The need for monthly meal planning has been increasing more and more these days as schedules continue getting busier and busier.
I started monthly meal planning out of the need to save time and money and reduce my stress. And truthfully, it has been one of the BIGGEST game-changers in my household. I no longer dread planning my family’s meals and can now do it in under 10 minutes. It’s great!
Eliminating the time-consuming and sometimes stressful task of deciding what food to serve for dinner every night could NOT be possible without monthly meal planning. Not only will you reduce your expenses, but it also helps lessen food waste while providing delicious meals at home.
Here we will talk about the benefits of meal planning, steps to take to create a monthly meal plan, and recommendations on how to actually stick to it.
Ready to become an expert in creating meal plans? Let’s get started now!
This blog post is all about “Monthly Meal Planning”.
Short Summary
- Monthly meal planning helps save time, and money and reduce stress.
- Create a personalized plan by assessing the family schedule, inventorying the pantry/fridge, utilizing seasonal produce plus incorporating variety & themed nights.
- Stick to your plan with grocery lists and apps. Embrace leftovers and meal prepping. Explore cookbooks & online resources for inspiration. Create a detailed shopping list + organize pantry&fridge!
The Benefits of Monthly Meal Planning
If you’re feeling the strain of constantly worrying about “what’s for dinner”, monthly meal planning is your answer to becoming more organized and relaxed in the kitchen. This approach can assist with saving time and minimizing your food waste.
If an entire month sounds too much at once, why not start off smaller by creating weekly meal plans? A weekly meal plan is a great way to test the waters and start making your favorite meals.
Let’s have a closer look at what benefits come along with this method.
Time-saving aspect
When creating a monthly meal plan one of the biggest benefits it the time that it saves your during the week. With meal planning every month, you can use the extra time to have quality moments with your family instead of spending hours trying to figure out what should be cooked for dinner.
This is probably the SINGLE most important reason that I motivate myself to meal plan. The extra time that it gives me is TRULY invaluable.
The “Batch cooking” technique is also beneficial as it allows one single batch of food to feed two meals. Two meals of batch-cooked food is great. However, we generally try NOT to eat more than three meals of batch-cooked foods in a row, since that is when food burnout occurs.
By using this strategy in combination with monthly meal plans and cutting down daily cooking stress, you’re sure to see an increase in saved time that could otherwise be used making memories.
Reducing food waste
This is another great benefit! My husband is definitely adamant when it comes to avoiding food waste, and truthfully, I couldn’t agree more. It makes me feel especially guilty when we need to throw away food that we have accidentally let spoil. I try to avoid it at all cost.
And planning meals on a monthly basis has the major benefit of cutting down food waste. By organizing what you cook each week around perishable ingredients, none of your groceries go to waste, which helps keep your budget in check and aids with ecological concerns.
For instance, if you happen to have extra fresh basil from one meal plan it for use during later ones instead, no more shriveled veggies or expired goods filling up space in the fridge!
Saving money
When it comes to frugality, monthly meal planning can be a lifesaver.
Planning meals in advance allows you to avoid impulse purchases and buy groceries in bulk, thus saving your budget. And if you time things right by shopping for food items that are on sale or currently in season, then the money saved will really add up.
With careful pre-planning of both snacks and dinners each month, there is no need to overspend when grocery shopping or order expensive takeout as an alternative solution. Just wait out those few extra weeks until next payday!
Steps to Create Your Monthly Meal Plan
It’s time to discover how you can create your own monthly meal plan. With this guide, you will be able to make a monthly meal plan that fits with both your and your family’s needs.
Assessing your family’s schedule
One of the first steps with a successful meal plan is understanding your family’s (often busy) schedule.
Begin by consulting the family calendar. Utilize a meal planning schedule to easily select appropriate dishes for busy nights when you’re leaning toward takeaway or require something quick. For instance, if you know that Wednesdays and Thursdays are often days where you get home later (due to soccer practice, swimming lessons, etc.), then plan accordingly and keep your easier meals for these days.
Keeping tabs on your household agenda will make sure that everyone’s needs are met and maintain an atmosphere free of dinner-time stress. Meal planning can help guarantee healthy and scrumptious plates with well coordinated timing suited best for the whole family’s lifestyle.
Keep a digital list of prior recipes for inspiration
Probably next on your list should be creating a (digital) collection of prior recipes or meals for inspiration. Monthly meal planning can be made much simpler by keeping a digital list of previously tested recipes. This way you will always have options and don’t have to start from scratch when putting together your plan.
