Make a Plan

Last week, a friend and I were chatting about the challenges of planning and executing wholesome, nutritious weeknight meals while juggling jobs, weeknight commitments and household chores.  Sometimes it’s just easier to grab something out…quick and easy…which can snowball into costly and unhealthy in the blink of an eye.  JPug and I do a pretty decent job of meal planning so I thought I’d share some tips and tricks I use to make things easier.  We’re by no means the gold standard in this arena but I think we do a pretty decent job.

Before putting together our menu for the week, I take a look at our calendar.  How many nights will we need dinner?  Will JPug and I both be home for dinner every night?  What post-work commitments do we have that dictate having easy vs. more complex meals?  For example, this week I’m volunteering with Girls on the Run Monday and Wednesday and we’re having dinner out for a fundraiser on Thursday.  Before I even start thinking about actual meals, I know Monday and Wednesday need to be quick and we won’t need anything for Thursday.

Next, we turn to the fridge/pantry/freezer.  What items do we already have that we could use as ingredients for this week’s meals?  JPug and I buy proteins (salmon, chicken, etc.) in bulk when they go on sale and freeze them to use in the following weeks/months.  We also freeze leftovers to use on nights when we want a homemade meal but don’t have the time or motivation to cook.  Frozen proteins and leftover meals from previous weeks usually give us a decent starting point.  From there, we look at the fridge and pantry to see what else we have.  For example, last week we had Taco Wantons (recipe to come in a future post) so we had sour cream and cheese left over.  We also had a handful of tortillas left over from previous week and some chicken in the freezer.  So, tonight we’re using all of those things to make Chicken Fajitas.  We purchased a few supplemental ingredients at the store but we already had the basics for our meal.

Once I know how many and what type of dinners I need, I start on the actual menu…filling in meals made with items we already have first.  From there, I add a mixture of different proteins, veggies, grains and fruit to provide variety…choosing recipes that vary in degree of difficulty based on the amount of free time we have in the evening.  Speaking of recipes, I pull recipes from a massive, ridiculous file of clippings from various magazines I’ve been collecting for years or Food Network/All Recipes where I’ve configured my own online recipe boxes.

Once I have dinners planned, I review my list to see what I can over prepare…leftovers to freeze and use for a future week or extras to use for lunches.  From there, I add basic lunch ideas, healthy snacks and our go-to yogurt/berries/granola for breakfast to the grocery list.

Below is an example of this week’s menu:

Monday – Leftover Pepper Steak from a previous week

Tuesday – Chicken Fajitas

Wednesday – Chicken Salad Wraps

Thursday – Dinner Out/Fundraiser

Friday – Salmon/Rice/Veggie…recipe from Food Network

If you're not currently a meal-planner...hopefully this post gives you some tips and tricks to get started.  If you are a planner, what things help you with your planning that I didn't mention?!