I found quite a few blogs that have absolutely amazing tips for meal planning. I’m not going to pretend I’m good at it, because I’m not. I’m going to share with you resources with good ideas.
In my personal journey with meal planning I went so overboard that my family will not eat beef meatloaf or chicken enchiladas for years to come. It’s been 3 years since they told me never to make it again and clearly they’re still not ready to try these dishes again. I read few blogs about meal planning. I made monthly calendars, weekly calendars and weekly grocery shopping lists. I over engineered the experience so much that those two dishes are on the “never again” list. 🙂
I hear over and over again that we are so busy most of us don’t know what’s for dinner that day at … 4 pm same day. Scary but real. This is the reason why so many parents go to the drive through or if their budget and zip code can handle it are getting Postmates or Grubhub delivered to their house.
Just like planning your budget, any planning you can do towards what you’re going to feed your family so you’re eating healthy, will get you far. Nothing worse than hungry bunch and all you have is a jar of peanut butter and some apples (if you’re lucky!) in the house.
I don’t try to plan monthly, it just doesn’t fit our family right now. I start the week with simple plans like Taco Tuesday and Meatless Monday and go from there. In winter months I make chilli or soups that can feed us for two days at a time. If I’m completely stressed out I try to at least make time during lunch break at work on Monday to write down enough for couple days and get the ingredients for those meals. I’ve also gotten a lot better at keeping few staples in the pantry, freezer and fridge for simple healthy meals I can make from scratch in very little time.
One of my favorite blogs and great moms who now also published couple cookbooks are Sweet Potato Chronicles.
Let’s start with the fact that I love the name and sweet potatoes, but I can’t make my family eat them. I have to hide sweet potatoes or squash in chicken chili and hope they don’t notice. 🙂
I absolutely love their cookbooks and highly recommend them to get ideas that are more sophisticated but very kid friendly: http://sweetpotatochronicles.com/about/our-books/
Few other places that get into meal planning and freezer cooking:
- https://www.unoriginalmom.com/free-printable-flexible-meal-planning-guide/
- https://www.thekitchn.com/the-beginners-guide-to-meal-planning-what-to-know-how-to-succeed-and-what-to-skip-242413
- https://www.busybudgeter.com/simple-meal-planning-for-beginners-step-by-step-instructions/
- https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/meal-planning-guide/
- https://wellnessmama.com/5345/meal-planning/
If you want to get even more organized and don’t mind spending money on it, here’s a great post comparing paid menu planning services:
https://www.doughroller.net/smart-spending/9-best-meal-plans/