If there’s one thing I totally didn’t know how to do as a newly-wed, it was meal planning. Many days would find me at 4 pm, wondering what was for dinner. While I’m certainly not perfect at it, I’ve definitely improved a bit!
I really don’t have one specific way I go about meal planning: sometimes I go by what’s on sale at the grocery store that week, sometimes it’s planning around what I have on hand in the freezer, other times it’s just what my family has been requesting! I put together an easy meal plan for you for a week. While I don’t know I’ve ever had this exact plan, it’s pretty typical of what our family eats in a “normal” week, whatever that is!
Sunday: lunch is usually a crockpot meal, unless we go out for lunch. Ben is the pastor of our church so we don’t usually get away from the church until almost 1, so I definteily don’t want to cook anything once we get home!
Some of our favorites: Beef Bourguignon, Crockpot Enchiladas
Monday: On Mondays and Wednesdays, I’m gone from 5:40 pm until 7 pm for my bootcamp. Many of those times, Ben will grill and have it ready when I get home. (yay!) Some of our favorites: ribs, burgers, fish. My favorite rib recipe is one we got from Better Homes and Gardens- Garlic Cilantro Ribs. They are amazing!
Tuesday: Usually on Tuesdays I have plenty of time to prepare a nice meal since my younger two are in Mother’s Day Out. A lot of times we’ll do a nice pasta, like this Tortellini with Basil and Pecans or Sausage and 3-Cheese Lasagne.
Wednesday: either something grilled, or leftovers from Tuesday if there are any!
Thursday: this is usually mine and Ben’s date night, so I leave something easy for the sitter, like a frozen pizza or PB&J. I like Thursdays. 🙂
Friday: By this time in the week, we usually have another crock pot meal. Sometimes it’s soup- some of our favorites are Sausage Potato Soup and Curried Indian Chicken Soup. Both are so easy yet very tasty!
Saturday: One of our family favorites is homemade Chicken Pot Pie so I’ll do that sometimes on the weekend. Other times, we do easy stuff like sandwiches if we’re busy working in the yard or something.
Meal planning doesn’t have to be daunting! With just a few minutes you can schedule out your meals for the week and then make your grocery list. The hassle at the end of the day and money saved at the grocery store is well worth your time!
Do you meal plan? If so, what is your method? I’m always up for learning more!
About Kelli Hays
I’d like to hire you to prepare my meals. HA! It all looks and sounds so good. Yum.