Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

 

 It's 5 o'clock - do you know what's for dinner? This was the question that plagued me day after day for years. I had shopped diligently and filled the fridge, pantry and freezer, but when it came time to fix something to eat I was stuck in analysis paralysis. Instead of embracing the opportunity to provide a healthy meal for my family to sit around the table together and eat, I was dreading the decision, and I often put it off for as long as possible. Then, inevitably, at the last minute I would want to make spaghetti or tacos, but the meat was still frozen. Too many times I caved into asking my husband to pick something up or having pizza delivered. Not only is this expensive, it wasn't the healthiest option either. So what was the turning point for me and my family? Meal planning.

 If you've been following me for any length of time, you've probably picked up that I'm a planner by nature, so this fits right in with how God made me. In more recent years, I've also struggled with distraction and impulsiveness, so having a plan really helps to keep me grounded and on track. Do you even wander the aisles at the grocery store, randomly plopping things in your cart that look good, only to get home and realize you don't actually have what's needed to put together a meal? That's so me! I am the one that they developed the end of aisle displays and checkout goodies for. I can turn a $100 grocery shopping trip into a $300 one without even trying. So having a list, a plan, a clear path, makes all the difference!

 So, I've got you interested in this idea of meal planning, but where do you start? By figuring out what you like to eat. Sit down with your family, ideally when everyone is hungry, not after dinner because then they can't think of anything they want to eat. Ask them to list out their favorite meal ideas and jot them down. Let it be a brainstorming session where anything goes and there are no limits to what they can ask for. This encourages creativity and participation that you'll really appreciate later, even if "Cookies and ice cream," are not something you'll be adding to your meal rotation. Then, with ideas in hand, print out a blank calendar page and start penciling in meals. I emphasize the word pencil here because things can and will change as you go through this process. Next, pull up your family's calendar on whatever device you keep it on (do you still have a paper calendar on the wall? Cool!). Check to see if the meals you have planned line up well with the activities on your schedule. Did you plan a crockpot meal for a day when you won't be home in the morning to set it up? Did you plan a big meal for a night full of activities? This is where the pencil comes in. Scratch the pot roast from Wednesday when you have AWANA and put in something quick and easy, like chicken salad sandwiches. Then move the pot roast to Thursday where you've got nothing going on and everyone can enjoy it.

 Still struggling with what to cook? Try working with themes. This has helped me immensely over the years. We've often done "Taco Tuesday" where we have Mexican inspired food, "Soup Saturdays," or "Italian Mondays." Sometimes just having a theme to work with gets my creative juices flowing. Can't stand the idea of having to come up with a new menu every week? I would challenge you to come up with 20 meals you like, then scatter them out over three weeks, leaving one day for eating out or emergency meals, and then just repeat those 20 meals for a few months. Now that you have your meal plan in order, it's time to prep.

 I have always worked best in rhythms and schedules. I'm not likely to remember that I need to stop by the store "sometime this week," but if I always go grocery shopping on Saturdays, then it gets done! Figure out what works best for you and run with it. In order to make meal planning truly successful though, you'll need to have the food on hand to cook when you need it. That means a little thinking ahead is in order. In this season of my life, I put together my meal plan and grocery list on Fridays and then we shop on Saturdays. That way I always know that I've got what I need, when I need it, and I'm not as likely to resort to grabbing takeout.

 Now that you've got your meal plan sketched out, it's time to make your grocery list. Gather up the recipes for the meals you are making and start listing out what ingredients you'll need to pick up because you don't have them on hand. I'd also encourage you to set reminders on your phone or calendar, whatever works best for you, to thaw meat ahead of time (2-4 days depending on the weight and cut). Arrange your list however it works best for you (alphabetically, by store department, by how much you like each item, etc). Then execute! Head to the store and STICK TO YOUR LIST! It'll be tricky at first if you're used to impulse shopping, but it will be so worth it in the long run when you both save money and have what you need when you need it.

 All of this can be a lot to juggle: paper calendars with meal plans, recipes, shopping lists, etc. It can be overwhelming too! Thankfully, many years ago, I was introduced to a fabulous meal planning site: Plan to Eat*. This simplifies and automates the entire meal planning process and keeps it manageable. On it, I store all the recipes we've collected over time - I currently have about 1,944 up there. If you sign up for a free trial through my link*, I believe it will connect you as my friend and you will have access to all my recipes! 

 So, when it comes time to make my meal plan for the week (or two), I pop into the "Plan" tab. This is a calendar view with a side bar on the left that lists all of my recipes. No, I'm not going to doom scroll through all 1,944 of them to figure out what sounds good. In the little search box, I'll type in what I want to start with. Maybe I've looked in the freezer and I know that I have ground beef, chicken thighs, a pork shoulder roast, and some bacon that I'd like to use up. I'll type "ground beef" into the search box and then start scrolling through those recipes to see what sounds good. When I find something, I click on it and drag it to the day on the calendar that I want to cook it. I can then click on the recipe on the calendar and customize it for that week by changing the number of servings (maybe I have company coming that day and I want extra). If I look at our family's activity calendar and notice that some choices don't line up, it's really easy to move them around just by dragging and dropping them onto a new day. If you know that you won't be cooking on a certain day because you are eating out or visiting someone for dinner, you can add a note to that day (Like I have "Grandma Night" on my calendar above). 

 Now that you've gotten your plan in order, it's time to shop. This is where the genius of Plan to Eat really comes in! Head over to the "Shop" tab and enter the dates you want to shop for in the box at the top left. The program will automatically import all the ingredients from all of your recipes you have planned! You probably already have many of these on hand (especially things like water or salt), so you'll want to look over the list and delete anything you don't need. The program groups the list by category, but sometimes it's not really clear on what category something fits in, so you may have to "teach" it as you go. Just open up the item and change the options for it. If you typically shop at multiple stores, Plant to Eat will remember which store's list you previously put an item on and will add it to a list for that store in the future. You can always change this up by selecting the item and then clicking on a different store. We typically shop at Costco and a grocery store each week, but the grocery store changes. 

 Don't worry, you don't have to drag your whole computer to the grocery store with you, or, worse, print your list out on paper (although you can if you really want to). Plan to Eat has an app in your phone's app store that will help you as you shop! You can also access your meal plans and recipes on the phone. This is what I usually use when I'm cooking. My husband keeps the app on his phone as well so I can ask him to swing by the store and pick some things up and he knows exactly what to get.

 Just like with most things, you can go really nuts with Plan to Eat. You can create rotating meal plans that you just drag and drop onto the calendar. You can create a list of pantry items that you keep on hand, or things in your freezer. You can add prep notes and snack ideas. And they are coming out with new features and options all the time. They've made it really easy to add recipes to your account by simply pasting in the url. The program searches the website, grabs the ingredients, directions, pictures, and other relevant information and then shows it to you for approval before you save it. Long gone are the days of typing it all out yourself! You can add tags to your recipes to make them easier to search like, "gluten free," or, "crockpot." 

Here's the Thing: Is this one more thing to do, one more thing to pay for? Yes. But if used wisely it will make the rest of your life simpler and hopefully save you money. Honestly, I've saved enough in one week of shopping off of a meal plan to pay for the service for a year! And not experiencing that horrible feeling at 5pm every day of trying to figure out something to put on the table - Priceless!

* This is a referral link. If you follow it and sign up for the service, you will receive 20% off your first year's subscription and I will receive a 20% commission. It's a win-win!