Making a Meal Plan is the key to saving time, money and stress in the kitchen!

2013 UPDATE: I have great news to share! You can now view my Mastering Meal Planning presentation as well as download the course handout I provide to local friends who attend my Mastering Meal Planning presentations throughout the Southern California area. Simple visit Free Video Course: Mastering Meal Planning to watch my free eCourse on meal planning.

Or if you’d prefer, I’ve kept this post in place for those who would like to read through much of the information contained in my Master Meal Planning presentation. I’ve also included a sample (picture) of one of my meal plans for your reference, as well as free pdf downloads of my meal planning templates for use in creating your own meal plans.

My goal is to help busy families eat healthy, well-balanced meals on a budget by teaching meal planning strategies that truly save time, money and stress in the kitchen! So, when you’re finished reading this post, please check out “Cook Once, Eat Twice or More,” for additional helpful strategies to save time and money.

Meal Planning Basics

Your Meal Plan is your flight plan for the week ahead – what you will be making for dinner (and lunch, if you get that detailed with it). It should include the main entreé as well as the sides. Some tips for creating your Meal Plan:

• First, create a “Master List of Meals” that your family enjoys. Your Master List of Meals is simply a listing of all the meals that you make. For example, a few of the meals on my Master of List of Meals include: Chicken Pesto Pasta, Taco Salad, Spaghetti & Meatballs, etc. Taking time to really think-through this first step will save you a ton of time in the long run – no more racking your brain to try to think of what you should make for the week. Simply look at your Master List of Meals each time you make your weekly meal plan. And, as you start trying new recipes, remember to add the ones your family like to your Master List of Meals.

• Never make your meal plan without first consulting your calendar of events for the week and make sure to confer with your spouse too. Take a look at what is happening each day and plan your meals accordingly. For example, if you have a super tight schedule on Tuesdays, plan for it to be a quick and easy-to-prepare meal night. Or plan for it to be a “left-overs night” where you can simply warm-up a meal from a previous evening. Ensuring you actually have left-overs for “left-overs night” is simple when you plan ahead for it – just make extra of a meal that reheats well, and “voila,” leftovers night!

• Plan to make more complicated meals (or try out a new recipe) on the days you will have the most time. For example, if you have more time during the weekend, then save a new recipe or a more complex meal for the weekend – don’t try to tackle it on a day you’ll be short on time!

• Before making your weekly meal plan, check your frig, pantry and freezer to see what you already have on hand. then, plan meals to use those items – using what you already have on hand will really help you save MONEY!

• Be sure to utilize the “secret” to quick and easy meal preparation – grouping meals to cook once and eat twice or more! By planning ahead to group meals, you will be able to pull-off a healthy meal even on the nights you’re pressed for time! See post on Cook Once, Eat Twice or More.

Creating a Shopping List to Save Time and Money

“The List” is your prime directive at the market, to keep you focused and save you time and money by limiting distractions and frustrations. The List ensures you quickly get exactly what you need for the week ahead. Tips for creating The List:

• Keep a pad of paper on your kitchen counter and jot down items as you run out of them so they can quickly and easily be added to The List.

• Make your meal plan for the week and then go through each meal and list out all the ingredients needed to create that meal. First, check your frig, pantry and freezer to see what you already have on hand. Any missing ingredients go on The List.

• Never go to the market without The List! It is a sad, sad day when you lose or forget The List. Keep a careful eye on it!

Time-Saving Tips for Shopping Day

Shopping Day is obviously the day you’re going to purchase all of the ingredients you need for the week ahead (i.e. all of the items for your meal plan). Below are a few tips for saving time and money at the market:

• Clean out your frig and pantry before heading out to the market – remove expired food and old leftovers you can’t use (hopefully you won’t have much as you become BFF with your meal plan), rearrange and reorganize food on the shelves for ease in locating, take one more look to see if you need something not on The List (e.g. did your loving hubby or child put the milk back with just a few drops left in the carton?). Reorganizing your frig and pantry ensures you know what’s on hand, where it’s located and enables you to quickly and more efficiently unload your groceries when you return home from the market.

• Go to the market alone whenever possible to avoid distraction and temptation – so you can limit the purchase of unnecessary items.

• NEVER go to the market without your shopping list! Without “The List” in hand, you will forget something and you will buy things you don’t need!

• NEVER shop hungry! You will find it extremely difficult to resist the temptation to impulse purchase when hungry. So don’t put yourself in that position.

• If you must make an impulse purchase, limit yourself to one or two items at most.It’s good to try something new, but only if it’s healthy and only if you’re certain that you’ll have time to actually incorporate it into your meal plan for the week.

• Frequent the same one or two markets regularly. By shopping at the same place each week, you will become very familiar with the store and will be able to more quickly navigate through it, thereby saving time and energy!

