy
I’ll have to try your method!
I love planning for the week’s meals and do something similar to yours if I have time. I use OneNote and organize lists and recipes on there. It always makes it so much easier if it’s fairly planned out! Yummy pasta
you’re amazingly organized! I know what we’re having: high raw veggies LOL so I just keep well stocked w/ those and some random grains or taters for the hubs and we’re all set…then there’s desserts!
What a great how-to! You make it seem so simple! Of course, it would be even simpler for me since Steven and I eat the same things and I take leftovers for lunch!
We do organize our list and shop once a week, but we just keep a stock of items rather than planning meals out.
You’re indeed super organized! I sometimes make meal plans but I usually just cook something that I’m craving.
I often get made fun of for going to multiple different grocery stores in an effort to save money. My dad thinks it’s counterproductive. I think it works! Also, I go to the grocery as needed (usually about 2 times per week). I LOVE your organization for meal planning. I actually have a pad of paper that was specially designed for meal planning, that is magnetic and on my fridge. There is a colomn for this week’s meals, then another column for the groceries I need. It is REALLY helpful!! When it runs out, I will make my own like you. Thanks for the great tips! I like how you divided your groceries into dry good, produce, etc. I try to do that on my own but headings would be nice!
So organized! I don’t really meal plan…..I tend to buy the same stuff most weeks-once a week. And then occassionally through in some new items to make new recipes.
What a great idea with the chart though!
Have a great day……
Great post. I used to be an avid meal planner and have gone through many phases where I plan and when I don’t. Now, with my food issues, I am trying to plan more to make sure I don’t eat too much on one thing during the day so as not to become sensitive to even more foods. Hopefully, it will save us some money as well.
I plan my meals every week and write out a list. It’s the easiest way to spend the least amount of money.
Thank you for sharing your method of meal planning. It looks like it takes a bit of time to plan out, but in the end you are organized and probably don’t waste a lot of food. That is a problem I am working on. I just find it hard to want to know what it is I will want to eat days in advance. But I am excited to take this process and see if I can make it work for me in some way. THanks!
I really like reading your meal plan. Mine changes from time to time. I found a good page that allows for planning a week’s worth of meals: breakfast/lunch/dinner, and a grocery list below. I’ve tried it, but I think my biggest problem is the erasing/waste of paper. What I use is a dry erase board on the fridge, and it’s monthly.
The problem with monthly is that I don’t have room for lunches. So those are mostly in my head (I make 6 servings or 8 servings of two meals over the weekend, then make sure to do another one mid-week). I think if I laminated one of the weekly schedule pages so that I could erase, that would work.
What I really need is a way to have my grocery list broken out by store: farmer’s market, produce store, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Costco, and regular grocery store.
Still honing those skills. For the most part, I do a mix of planning 90% of our meals and then having quick things available as a back up (egg sandwiches, pancakes, grilled cheese, pasta with pesto from the freezer, veggie burgers).
Very interesting! I have tried meal-planning many times in the past & just could never get into it. I admire you for it because it’s definitely something I know is a time- and money-saver!
Oh, the shopping list gets organized eventually by store. It gets complicated by: “I need asparagus for the meal I’m delivering to the friend who had a baby”, “we’re out of whole wheat flour”, “we’re almost out of coriander”.
I prefer to shop several times a week. As I go to several places, it can be overwhelming.
Weds: farmer’s market at my son’s school
Thurs: CSA pickup day
Then I like to get at least one shopping trip done Fri night which frees up my Sat morning to go running.
I have planned meals in the past but can’t do it quite that methodically because my life is already in danger of not having anything spontaneous happen, and I want to at least keep the possibility open! So I would usually do a “play it by ear” night. Plus, I like to sometimes start my planning with ingredients that I know are on sale that week, because I’m cheapppp.
I love how you break it down! So organized!
I plan out by week and aim for one shopping trip/week. Luckily I only have to plan my own lunches and about 3-4 dinners/week – the rest are leftovers/snacky meals/etc. But I write everything down and change it throughout the week, depending on how I’m feeling and then go shopping on Saturday!
wow, now THAT is organization!! i plan my meals by standing in front of my fridge until inspiration hits me
WOW! You are organized! That is amazing! I wish I were that good! I just usually make sure to keep the house well stocked and then we typically decide that morning what we want that night for dinner. I figure if I always have healthy options on hand I can always put something together!
I am very much a meal planner, but you take organization to a whole new level! Thank you for sharing – I’m definitely inspired!
wow!! i have to say this is one of the most organized forms of meal planning I have ever seen! I dont meal plan mainly bc I live with two roomies and I usually just cook for myself! but when I have a family, meal planning will for be in place!! I think you just inspired me
Wow! That is some super intense meal planning but I really like it. I don’t currently plan it out except for a day ahead but when I do start, I think I’ll do it similar to the way you do your planning.
I so completely agree. Meal planning helps save so much time and money at the grocery store. It also helps keep me on schedule so we aren’t eating the same thing three times in one week ;o) Hope Sadie’s cousin did well in her sporting group! I’ll have to give you a call soon so we can catch up
) Keep up the blog- I am totally addicted to it!!!
I think meal planning is great! I don’t do it as much as I should but it has so many benefits. I love ravioli!!
I COMPLETELY agree with meal planning and I do similar to you, though less elaborate (I’m just a single girl cooking for myself–most of those charts exist in my head, haha). It has saved me time and money and keeps me from wasting. Plus as someone who can easily get distracted in the grocery store, having a list is invaluable! I’m not allowed to stray from it unless I can think of a use for whatever-it-is within the next week.
Oh my gosh you are SO incredibly organized! I try to go through some cookbooks and write out a fairly detailed list before I hit the store!
Whoa, way to plan! I wish I always did this well, but lately I’m lucky if I can throw some spinach in Tupperware before I hit the office. Great post!
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