Friday, March 18, 2011

Meal planning 101

I am not a cook. It's not that I don't possess the ability to prepare food, it's that it stresses me out. I don't understand how people can look in the fridge and just whip something up, and I cannot fathom how cooking is a relaxing hobby to people.

But then the Food Nanny taught me how to meal plan.

In her book "The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner," Liz Edmunds says this:

"The hardest part of planning any meal is figuring out what to have. If you wait until the end of the day, it is too late. You may be too stressed at that point to even decide, let alone shop for ingredients and prepare the meal. Then it is too easy to just buy processed, packaged foods; shop at the deli; pick up fast food; or go out to dinner."

Her solution is to map out meals one or two weeks at a time. This way you not only maximize your trips to the store, you are always prepared and will have everything you need. It makes cooking so much easier—dare I say somewhat enjoyable?

Here are the Food Nanny's steps to meal planning:
  1. Get out your calendar
  2. Go through your recipes and choose meals
  3. Write your chosen meals on a piece of paper, a 3x5 card, or your calendar
  4. Make a grocery list
  5. Go shopping

It really is that easy. Never again will you stare blankly into the fridge, wondering how on earth you're going to get a meal out of eggs, broccoli and moldy cheese. The food will be there, and it will all work together to form something not only edible but delicious. Then you can dust off your hands, pat yourself on the back and enjoy the literal fruits of your labor.

CLICK HERE for a link to the Food Nanny's blank menu planning and grocery list charts.

Because it's just my husband and me eating meals and because I also have to worry about lunch and snacks for work, I have made my own customized meal planning sheet inspired by the awesome products at See Jane Work—and if I say so myself, it's pretty!


I also have a cutsie grocery list to go along:


If you'd like a full-page PDF of this sheet, leave a comment and I'll e-mail it to you. Then tell me how your meal planning adventures are going.

Here are some other great meal planning resources:


5 comments:

  1. You are so graphically talented! Lari creates menus for an entire month and has it tacked to her fridge. She's done it for years. You can shop for two weeks at a time, causing you less stress always running to the store.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Woah! Love your meal planning sheets and grocery lists Lindsay! I'm totally a visual person, so sometimes something like a really pretty list to use would be my motivator to get started planning. Great idea. Good luck getting started.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have something similar (but not nearly as cute) that I hard laminated. I just use a wet erase marker for both the menu and the shopping list, then wipe it clean and start over when I need to. I would love a PDF copy of yours. Thanks! kelnae@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you everyone. I'm thinking I will use Kelli's idea and laminate this as well, then it will stay on my fridge and not hidden in my pantry where it's easy to forget.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can you email me one? Cassy.robinson@gmail.com

    We use scrap papers and they get lost for our lists and menus. It's crappy.

    ReplyDelete