• Shop early in the morning, if possible. Most markets restock at night, so you’ll have the best, freshest selections by shopping in the early morning.

• If you have extra time to shop, check out Farmer’s Markets for produce, they are generally less expensive and have fresher selections since most come from local farmers.

Schedule a Prep Day: Investing Time Now = Less Time Later

Scheduling a Prep Day, whenever possible, allows you to get prepared for the week ahead. By prepping ahead, you’ll save time and you’ll be less stressed out in getting a healthy, homemade meal on the table during busy weeknights. Ideas for the types of tasks you can accomplish by scheduling a Prep Day:

• Meats: Cut and divide meat into portions based on your meal plan and freeze (you can even place the meat into a marinade and freeze). Use ground meat to mix and form into meatballs and burgers that can be frozen for later use. I also like to precook and freeze ground meat for use in meals like tacos, chili, soups, etc.

• Veggies/Fruits: Chop any veggies/fruits needed for recipes (that can keep well once chopped). For example, I find it super helpful to pre-chop, rinse and store lettuce for salads for the week ahead.

• Other: Prepare anything that can be prepared ahead of time, e.g. bake a batch of healthy muffins and freeze them for snacks for the week ahead.

Other Time-Saving Ideas

1. Cut your chicken breasts horizontally into thinner breasts – thinner breasts cook faster and are also a better individual portion size. After cutting the breasts, place them in a ziplock freezer bag with your favorite marinade. Either freeze immediately or place in the frig and use within 24 hours. (After 24 hours, the marinade tends to make the meat too soggy.) To defrost froze chicken/meat, place in frig 24 hours before cooking.
2. If you can grill it, GRILL IT! Grilling is so fast, easy and there’s virtually no clean-up necessary. You can grill everything from chicken and turkey to fish and beef. If you don’t have a good propane grill, I recommend that you seriously consider investing in one!
3. Grill/Cook double the meat and use it for another meal. (See post, Cook Once, Eat Twice or More.)
4. For a healthier, yet just as quick breakfast for your kids – phase out all those frozen waffles, pancakes and French toast brands you’re purchasing and replace them with your own homemade, healthier versions. Even the healthy brands are not as healthy as homemade and they are much more expensive per serving! Simply plan ahead to make a big breakfast (or have breakfast for dinner) and make a double batch of homemade waffles, pancakes or French toast and individually wrap and place in freezer bags the leftovers. Then simply take them right out of your freezer and place into your toaster oven for a quick, yet healthy breakfast.
5. Since our kids take their lunch to school everyday, healthy and easy kid’s lunch box sides are a must in the Smith house! So to save time, the kids and I prep the sides on Sunday afternoon for the week ahead. You can use either mini-snack-sized baggies, or if you want to be more sustainable, use mini-plastic containers that can be washed and reused. You can place healthy sides into these, such as fresh cut veggies, fruit, nuts, etc. Here’s a secret for making your own fresh-sliced apple sides for the week ahead: Cut apples and place into individual containers with a dash of pineapple juice, shake well to distribute the juice – they will stay fresh all week. And are so yummy!

Ready to get started?
Then why not download my free meal planning template perfect for creating your own weekly meal plans. Simply select from the following two options:
• Meal Plan Template PDF
• Meal Plan Template EXCEL

Happy meal planning!

You Might Also Like:

Here’s just one example of Cook Once, Eat Twice or More! I made a 6 lb. roast turkey breast for dinner. Then, divided-up the leftovers for 4 more meals: Sliced breasts for leftovers night, two 2-cup portions of shredded turkey (frozen for future use) and turkey salad for lunch.

I was checking out the latest issue of Eating Well and laughed when I realized that they totally used one of my lines! Well, it’s not really “my” line, but I do say it A LOT in my Mastering Meal Planning Presentations … Cook Once, Eat Twice!

The concept of cooking once and eating twice or more, isn’t a novel idea. It’s a basic meal planning strategy that really helps you save time and work more efficiently in the kitchen.

In a nutshell, you cook a double portion of something and save half for another meal. How does this save time? Well, think of the work that needs to happen to get a healthy meal on the table – there’s the preparation time, cooking time and clean-up time! If you make double of something during one cooking session, you’re being more efficient because you don’t have to repeat those same exact steps twice.

Cook Once, Eat Twice or More can take two forms. You can either double an entire recipe and refrigerate/freeze half of it for a future meal, such as homemade soup (discussed in the example below). Or you can double a main ingredient in a meal and save half for a future meal that uses the same main ingredient, such as meat or poultry (also discussed below).

Once you adopt this time-saving strategy, I’m certain it will be your newfound favorite, especially when planning ahead for busy days, when time in the kitchen is limited.

How to “Cook Once, Eat Twice or More!”

