How To Meal Plan In 4 Easy Steps (KYF103)

Here’s how to meal plan for the week or the month in four easy steps… no matter what you like to cook, or how many people you’re cooking for!

The #1 most common question I get is how to meal plan with traditional foods. But, important caveat — without spending a lot of time on it or spending a ton of money on fancy foods.

In fact, because it’s such a universal need, I started including weekly menu plans with our Traditional Cooking School membership in 2010. (We are currently on #645… yes, 645 weeks of helping you with this!)

Whether or not you get our done-for-you menu plans, you can come up with meal planning that works for you and your family in 4 simple steps. You’ll hear all about them in today’s podcast — and they’re summarized below.

Subscribe to the Know Your Food with Wardee podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, or the Podcasts app.

Meal Planning Benefits

If you’re not yet a meal planning believer, here are some of the benefits…

• saves money by curbing impulse purchases (whether takeout or convenience foods) and helping you stick to a budget while shopping
• way, way, way less stress and mental burden
• by planning ahead, you can eat more healthfully
• by shopping for only what you need and having a plan for how to use it up, you can reduce food waste

How to Meal Plan: 4 Steps to Easy Meal Planning With Traditional Foods

Here is my simple four-step formula for creating a rotating menu plan!

1. Make a list of your family’s favorite meals that work with your lifestyle and budget.

Consider which ingredients are abundantly available to you, whether seasonally or year-round. Also think about what is most convenient for you, and what you enjoy making. Sheet pan meals? Iterations of ground beef? Breakfast for dinner? Slow cooker or Instant Pot?

Aim to compile a list of seven to 14 of your favorite meals. Feel free to peruse our recipe archives here at TCS for inspiration! Here are some ideas…

• 30-Minute Classic Chili Recipe
• Real Food Chicken Enchiladas
• Sourdough Pizza Crust (thick or thin crust!)
• Pauper’s Chicken Stew Recipe
• Chicken Pot Pie Soup (Stove Top, Instant Pot, Crock Pot)
• Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken (slow cooker, too!)
• Real Food Meaty Lasagna
• Homemade Real Food Mac-n-Cheese
• Instant Pot GAPS Diet Beef Pho {keto & paleo, too!}
• Tom Kha Gai: A Nourishing Thai Broth-Based Soup

Don’t forget to include a dessert recipe or two, if you’d like to enjoy something sweet after dinner!

• Sourdough Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Frosting
• How To Make Homemade Ice Cream (KYF163)
• Orange & Dark Chocolate Cheesecake In The Instant Pot
• Chocolate Nut Butter Cups

Finally, what homemade foods or snacks do you like to keep on hand during the week? Sourdough bread? Crackers? Baked oatmeal? Yogurt? Make a list of those, too!

2. Create a rotating schedule of the favorite meals.

The number of meals you can pull from will help you determine how long this schedule can go — like for one week, two weeks, or a month.

Factor in “leftover nights” or nights you plan to eat elsewhere. Remember to scale up recipe quantities if you want to be able to serve them for another meal (like leftovers for lunch the next day). Or, if you’re cooking for only a few people, you can scale down.

You’re going to put those meals into a calendar — either digital or paper (see below to download our paper planner). You’re also going to prepare your recipes. Again, either digital or on paper. If you use paper, keep the calendar and the recipes in a binder.

If you have any food tasks that you do on a weekly or biweekly basis — like making bread or yogurt — plug those into the calendar, too.

Download our 1-page menu planning calendar here. It includes room to pencil in your meal prep steps, too, like if you need to soak any grains or beans ahead of time.

If you prefer to organize your recipes digitally, I’ve already shared how I like to keep my recipes in the Paprika app. The Paprika app includes a calendar and shopping list to help you menu plan, which leads me to my next point…

3. Create a master shopping list for your menu.

If you’ve made a two-week menu, you know what ingredients you need to buy to be able to make and serve these meals. Keep this in the binder with your calendar and recipes — or if you’re digital, keep it together with your other files.

While grocery shopping, stick to your list and try not to buy anything extra!

4. Cook from the menu.

You have what you need and you’ve done all the mental heavy-lifting. All that’s left is to follow the plan. 🙂

Bonus! 5. Take it further!

Even with the best planning, you’ll still have leftovers. Don’t let them go to waste! Be sure to grab my free “30-Minute Skillet Dishes” worksheet + videos for using ingredients you already have (even leftovers) to cook a healthy dinner at home in 30 minutes or less!

Additionally, you can cook more food in less time with Batch Cooking. And the way I Batch Cook, you can get ahead while you’re cooking already (no fitting in extra cooking sessions). Contact me by text 1-317-434-1180 or email [email protected] if you’d like more info about our Batch Cooking online group class.