Meal Planning Like a Boss

I consider myself to be a decent planner on the job. So why did I spend so many years wondering why I had no idea what to cook for diner each night? Apparently, like anything else, spending some time planning in advance can make life in the kitchen so very much easier.

1. Plan before shopping 
I used to spend so much time and money at the grocery store and then somehow have nothing. to. eat. Having a plan before heading to the store helped me stop wandering the aisles in search of solutions and forced me to start buying ingredients rather than snacks. Now I use the back-side of my grocery list to identify my meals and the front-side for the actual list.

Hint: probably not ingredients

2. Find new meal ideas
 I search for recipes with words like "easy" or "weeknight" in order to keep it simple. I use sites like simplyrecipes, realsimple.com, allrecipes.com or a good ol' keyword search when I generally know what I want to cook but need a recipe. I also flip through cookbooks and cooking iPad apps which help provide inspiration when I'm all out of ideas. This continues to be the hardest part of meal planning for me, hence tip #4 below.

3. Pick the right meal for the right night
I find it really helps to think through which nights certain family members will be at home and whether I'll have time to cook, so I know how many meals I should try to plan that week. Schedule meals with fast-turning ingredients (fish, certain produce) for earlier in the week and save the more time-consuming meals for the weekend. Some days the crock pot or the grill are better options than the oven.

The whiteboard keeps the meal plan honest

4. Save up meal ideas to make planning easier in the future
I have a three-ring binder full of recipes stashed in sheet covers. When it's time to start meal planning, my binder is the best starting point. I also compiled a long list of all the meals I know how to cook. It's so easy to forget how much you already know, so it's nice to reference that list as a reminder. 

My meal planning buddy

5. Start off easy and then step up over time
Trying to plan six or seven meals at once can be overwhelming at first, especially if you're trying out all new recipes. Start with one or two planned meals and keep them pretty simple at first, with mix of old and new recipes. Over time you can start building up the number of meals you can take on in one week.

These are the basics that have been really helpful to me. I'm sure there are many more tips out there to make this process really easy, so please feel free to share what works for you. Good luck to the beginner meal planners out there!