As with most things related to saving time in the kitchen, it starts with your Meal Plan! So if you’re new to meal planning, please view my Mastering Meal Planning presentation first to get you started with making your master meal list and a weekly meal plan. There’s also a sample (picture) of one of my meal plans at the very bottom of this post for you to reference. And remember, you can always check out my Bi-Weekly Meal Plans over at The Better Mom.

So here’s how it works … as you’re looking at your Master Meal List and making your Weekly Meal Plan, consider what meals you could cook a double batch of and freeze or refrigerate for future use. For example:  Whenever I take the time to make Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, I always make a double batch to freeze for a future meal. The other thing I do is whenever I need to make homemade chicken stock, I always make two batches instead of one. That way, I end up with lots of stock and meat that I can freeze and use to quickly make other soups and meals in the future.

As mentioned, you can also simply cook double or triple of a main ingredient in a meal that you use frequently, such as turkey meatballs or ground beef, for example, and use a portion of it for the meal you are preparing that day and then refrigerate/freeze the rest for a future meal. Either way, you’re cooking once and eating twice or more!

Grouping Meals

Another twist on the Cook Once, Eat Twice concept is a strategy I call “Grouping Meals.”  How it works is, you take a look at your Master Meal List and consider what recipes contain the same main ingredient and plan to serve at least two or three of those meals during the same week. (Obviously, the busier the week, the better to have more meals with the same main ingredient.)

Again, by selecting several recipes with the same main ingredient(s), you will save a lot of time because you only have to prep, cook and clean-up once, rather than two or three separate times.

For example, three recipes on my Master Meal List that contain the same main ingredient (chicken) are:
• Grilled Pineapple Chicken with black beans and brown rice
• Chicken Pesto Pasta with spinach salad
• Chicken-Veggie Stir Fry with brown rice

So if I plan to serve all three of these meals in the same week, I can save a lot of time by simply preparing and grilling all of the chicken at one time, and then cutting and refrigerating the extra portions for the other two meals I will be making later in the week. Also in the above example, I would make a double batch of soaked brown rice so I only had to make that once as well.

Getting really specific … here’s what the “Grouping Meals” concept looks like …

Let’s say my Meal Plan is arranged this week to have the following chicken-based meals:(You can see that I planned it so we have the chicken meals spread out a bit, because who wants to eat it three nights in a row?)
• Sunday: Grilled Pineapple Chicken with black beans and brown rice
• Tuesday: Chicken-Veggie Stir Fry with brown rice
• Thursday: Chicken Pesto Pasta with spinach salad

So, on my shopping list, I would plan to buy enough chicken to make all three chicken-based meals. Then, when I got home from the market on Saturday, I would cut the chicken breasts and put them into containers with the appropriate marinade and place them in the frig. (P.S. My basic chicken marinate is olive oil, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried rosemary and dried thyme.)

On Sunday, when I’m preparing to make Grilled Pineapple Chicken, I would grill all of the chicken for all three meals all at one time. I would use what I needed for the Grilled Pineapple Chicken dish that evening, and then I would cut and divide the rest of the chicken and place in the *frig/freezer for use in the stir fry dish on Tuesday and the pesto pasta dish on Thursday. I would also make a double batch of brown rice, as mentioned above, so that way, when I go to make the other meals, requiring these ingredients, they are already cooked, saving me a significant amount of prepping, cooking and cleaning time!

*Please note: According to the USDA, refrigerated leftover cooked chicken should be used within four days. So if you’re not planning to use your leftover cooked chicken within that timeframe, it’s best to freeze it. Then, when ready to use, simply defrost it overnight in the frig.

Applying these “Cook Once, Eat Twice” concepts across the board

So now that you know these time-saving secrets, you can start to see how you can apply them for many recipes, including casseroles, soups, and side dishes.

So again, as mentioned above, a common side dish I always double-up (or triple-up) is brown rice. Then, I just refrigerate the extra portions for use in another meal. (A tip with rice, it will dry out in the frig, so if you do this, be sure to use it within 5-6 days. Also, you may need to add a tablespoon or two of water or broth, depending on the amount of rice, to help remoisten it when reheating.)

You can also make double batches of a casserole and freeze one uncooked for future use. Or make double of a soup or stew that freezes well and freeze for a future meal.

Another example: If having grilled veggies as a side dish, plan to grill extra and use them to make veggie quesadillas for lunch or dinner the next day … these are just a few ideas to get you started.

And yet another example, is my Turkey Times Three (T3) strategy for making three great ground turkey based recipes all at the same time and then freezing them to have ready-to-go meals on busy days.

As you start looking at your Master Meal List, it will be exciting to see how you can group meals with the same ingredients together to make preparation time and cooking time faster, easier and less stressful!

As always, if I can be of service to you, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me. And if you have some meal planning success stories or tips to share, please post those as well.

Remember, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!” (1 Cor 10:31) So have fun and give all praise and glory to the Lord for the opportunity to provide healthy home-cooked meals for your family!

You Might Also Like: