20 Tips & Strategies for Meal Planning

I recently asked everyone to share a tip or strategy to help those that are new to meal planning. I was blown away with the responses, and I really wanted to share all these great ideas!

Meal Planning can get overwhelming, can get repetitive, and after a while you just lose that creative spark. That’s ok and we all go through it. So, these tips can help you start meal planning or help you continue to meal plan!

Real Tips from Real People

These aren’t just random tips, these are real tips that others have tried and that are helpful!

1. Shop your Pantry & your Fridge/Freezer First

We all have gone grocery shopping before and bought things that we already had at home. This can kill our grocery budget and make it harder to meal plan. So, while you are meal planning, start checking your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.

This will help you use up items you already have, avoid buying duplicates, and keep foods from expiring or going spoiled.

2. Use an App to Help

I recently started playing with the Super Cook app/website and it can be very helpful to get inspired by new recipes. Keep in mind though it is not perfect and if you add “flour” to pantry list it will give you a ton of pancake recipes. I like to just add a few items to my pantry, and I get better ideas!

Another person mentioned the Paprika Recipe Manager 3 app and said they loved it! This app is available on most phones, and it is a free app with premium added features.

Another app is My Fridge Food, it looks like they have a website and an app. It appears it is free but I have not tested it yet!

3. Theme Nights

Sometimes setting up a guide for your week with different food themes for each day is really helpful and helps you get creative. Some of the suggested nights were: Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday (Mexican food), Italian Wednesdays, Throwback Thursday (leftovers), and Pizza Friday.

This can also help ensure that you have a diverse group of meals each week!

4. Make Lists of Meals your Family Likes

This tip actually inspired a recent Free PDF of meal sheets that you can use to go ahead and write down meals that you already know that your family likes. This way when you get stuck for ideas, you can just look at the list for inspiration.

This is also a great place to write down recipes/dishes that you try out and turn into new favorites!

5. Leftover Bar

A great way to use up leftovers is to set them up like a bar where everyone picks their own choices. Great ways to do this is a Taco Bar, Baked Potato Bar, Salad Bar, or Homemade Pizza Bar.

You get to use up lots of leftovers and odds and ends in your kitchen, plus everyone gets to pick exactly what they want! WIN- WIN!

6. Buy Ingredients that work in Multiple Dishes

We use this tip a lot for our weekly meal plans! Try to use ingredients that are able to work in multiple dishes. This works for meats, vegetables, fruits, and even side dishes like rice and pasta.

I try to make the dishes different enough that you don’t realize you are eating the same items over and over again, but you can easily cut down your grocery bill this way too!

As a bonus, you can pre-cook items like chicken breasts, and then use them in multiple meals!

7. Stock up on Foods on Sale

This tip when combined with foods you know that your family eats all the time is GOLD! We like to eat chicken breasts, London Broil roasts, boneless ribs, and ground pork all the time.

So when I see these meats on sale, I will buy enough to last my family 2-3 months. Sales cycles typically happen every 8-12 weeks, so I get cheap meat to last about that long.

This keeps me from having to pay really high prices when these items are not on sale!

8. Check your Weekly Sales Flyers

So how do you find those sales and deals on items your family loves? You check your local sales flyers. We have 2 main stores in our town that do weekly sales flyers every Wednesday.

So, every Wednesday I am checking out what is on sale. I usually focus on meats, produce, and dairy. Our pantry or shelf stable foods are pretty well stocked, so I am using these weekly flyers to get ahead on some items and to fill in my meal plan with seasonal sales like produce and dairy.

Most of these sales flyers are available online now, and if you sign up for store emails, they will notify of any special deals or events like 3 day sales!

9. Add some super easy meals/ aka Plan B Meals

Even best laid meal plans get tossed aside because of unexpected things coming up. Maybe you got sick, extra sports practice, or a late night at work.

Make sure you have some super easy to make meals in your freezer or pantry that are ready to go. These can be all in one frozen meals like a Voila bag with pasta, meat, and vegetables.

This could be a box of Hamburger Helper in your pantry. Just something quick and easy that you can make in 20 minutes or less when you don’t have time or energy to cook.

10. Don’t be set in stone- Be Flexible

Making a meal plan is great, but if you make it too rigid it can backfire. It’s ok that you ended up doing Tuesday’s dinner on Thursday. It’s ok that you had Thursdays dinner on Monday.

As long as nothing goes to waste, you are perfectly fine to switch around meals as needed. If you know that an ingredient won’t last that long, take steps to make it last longer like freezing meats and vegetables.

11. Substitute Ingredients as Needed

Recipes are just ideas and formulas. You can easily switch out ingredients or add more items to your dish. This is another area to be flexible in.

I see so many people disregard an entire recipe because it includes one item they don’t like. Just switch it up to something you do like! If you don’t care for the seasonings, don’t add them!

12. Food Inventory

Keeping a food inventory is a huge help when it comes to meal planning. Instead of looking in every nook and cranny of my pantry, fridge, and freezer. I just pull out my inventory sheets and easily look what I have on hand.

Now the downside is that you do have to keep these updated. I usually do this on Saturdays when I am cleaning out my fridge. I also add items to the list when I put away groceries.

Making this habit a part of something you already do, will ensure that you keep up with it! We also have free inventory sheets, so go print some out and start today!

13. Use Meat as Flavor, not the Star of the Dinner

I am not one to judge other people’s plates, but I have noticed that portion sizes can get really out of hand. According to the American Heart Association, an average portion of meat needs to only be 3 oz cooked.

This means you can save a lot of money on your meal planning, by using meat as a flavor enhancer and not be the main focal point of your meal. So, use that meats wisely, and you can have more meals!

14. Simple Minimal Ingredients

We have all seen these amazing recipes that have 12, 17, 32 ingredients. Unfortunately, a lot of those ingredients are probably ones you may not want to use all the time.

Instead try picking recipes that use less ingredients and are simpler to make. If you pair this up with other dishes that use similar ingredients, you can buy less too!

15. Don’t forget to check the Calendar

Before you start your meal plan for the week, check you calendar for any upcoming events, appointments, practices,etc.

These different situations may plan a big role in what you will have that day. This will tell you in advance which nights you will have more time to cook as well as which nights will be very little time!

16. Calculate Costs

Some people mentioned that they cut costs on their meal planning by calculating cost per meal. I know some people that even calculate cost per serving.

So, if you want to figure out the math on your meals, you may be able to stretch your money further. You can set goals like keeping dinners under $20 every night. Or keep your cost per serving under $4 per person.

17. Rotate your Proteins/ Side Dishes

I am a little funny about not wanting to have the same meat or the same side dish multiple nights in a row.

My family typically eats chicken, pork, and beef in the same week, so I try to mix them up, so they don’t repeat. Same thing with rice, potatoes, and pastas as side dishes.

So, if we have chicken and pasta on one night, the next night we would have pork and potatoes, and then the next night we would have beef and rice. So that’s 3 nights in a row with no repeats!

18. Library Cookbooks

Need some inspiration but not sure where to get some for free? Check out your local library for cookbooks!

My local library actually has a pretty big selection of cookbooks and cooking magazines. Some are very specific, some are for certain style of cooking, they also had tons of diet specific cookbooks like keto, low fat, or high protein.

Some libraries have free access to digital assets as well. So, you may be able to see eBooks or other online content for free.

19. Save your Meal Plans

At the end of the week, don’t toss the meal plan out. Save it in a folder or binder for later.

Maybe you don’t have time to meal plan one week, or just in a rush. You can look back at old meal plans and recreate them!

You can also keep recipes to try and other important food related information all in one spot.

20. Crowd Source Information

I recently started a free public Facebook group called Meal Planning for All. This is a safe space where you can ask questions, share your meal plans, and get help when you are stuck.

So, you have a pot roast to use this week, but want to try something different? Go ask the group for ideas! Most people will share links to different tried and true recipes.

I feel like I am always seeing the same stuff and the same recipes all the time, so getting suggestions from others is so awesome. It can totally help get you out of a not creative meal rut!