Weekly meal planning is a great way for us to:
· easily see if our menu is well-balanced & nutritious
· spend less dollars on groceries
· reduce bad snacking habits
· reduce waste (from groceries that end up spoiling before we get around to using them)
· prevent stress over last minute dinner decisions (especially when hungry & tired)
· get rid of the What’s to eat? questions from the kids
· help remind us to pull things out of the freezer beforehand ready to cook with
· have more family time (as we eat together more often)
· get around to trying some new recipes, and best of all
· have more time to spend together as a family instead of spending it with food preparations!
We have used a monthly main meal plan in the past which worked fine, but not ideal for us as The Man and I both cook, we like to have variety in our meals and we often end up with grocery items that were on special to use that don’t necessarily fit into our standard set of recipes. We’ve also just started assigning child helpers for dinner and are trying to get them involved in the planning too, which is why I have recently been doing a complete WEEKLY meal plan that includes breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner (with snacks of fresh fruit allowed anytime outside of the plan).
Making a quick weekly meal plan:
· Draw up a chart for the week or print my weekly menu plan template
· Have a look in the fridge, freezer and pantry to check what we’ve got & what needs using up
· Have a look through recipes ideas or ask the rest of the family what they feel like
· Write them down on the chart and stick it on the fridge or pantry door
It is a really quick process and saves a whole lot of pain during the week! P.S. often things don't go to plan, e.g. I don't end up baking snacks so we use crackers or dried fruit and nuts instead, or we unexpectedly need to do something late in the afternoon so we just switch dinner meals between days or save the idea for another week :)
Our weekly plan for this week:
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
Break fast | Cereal (use up wheat puffs) | Sardines on toast | Cereal | Weet-bix smoothies | Cereal | Rice pudding (slow cooker overnight) | Cereal |
Snack | Fruit & Lerice $ | Carrot sticks, crackers & cheese | Fruit & Lerice $ | Fruit & apple muffins ^ | Carrot sticks & UFOs ^ | Frozen berries & natural yoghurt | Fruit & Lerice $ |
Lunch | potato bake * | Mini pizzas ^ | Salad flatbread $ rolls | Tuna & mayonnaise sandwiches | Pasta * | Salad sandwiches | Jacket potatoes with toppings |
Snack | popcorn | iceblock & sandwich | UFOs | Tomato & cheese on crackers | iceblock & sandwich | Bring a plate to Shave for a Cure event– cupcakes? | nothing cause we’re at church! |
Dinner | Baked fish & vege (use up shake seasoning) | Refried beans & salad with pita chips (use up pita bread $) | Cous Cous & vegetables | Pasta (use up ricotta $) | Stir fry on rice (use up Hokkien noodles $) | Butter chickpeas experiment (slow cooker) | Thai curry (slow cooker) |
Dinner helper | Chief | KaPow | Chief | KaPow | Sparky | Sparky | Beans |
* leftovers
^ prepared earlier and frozen
$ were on special
