Meal Planning

By Magnolia on April 14, 2016

Meal planning is one of those things that I always have the best intentions of doing, and then with everything else going on, it’s usually the first thing to fall through the cracks.
When I do make a point to sit down and write out meals for the week, it makes grocery shopping and prepping dinner much easier—even when my days are full of to-do’s. So, I thought it would be fun if I gave you (and myself) a simple way to plan out your family’s food a week at a time.

I love to put pen to paper and write things out, so my friend designed this printable for me to organize my thoughts. All I have to do is carve out half an hour to write out meals, and from there I can compile a market list based on what I planned out.
I snap a quick picture of the shopping list when I’m on my way to the grocery store, and hang the calendar on my refrigerator as a daily reminder of what’s coming up.
When displayed on the fridge, this is also a great tool to remind my kids what’s on the menu for the week.

When I plan out my meals a week ahead of time and do all the shopping at once, I’m much less likely to give in and grab takeout on my way home from work. And when I plan a night to go out to eat, I see it up on my meal calendar and look forward to it all week. You can use the same idea with planned leftover nights.
Remember, it’s not about perfection or homemade meals on the dinner table every single night at 6:30—it’s about doing what you can with the time you have. Hopefully this little printable is a tool that helps you make the most of your time, so there are more moments for the fun stuff.