How many times have you been driving home from work talking to your husband, and he asks you, “What’s for dinner?”  Ugh, that question immediately makes my blood pressure climb. After working a full day, how can more energy be spent figuring out what to have for dinner?  This super simple meal plan for a month will change how you think about dinner.

I don’t know how many times I have had that conversation with my husband:

Him:  What’s for dinner?

Me:  I don’t know.  What do we have to eat?

Him:  Nothing. (staring at a cupboard full of food)

Me:  Well, can you make something?

Him: I don’t know what to make.

Me:  I’m tired.

Him:  How does ordering pizza sound?

Has this happened to you?  If it has, then meal planning is about to change your life.  Meal planning sounds like this big complicated thing, but it is so simple.  I wish I would have done this sooner. I could have saved myself a lot of headaches.

Worried about how to actually do this?  I will show you the easiest way to do it when you are first starting out that should be pretty painless.

Pro tip:  Don’t overthink this.  You are not a gourmet chef and you don’t have to be.  Frozen pizza for dinner? Absolutely! Start small and don’t worry.  If you are trying to have this help you stay on budget, you do not need to worry about making a new and different fancy meal every night.  Focus on designing a menu that makes sense for your budget and schedule.

Use our FREE Weekly Meal Plan by Theme to jumpstart your meal planning.  Gain instant access by signing up below!

If you are like me, then you probably have the opportunity to save tons of money within your grocery budget by actually eating the food you are buying every month.  I used to go out and spend $300 on groceries for the month, then spend the rest of the month not making any food and spending $400 eating out because it was convenient.  Sound familiar?  Since implementing meal planning, we have easily saved $400/month on our grocery bill.  That’s almost $5,000/year just by adjusting our dinner habits!!

Step 1.  Prior to the next month, sit down with a calendar (and your husband) and decide what meals you want to do.

Logically, think about your schedule, time available, preferences, etc. when planning out your weeks.  This may mean you do a theme night (Mondays = Italian, Tuesdays = tacos, Wednesday = Pasta, Thursday = Chicken, Friday = pizza).  This is what we started with to help us figure out what to fill all those days with.  Be sure to keep it simple!  Do not go crazy thinking of fancy meals.  I’m talking about starting with spaghetti, tacos, BBQ chicken, frozen pizza, etc.

When you are trying something new, don’t set yourself up for failure by making an unrealistic menu.  This would be like trying to go from sitting on the couch to running a marathon.  Definitely not gonna work!  Keep it extremely simple and easy.  The first goal is just to get in the habit of planning your meals with intention.

If you have a day off during the week, maybe you want to make a crockpot meal that day or on a weekend.  Maybe you will do a crock pot meal on your day off in addition to cooking dinner, and eat the crockpot meal the next day.  The possibilities are endless!

Example:  My days off are Tuesdays and Sundays:  these always crockpot meals or freezer meals (2x’s a week).  Fridays are always frozen pizza night and Saturdays are always leftovers.  My husband hates cooking and needs something simple on his day off because he can’t make dinner and watch the kids (it stresses him out!).  So, Wednesdays are usually utilizing a freezer meal from the previous month or Mac ‘n cheese & chicken nuggets (my all-time favorite so I’m not opposed to this at all).

You will figure these things out about your family as well.  Like I said, meals don’t have to be fancy, just pick a meal and stick with it.

Step 2.  Write down all of your meals for the month on the calendar.

This lets everyone know what is supposed to be for dinner so you can pull out things that need to defrost the night before.  Whoever is home first can be the one to get dinner started because they will know exactly what is supposed to be cooked that night.  Then watch what happens……no one will be asking you, “What’s for dinner?”  And that is a BEAUTIFUL thing!

Pro tip:  Hold on to these calendars!  Keep them so you can create a three-month rotation and then your meal planning will become a no-brainer!!  This is the best part!

Get our FREE Monthly Meal Plan Calendar by signing up below!

Step 3.  Pull recipes and write your shopping list

This is probably the worst part, but there is no way around this.  If you love organization like me, I prefer to write my list by category (grains, dairy, canned goods, vegetables, etc.) because it allows for smoother shopping once I’m at the store.

You can just use a small legal pad and put your categories in a section of each page.  Don’t bother checking your pantry just yet if you think you have something already. Just write down all the ingredients on your shopping list while you are sitting and going through the recipes.

Step 4.  Refine your shopping list

Now you can go through your own pantry to see if you already have some of the ingredients.  Bonus if you do because that saves you money!  Eventually, with more meal planning, you will run out of “rogue” ingredients and everything in your pantry will have a designated purpose.

After you have gone through everything you are ready to go shopping!

Pro tip:  If you plan to use the same meal plans every month on a rotation, make sure to keep the shopping list you have written for each month.  If you are using the exact same meal plan, the grocery needs will be the same too. This will cut down on the effort required even more!

Step 5.  Go Shopping!

I hate grocery shopping and I also hate couponing.  BUT, I love saving money. So, be sure to check out the iBotta and Ebates to get you some cash back on your purchases you would be making anyway.  These are two money-saving apps that will save you money and require the least amount of effort (that’s why I love them).

Since using these apps I have been saving $5-$10 every month on purchases I would be making anyways with very minimal effort.

Stop stressing about what you are going to have for dinner.  Stop stressing about how to actually make a meal plan. It is so much easier than you think!  Keep it very simple when you are first starting and figure out what is going to work best for your schedules.  The more you do this, the easier it gets, I promise!

Commit to trying this for 3 months, and I promise your life will be changed!

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