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Meal Planning for Minimal-ish Moms

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Meal Planning · February 18, 2018

Monthly Meal Planning (Make it in Less than 1 Hour!)

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Monthly meal planning seems like an overwhelming task but it doesn’t have to be – it can actually be quite simple. I’m going to show you how create a monthly meal plan fast and easy!

(This post probably contains affiliate links. My full disclosure policy is quite boring, but you can read it here if you’d like!)

Monthly meal planning is NOT hard, as a matter of fact, I think it’s simpler than planning any other way (including weekly)!

Why to meal plan monthly

1 SAVE TIME

You’re already sitting down to meal plan (maybe weekly?) with your planner, calendar, meal ideas, etc. Why get out all this stuff 4 times instead of 1??? That in itself would save you time but where the real time savings comes in is the decision factor.

If you’re planning for a week, you have to narrow down all. the. options. into 7 days. When you’re working with a full month, you grab a few ideas and plug them in and you’re done.

2 SAVE MONEY

You’ll save money at the grocery store by having a master list for the month. Plus you’ll be able to shop the sales because you know the plan ahead of time!

If you’re not a natural planner, don’t worry this is not that hard. And will help you save lots of time (and money by not being in the store all the time!).

How to Monthly Meal Plan

1 Theme Nights

This is by far the quickest way to meal plan – you set up certain types of food or cooking for certain nights of the week based on your schedule. I’m sure you’ve heard of Taco Tuesday, right???

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be a certain type of food if you think your family will get bored often. As a matter of fact, I don’t recommend that. I recommend starting with HOW to cook instead of WHAT to cook – like Slowww cooker Sunday or Sheet Pan Saturday.

2 Work down, not across

I know the natural tendency is to go across, filling in week 1 then week 2, etc. But working down is much faster! Say you’re starting with Slow Cooker Sunday. Since you’re already looking at crockpot recipes, instead of deciding on ONE meal you’re grabbing 4 that you want to make.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Now all Sundays are done. Move on.

Want to watch a video version of this and meal plan for a month with me? Check it out here!

3 Find recipes

This is the part you dread, yes? You could absolutely open some cookbooks, flip through magazines, or open Pinterest.

But it’s SO overwhelming!

Now, I know you might not love searching Pinterest for some top, kid-friendly recipes all the time. BUT I DO! So I created the Ultimate Theme Nights + Recipes list. It’ll save you SO much time with dozens of kid-friendly recipes that match each theme night! Grab it here.

4 Optimize for grocery shopping

What on earth do I mean by that? Ok, so before you make yourself 4 grocery shopping lists, I want to encourage you to try and save even MORE time by going to the store less.

How???

Put all the recipes that require fresh ingredients (read: spoil fast) in the 1st and 3rd weeks. Then all the meals that use pantry, frozen, or items that don’t spoil quickly in the 2nd and 4th weeks.

This allows you to only go to the grocery store twice a month!

5 Create grocery list

Once you have your meal plan set, you can go ahead and make your grocery lists. If you’re going to try out the two week method, you can always put a little color coded dot or something for items for the 2nd week.

Don’t forget… online grocery shopping is a HUGE time-saver! See if your local grocery store offers online shopping (with parking lot pick-up or delivery). You’ll totally get the fee back in money saved not walking down the aisles (especially with kids!)

Where to shop online

These are places that I have used or someone I trust has used. If you’ve had a good experience with a different service please drop it in the comments below so I can add it!

Click to be taken directly there:

Thrive Market (my absolute favorite!)

WALMART GROCERY (CLICK FOR A $10 COUPON)

You need an an Amazon Prime subscription for the next two, if you don’t have one click here for a FREE 30 day trial!

Amazon Fresh

Amazon Prime Pantry

There you have it. Now go grab your monthly meal planner and start meal planning LESS!

In: Meal Planning

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Follow @mealplanningblueprints

3 videos dropping tomorrow 01.22.23 at noon EST! 3 videos dropping tomorrow 01.22.23 at noon EST!

If you’re a minimal-ISH mom (or looking to be!) go follow my new YouTube channel!  If you’re looking to learn minimalistic meal planning (aka Capsule Pantry) but also decluttering and - kinda - minimalist ways, you’re gonna love it. 

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ You might get a heavy dose of real life and brutally honest opinions. I’m not into showing you just the pretty side of things. 

Drop a 🖤 for the link or follow along in stories!
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do… #eggs #eggdealer Ya gotta do what ya gotta do… 

#eggs #eggdealer #eggshortage2023 #eggsarelife #justajoke
I call them rescue meals. Because they rescue me I call them rescue meals. 

Because they rescue me from a crazy day. 

They can be as simple as leftover pizza, or as complete as a freezer meal. 

Start with 2 and work your way up to 5. 

You’ll thank me later.

Follow for real life meal planning tips 👉🏼 @mealplanningblueprints
Top 5 of 2022 // #1 in laughs What’s the Daily Top 5 of 2022 // #1 in laughs

What’s the Daily Dinner Blueprint method?

It’s simply applying a formula to your meals.

I used to be in finance, and I know it doesn’t seem to go together, but it’s how I’ve been able to apply a mathematical approach to keeping meal planning simple.

If you want to DIY it, do this:

✏️Make 3 columns on a piece of paper.

The three columns are: main meat (or vegetarian option), side dish or vegetable, and a flavor or style.

✏️ And then just write in 2 of each item.

✏️ And then you’re just going to mix and match them. Take one from each column - it’s really that simple! 

✏️ BUTTTTTT... If you don’t want to DIY it and would like to just keep it simple this season (or all year, ha!) check out the Daily Dinner Blueprint meal planning calendar!

🎉 Flash sale * ends TONIGHT!

Comment “dinner” if you want the link to check it out!
 
🎉 or click and find the link: @mealplanningblueprints 

#Whatsfordinnertonight #mealplanningmadeeasy #mealplanning101 #kidfriendlymeals #whatsfordinnermom #mealprepsundays #familymealplanning #mealplanning #dailydinnerblueprint
Top 5 of 2022 // #1 in comments! Also perfect ti Top 5 of 2022 // #1 in comments! 

Also perfect timing because this calendar is on sale thru tomorrow. You don’t even have to comment, I’ll put the link you-know-where!

What would you do with your extra time if you didn’t have to meal plan and grocery shop every single week?

Comment the word DINNER and I’ll send you the link!

#Whatsfordinnertonight #mealplanningmadeeasy #mealplanning101 #kidfriendlymeals #whatsfordinnermom #mealprepsundays #familymealplanning #mealplanning #dailydinnerblueprint
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