Four Ways to Help Make Meal Planning Easier
Hey Lovely,
Raise your hand if you’re tired of meal planning.
Raise your hand again if you wouldn’t label yourself a cook so you’re REALLY tired of meal planning.
Picking out what you and your household will eat is a repetitive task that never goes away. We have to eat, and if we go day by day without a plan, that will cause more stress than necessary.
We’re trying to make our lives easier in the long run. Not start our day easy just to see it end in chaos.
I debated on making step one “Actually meal plan” but I realized that wouldn’t be very helpful. I am sure I’m not the only one that has struggled with this though! It is insane how easy it is to want to throw it all to the wind and not have a meal plan, and just figure it out one night at a time.
I think we all know how that goes though. Anyone else have a bunch of doordash points?? Or… do any of your local restaurants know you by name because you get take out regularly?? My husband and I have been there and honestly? That’s not a bad place to be if you have planned to budget for it and if that’s just the season of life that you’re in. However, try your best not to make “your season” your crutch. This could be a whole other blog post, and it probably will be one day, but I’ll keep it short for now. You’re meant to travel through your season, not live there. So doing take out on a regular basis, may not be the wisest way to walk through life. But then again, I don’t know your season. Only you do. So only you can decide what’s right for you and your household.
So let’s dive in. How can we make Meal Planning easier?
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Decide Once when you’ll plan
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Figure out which method works for you
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Stop Doom scrolling on Pinterest for recipes
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Invest in a recipe card box and use my card method (If it works for you!
“Deciding Once” is one of Kendra Adachi’s Lazy Genius Principles that she has in her book The Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi. This alone has made my life significantly more peaceful. As someone that struggles with consistency, I was worried that when I decided once, I wouldn’t stick to it and constantly be living life “deciding Once” Multiple times. But then I realized that I was in control of whether or not I stuck with it or not. So, I decided once to make my meal plan on Sunday. When you choose to decide once when you’ll plan, you’ll begin building a healthy habit that helps you show up to your family and to yourself!
There are a few different ways to meal plan and, depending on your season, you may use each of them at different times. Let’s just name three right now though: monthly planning, weekly planning, and bi-weekly meal planning.
I know people that do monthly meal planning and they love it. I enjoyed it the one time I did it, but realized it was a lot of upfront work that was unnecessary for my season. There wasn’t really a reason for me to be planning a month in advance, but if you’re a busy mom, you may want to try giving this a shot! Weekly planning is my current go to, but that’s because I use the built in meal planning sheets in the “A Lovely Home Planner”. Highly recommend looking into that planner by the way. It’s amazing. Before I started using that planner, I planned bi-weekly which was great too. Figure out which method works for you and stick with it till it no longer works. When you sit down to meal plan, please remember to give yourself grace. Look at your schedule and plan around it. Also, we all have those days where we absolutely DO NOT want to cook, so try to have some easy throw in the oven meals or toss in a pot meals always on hand. Lastly, please please please know that you are in control of your meal plan, and you have the freedom to switch around whatever you want. Just because you put it down on paper, doesn’t mean to have to stick to what’s written that day.
Oh, wait no, this is lastly. Actually write down your meal plan. I know this is silly, and you may have been doing this for years, but when we are walking into our kitchen to cook, why spend the time trying to scroll and find the recipe you knew in your head that you wanted to make, when you can just walk in and immediately see it written down?
Ok, ok before you leave and stop reading me, I get it. I get most of my recipes off of Pinterest because it is a great resource for finding new recipes. But my goodness, it is DRAINING to spend the whole Sunday evening searching for recipes on Pinterest. Especially when I already have a giant food board that I made at one point so that I wouldn’t doom scroll… anyone else? I encourage you to actually open a cookbook this week. Pull from the classics, and switch up your ritual. You’ll hate meal planning less if you’re rotating your methods on how you find recipes. You could decide once, and create recipe zones. Week one of the month, recipes from a cook book, week 2 of the month, Pinterest board, Week three, New Recipes on Pinterest or your favorite place to find recipes, and week 4? Your recipe box.
If you’re tired of looking through Pinterest for recipes then here’s a tip. Do the hard work now, to feel peace later by writing down your favorite recipes on index cards.
But wait. This isn’t your typical recipe box. (click here to see the one I personally use)
You’re not writing down the whole recipe because THAT’S exhausting and, let’s be honest, most recipes don’t fit on one card anyway lol. Instead, practice my hybrid method.
When you sit down to do your meal planning, pull out your recipe box, pick out your favorites for the week, and write them down on your meal planning page in the Lovely Home Planner or on a pad or whatever you use!
So how is this hybrid? Well…
Here’s what all is on the card:
- The Recipe Name
- The ingredients
- The cook time & Serving size (optional)
(And Now here comes the best part!)
- The link to the recipe
Did you know that on your phone can take a picture of a link (either handwritten or screenshotted) and when you press on the link in the photo, it’ll take you right to the link’s website?
Soooo… when you write out the link of the recipe on the back of the card, you’ll get to access the recipe immediately just by scanning the link you wrote down.
So, enjoy this hack and let me know how it works for you! I’m obsessed with it because it’s so nice having everything be in one place.
This is the method that I personally use every week because it is just. So. easy. I pull out my cards, I put then in the front of the box, I write down the meals on my meal planner page, and the ingredients that I need on my shopping list page and tadaaaaa I am done.
I hope these tips will be as helpful to you as they are to me. Please let me know how they work for you on either a comment or reach out to me directly on instagram or through email at "shopallthingslovelyco@gmail.com"
If you enjoyed this blog and want to learn more about creating peace and joy in your home, check out the Lovely Home Planner by All Things Lovely Co. It’s designed to help you cultivate healthy rhythms and routines tailored to your life.
Lovely Home Planner: A six-month undated planner and guided journal designed to help women find peace and organization in their homes. Check it out at allthingslovely.co or on Instagram @allthingslovely.co.
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Your home is lovely, and so are you. Notice the lovely moments and cherish them. Have a wonderful day!
- Evelyn