This is also a HUGE time-saving (and brain-saving) step for my family. We have an ongoing Google Sheets document that is titled “Monthly Meals”, where we plan our monthly meals and weekly meals at the top of the spreadsheet (with relevant recipe links). Here we also keep an on-going list of what we have cooked in prior months at the bottom.
What’s more, having the record digitally makes it easy for us to keep adding new tasty ideas as they come along. Therefore, every month presents an exciting array of meals with which to experiment. Highly recommend it. Retaining this information means monthly food preparation is stress-free and flavorful too!
Inventory your pantry and fridge
Before beginning the cooking process, it is beneficial to take a quick look at what you already have in your pantry and refrigerator. Doing this helps reduce food waste as well as save money since there will be no need to purchase additional ingredients unnecessarily.
With an inventory of available items on hand, meal planning becomes much easier while staying within budget limits too!
Utilize weekly sales and seasonal produce
To maximize your grocery budget and save money, plan meals around weekly sales as well as seasonal produce.
Be sure to regularly check the store’s flyer for sale items that you can incorporate into your cooking plans. Take a visit to local farmers markets for insight on what is currently in season. This will allow you to add fresh ingredients while sticking within your food allowance.
Incorporate variety and themed nights
When it comes to monthly meal planning, having a variety of themed nights can be an exciting way to keep the family interested in their meals.
Scheduling something special like “Meatless Mondays”, “Taco Tuesday” or “Pizza Night” each week is one great idea. Try changing up fillings and toppings for extra excitement!
Variety allows everyone to look forward to mealtimes and prevents boredom from setting in too quickly with weekly cooking routines. Introducing different themes into your plan on a regular basis will make your dinner table more engaging every time you sit down together as a family.
Tips for Sticking to Your Monthly Meal Plan
Once you have created your monthly meal plans and figured out what you plan on cooking (and when), now is the tough part of staying motivated to see this through. Creating a monthly meal plan can be tough to follow, but don’t worry, we have great strategies and tips to keep you on track.
1. Make grocery lists or use meal-planning apps
Yes, yes, yes! The digital age is here to stay, so why not embrace all that it has to offer. Creating and adhering to a monthly meal plan can be much easier with the help of an organized grocery list or planning app. These tools are helpful for those who want to stay on track, avoid splurges, and have all their necessary ingredients at hand.
Whether you prefer traditional paper lists, digital grocery lists (our family uses a linked “Notes” sheet on our phones), or even digital meal-planning apps, it is important that your chosen method fits well into your routine so as not miss anything when buying foodstuffs in preparation for meals every month.
Meal-Planning Apps to Consider
2. Look for easy and delicious meals
To ensure your monthly meal plan is successful, focus on recipes that are both easy to make and delicious. After a long day, you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen so try selecting meals which require minimal effort instead of elaborate ones.
Pro Tip: Go to some of your favorite cooking websites or food blogs. Often, they will have a section on “quick and easy meals” or meals that take “30-minutes or less”. One of my family’s favorite cooking website is Ambitious Kitchen, which has a 30-minute Meals section. It is SO helpful and we truthfully reference it often.
A great way to keep enthusiasm for your meal planning process is by including favorite dishes! This will also help bring satisfaction to the whole family while eating these homemade meals.
3. Embrace leftovers and meal prepping
In order to remain within your monthly meal plan, utilizing leftovers and prepping meals ahead of time is beneficial. Not only can you save yourself time by re-eating last night’s dinner, but it also reduces the amount of food waste generated from cooking too much.
Having a designated day each week that focuses on creating freezer friendly items or batch prepping meals will make sure that there are plenty of ready made dinners for the rest of the week.
4. Display your meal plan
Having a meal plan is an effective way to save time and money, while providing balance and nourishment. A useful tactic would be making the family dinner plans visible.
Consider creating a noticeboard in your kitchen or using a digital calendar (or even Google Sheet) to display what’s for each night’s meals. Learning how to properly map out your meals can have considerable beneficial effects on your overall healthiness.
5. Plan ahead and batch cook meals
Meal planning ahead of time and batch cooking can save you both money and effort throughout the month. By pre-cooking several servings and storing them in your freezer for later use, it’s a perfect way to stick with any meal plan each month while still having great tasting meals available whenever necessary.
