Meal planning for a whole month to help keep a the stress of last minutes hungry bad meal decisions. Helpful tips and tricks for creating a delicious meals without the stress of last minutes planning.
- Meal Planning for a Month Vs. a Week
- How To Meal plan for a Month
- What Happens When My Schedule Changes?
- Free Meal Planning Templates
Meal Planning For A Month Vs A Week
Most people I know plan their meals each week or don’t plan and all. When I was trying to plan my family’s meals a week at a time I kept struggling to actually get it written out done each week. There was always a day or two that I’d be struggling to think of something last minute because I failed and getting a menu written out in time.
January of 2024 I decided to try planning my meals for a full month. I planned the month out and it took so much stress away! I thought that if I had a hard time planning a week a month would be worse, but it was easier.
When planning the month I was able to be more consistent and more creative with my meals. When planning for a week at a time I would find myself trying think of different meals for each week. If we had it last week I though I couldn’t plan for it again the next week because we would get tired of eating the same foods all the time.
As I planned a month out I was able to see how often I was repeating meals and how often I was adding in new meals more clearly then when I was planning for a week. I no longer felt guilty keeping the same easy quick meals ever Tuesday and Wednesday (our busiest evenings) because I was being more creative on all the other nights.
How To Meal Plan For A Month
To meal plan for a month may seem daunting. You may be tempted to think you can’t do it because you don’t know what or where you will be on 3 Friday’s from now. Or you might have had a hard time thinking of 7 different meals how am I going to think of 30?
Here are my 3 tips for for success in meal planing. Plan by base ingredients, create a master list of family favorite meals, meal plan with ingredients you already have.
Plan your meals by base ingredients
A base ingredient is the foundation of your meal. Just to name a few… pasta, rice, potatoes, chicken, fish, beef… You can make many different recipes with these bases. For each day of the week I choose a base. (Your list may look different with a lot more meat, we eat mostly vegetarian in our house)
- Mondays – potatoes or soups
- Tuesday – Rice and beans
- Wednesday – Picnic sandwiches (we don’t eat at home on Wednesdays)
- Thursday – Rice and fish
- Friday – Salads and meat
- Saturday – Random/special meals
Again, I do not stick to this perfectly, I am not a slave to this list. I mix things around all the time but this weekly base ingredient list gives me something to work off of if I can’t think of anything else to make.
Here an example of meals that go with each category or base ingredient.
- Potatoes – Baked potatoes with baked beans and cornbread, Mashed Potatoes with lentil stew, Shepherds Pie, Potato soup…
- Rice and Beans – Tacos, burritos, nachos, bean bowls…
- Rice and Fish – Shrimp stir fry, shrimp scampi, shrimp saganaki (greek dish), balsamic glazed salmon, honey mustard salmon, crispy fried cod…
- Big Salads and Meat – Taco salad, greek salad with lamb or chicken, Italian salad with pizza or chicken, sweet broccoli salad with stake…
- Pasta – Lasagna, spaghetti and meat balls, alfredo, pesto, pasta salad, lemon pasta…
I hope these lists help you see how you can take base ingredients and think of many different meals to eat throughout the month. Keeping it simple with lots of verity.
Create a list of family favorite meals
When meal planning for your family its always helps to know what everyone likes to eat. Another list that might be helpful is of what your family does not like.
Here is a list you can download for free of lots of different meal options. Keep this list near your meal planner or on the refrigerator to help you when planning out the month. Once you’ve tried a meal and you notice your kids love it or hate it, rate it on your list. Give it a star, or cross it out. This way the next month you will be able to remember how to bring meals to the table you all can enjoy.
Meal plan According To The Ingredients you have
To help you save money, not waste any food and get the idea’s flowing for meals, look not to Pinterest but in your cabinets and refrigerator, freezer to see what you can make with what you have first. Check the back of your freezer, find that bag of frozen green beans or that can of kidney beans that’s been in the pantry for months. Minestrone Soup, perfect you can use both the green beans and kidney beans in that recipe.
I’m all about stocking up on bulk items to save money and be prepared. But when you stock up, do so with a plan to use it in mind. Continue to use what is on your shelf now instead of always buying more just to make what sounds good in the moment.
What happens if my schedule changes?
Its true, we often don’t know everything about our social calendar a month in advance. But planning your meals that far in advance is not a hindrance but a help.
So, when something comes up that will take you out all day you check your meal plan and if that meal wont work you can trade it with another day’s meal. I first ask myself, “can I make this in the crackpot?” If the answer is no, I find another meal that is on my plan, that I already have the ingredients for, that will work in the crock pot.
Another trick I use is to have extra pasta and sauce in my pantry for days when I was unable to make anything in time or when my husband has to make dinner. Quick meals like that, not on your meal plan is great to have in your pantry when your in a pinch.
Don’t be a slave to your meal plan. We plan ahead so we have freedom, not bondage to the plan.
Free Meal Planning Templates
Personally I like to use a calendar that my kids made me for my meal planning. I keep it on the side of our refrigerator so everyone can see what’s for dinner. This is super helpful for my husband as he sometimes gets nervous when it looks like I’m making a super healthy meal. He gets to look at the menu and see that we will be having pizza tomorrow and he has hope.
Some people keep a binder with their household chores check list, some people just write out a list on a scrap paper and keep it in the kitchen while other keep the list on their phones. There’s no right or wrong on your own organization preferences. As long as it help you.
With that being said here are few free printable templates that you might like.
Edit For Yourself in Canva
Ready To Print!
More meal planning tips and tricks
I know I didn’t cover everything on the subject of meal planning so comment below if there more tips or ticks to meal planning that my readers could benefit from. I would love to hear from you all the success you have had in your own meal planning.
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