This strategy is not only cost-effective but also helps guarantee that an appetizing dish will be ready when needed or wanted! Batch cooking really is an amazing solution to saving precious minutes whilst enjoying delicious dishes at the same time!
Finding Inspiration for Your Monthly Meal Plan
In order to remain driven and motivated, it is essential for achieving success in your monthly meal plans. Fortunately, there are numerous sources of inspiration which can help you switch up your menu while keeping things fresh and enjoyable.
From cookbooks to online databases containing different recipes, the possibilities go on forever. Don’t forget that trying out a new dish every once in awhile will always keep our meals interesting.
Cookbooks and online resources
Surfing cookbooks and other food sites can be a great way to explore new meal ideas. Personally, I am a cookbook addict. Even though I mostly use recipes that I find online, I can’t resist buying a good cookbook!
If you are also a digital recipe lover, then your probably know about Allrecipes.com and Supercook.com. Here, they have recipes that are LITERALLY for every palate!
Keeping up-to-date on the latest culinary finds will allow you to broaden your horizons in terms of meals. There’s no shortage of options out there!
Connect with others
Connecting to other meal planning aficionados can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to finding inspiration and having support. Instagram or other social sites are great ways to get inspiration from food-loving Influencers, as well as exchange ideas about meals, strategies for creating menus, and recipes from other like-minded folks.
Involving yourself with similar-minded people is a great way not only to broaden your recipe repertoire, but also establish a network of reliable comrades that will help keep enthusiasm high at all times.
Experiment with new ingredients and cuisines
Meal planning does not have to be something that you dread.
Try using creativity and stepping outside your usual routine for a monthly meal plan, incorporating different flavors with new recipes every time. This way, you will never get bored in the kitchen while also making sure everyone around is looking forward to each deliciously prepared family dinner.
My family generally does this as a way to keep things interesting and actually eat the food that we cook! We try to be conscious of adding in new cuisines and ingredients into our meals, and do our best to make a clean-eating meal plan whenever possible.
Eating clean is a sure-fire way to get all of the delicious nutrients that your body craves and in a way that tastes delicious too.
One of my favorite (mostly) clean-eating books is Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good cookbook. It is SERIOUSLY so good. While not all of the recipes are 100% clean, they do a very good job at providing healthy, nutritious and delicious meals. Their “Apple + Beet + Fennel” soup and Banana “Ice-Cream” recipes are some of our favorites! Yum.
Summary
Monthly meal planning is an incredible way to save time and money while reducing food waste. Following the advice given in this blog post for creating a personalized plan that works for your family, you can experience its magic firsthand!
Start today, begin constructing your own monthly meal strategy and relish all of the financial savings as well as benefits it brings with it. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you meal plan for a month?
You can put together a meal plan for an entire month, which will save both your time and money. By planning out all of your meals beforehand, you can cook them in one day instead of every single night. This way, they’ll be ready to go whenever you need throughout the following four weeks!
How to meal plan?
Meal planning can be simplified with adequate preparation. Begin by analyzing your current ingredients, followed by choosing some of your favorite dishes. Utilizing leftovers is another great way to save time when it comes to cooking, making multiple meals at the same time helps too! Meal prep does not have to be a difficult process. All you need is an organized plan and efficient use of food items that you already own.
Take action now in order for meal planning to become stress-free today and every other day!
How can I find inspiration for my monthly meal plan?
Don’t be scared to get creative and cook up something new for your monthly meal plan! Look through recipe books, websites, or ask friends for ideas. Mix different flavors from a variety of cuisines as you explore the world’s tastes.
What are some tips for sticking to my monthly meal plan?
In order to stay on track with your monthly meal plan, create grocery lists and use available apps. There are lots of delicious dishes that can be made quickly so you don’t have to worry about spending too much time in the kitchen. Use up any leftovers or make big batches at once, this will help save both money and effort! Put your meal plan somewhere visible as a reminder so it’s easier for you to follow through each day.
How can I manage grocery shopping for my monthly meal plan?
Make grocery shopping easier by coming up with a thorough list, utilizing online stores and keeping your pantry/fridge organized. Planning ahead can help you save cash as well as avoid random buying habits. Taking advantage of internet-based markets provides convenience and aids in checking the prices, which is ideal for budgeting purposes. By maintaining organization within shelves at home, it makes everything more efficient when going to get groceries or placing items back inside refrigerator & cabinets.
